UPDATE: The article posted below is an obvious fabrication. Nate McGee never made the statement quoted and there are no plans by Zynga to remove Mafia Wars in 2012.
The following post has been making it's way around Skype rooms. I haven't seen it in the news feeds yet and have no idea where it came from or if it's fabricated. It may be posted somewhere on the internet so if you know the source, please comment with the link. It's very possible that someone just made this up to create panic in the Mafia Wars community. Not everything you read on the internet is true.
Although casual social gaming giant Zynga has declined to comment on this story, a source close the situation told us off the record that an exit strategy from Mafia Wars in 2012 was in the works. The source went on to say that as part of Zynga's pending IPO the company recognizes that it will have to trim much of it's underperforming games to make room for new titles. The hope is that these moves will increase revenues and keep stockholders happy.
We contacted former Zynga and Mafia Wars Community Manager Nate McGee (AKA Blue Eyed Nate) to respond to this news:
UPDATE: I was able to verify that this was something that Nate McGee never said and is fabricated by the original author.
"It became evident to me that upper management at Zynga was not interested in cultivating the well established Mafia Wars community. Despite all of our efforts the studio's hands were tied and we were unable to provide players the gaming experience they desired. After getting the developers committed to fixing several bugs in the game, and adding the types of features the players were after, upper management pulled the plug. They instead insisted on the developers adding a number of overlapping events that were impossible to complete without purchasing in game credits. This outraged the community to the point where players started leaving the game in droves. It was evident that Zynga cared more about short term gains then the long term, and decided to take my leave for a better opportunity".
Mr. McGee left the company in August of 2010 to accept a position at Lucasfilm.
It remains to be seen if Zynga will compensate Mafia Wars players who spent money for in game credits (Reward Points). In the past Zynga has offered credits for other games in their network. When Mafia Wars was pulled from MySpace, players were offered Reward Point packages based off of their experience level in the MySpace version fo the game. This move outraged a number of players who had spent thousands in MySpace game, and who's compensation from Zynga fell short of what they had actually spent. In this case since Mafia Wars is actually ceasing to exist players most likely will be offered Reward Points on other Zynga games such as Cityville, FarmVille, CastleVille, Empires & Allies, or Mafia Wars 2 (which differs significantly from the original).
Source: Unknown
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| Article written by Jennifer Patterson, Creator of the MW Loot Lady Blog, The Mafia Wars Loot Lady Facebook Fan Page and Co-Host of The Informant Podcast. |
No more Mafia Wars? Say it isn't so! I don't want to go back to Mob Wars!
ReplyDeletelost an acct i played for a yr on tagged before i start two yrs ago on fb, should zynga ever pull mw i will never ever buy or use another zynga product.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that Zynga and Facebook cannot come to a agreement as far as terms goes. So it may be possible that Zynga will pull away from Facebook and go to there own link where its Zynga based and not Facebook.
ReplyDeleteBS ZYNGA WILL NOT PULL THE GAME IT IS THE MOST PLAYED GAME AND THE MOST POPULAR THEY WOULD GO BUST IF THEY DO PULL MW AS NO ONE WILL PLAY THEIR OTHER GAMES AS MOST PEOPLE ONLY PLAY THEM NOW TO FILL THE TIME AS FOR MW 2 THAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST DISASTER SINCE THE BIG BAND I KNOW OF NO ONE PLAYING THAT REGULAR AS IT WAS SO BADLY DEVELOPED AND HAS SUCH POOR GAMEPLAY INSTEAD OF THE COMPANY CIRCULATING THESE RUMOURS THEY SHOULD FIX THE PROBLMS WITH DEVELOPERS WHO ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING INSTEAD OF KIDS WHO SIT ON THEIR FAT ASSES DOING NOTHING FOR THE CONSUMER THEN THEY SHOULD CAREFULLY CONSIDER HOW TO DEVELOP THE GAME FURTHER WITH BETER GOALS IN MIND IF MW GOES I FOR ONE WILL NEVER EVER PLAY ANOTHER ZYNGA GAME OR EVEN BOTHER WITH FACEBOOK
ReplyDeleteBS ZYNGA WILL NOT PULL THE GAME IT IS THE MOST PLAYED GAME AND THE MOST POPULAR THEY WOULD GO BUST IF THEY DO PULL MW AS NO ONE WILL PLAY THEIR OTHER GAMES AS MOST PEOPLE ONLY PLAY THEM NOW TO FILL THE TIME AS FOR MW 2 THAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST DISASTER SINCE THE BIG BAND I KNOW OF NO ONE PLAYING THAT REGULAR AS IT WAS SO BADLY DEVELOPED AND HAS SUCH POOR GAMEPLAY INSTEAD OF THE COMPANY CIRCULATING THESE RUMOURS THEY SHOULD FIX THE PROBLMS WITH DEVELOPERS WHO ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING INSTEAD OF KIDS WHO SIT ON THEIR FAT ASSES DOING NOTHING FOR THE CONSUMER THEN THEY SHOULD CAREFULLY CONSIDER HOW TO DEVELOP THE GAME FURTHER WITH BETER GOALS IN MIND IF MW GOES I FOR ONE WILL NEVER EVER PLAY ANOTHER ZYNGA GAME OR EVEN BOTHER WITH FACEBOOK
ReplyDeletelike they even care if you don't play or not end of the day always money in the other games so zynga is not worried lol
False rumor? Shit! I already told Santa to skip the Game Cards for stocking! Tupid rumors...
ReplyDelete~ Frank
@Billy Mays Anonymous. Mafia Wars is not even in the top 20 most popular games on facebook. Also if Mafia Wars did no longer exist i will have no reason to use Facebook apart from keeping in touch with my family.
ReplyDeletedamn man, tell us how you really feel.
ReplyDeleteI have not heard the rumor posted. But I did hear about the IPO which does not bode well for these games. Unfortunately, going public these days is a way to make big money quickly, rather than an investment toward growth. So Zynga gets theirs, the stockholders will want theirs and we'll get twice as many popups. I wouldn't be surprised if we'll have to pay to fully complete a job, mission or operation.
ReplyDelete@anonymous@4:12:
ReplyDeleteMW is far from being the most popular game in the Zynga community. I believe that either Cityville or Castleville are now Z's most popular games. Over the past year Mafia Wars has hemorrhaged so many players that many people are now questioning how much longer it will be around. I think that last month showed roughly 700k players left as daily players in MW. I personally think the "handwriting is on the wall" myself. If one were to factor in how many of those 700k had multiple accounts (I personally have 4) then the numbers of MW daily players is probably closer to 400k.
BTW, the little button that says "Shift" on your keyboard will keep you from "Yelling" at everyone. This is a common internet courtesy. As long as you are looking at your keyboard, look on the bottom row on the right hand side- you will see a little " . " That is called a "period". That is what one uses to distinguish between different sentences. I encourage you to "read up" on period usage so that people can actually understand what the heck your point is. I was able to decipher your comments because I am used to helping my first-grader with his homework.
hmmm, mine is a SHIFT key
ReplyDeletei agree mw has bad gameplay since ,entering year 2010
ReplyDeleteand that may be the reason why people are leaving
wish zynga hadn't nerfed the events in mw,but because of that nearly a lot of players quit through zynga's bad gameplay
MW is a perfect example of how a greedy company can ruine an excellent game.....hey zynga it was you who made clumsy changes in game to earn more than you deserve , thats what frustated the players & made them leave ..
ReplyDeleteCityville in China is Z's biggest source of income. MW's 2 will be a goner soon enough...and even though MW's is down to about 800K players (daily)...they will be doing things to improve the game play...they didn't get to the size they are by being stupid. Jest Sayin"
ReplyDeleteHappy Gaming~
I hate to say it, but two months ago I read (I forgot the name of the site) a website commentator, claiming real unnamed inside information, that MW was going to be scrapped in Feb. 2012. Due to the IPO, and the more 'flash' oriented games they would be rolling out. MW doesn't fit in (and I'm guessing other games on FB if they require high upkeep. He also sited, many of the same things going on now happend before MW was pulled from other sites......and stated they wouldn't be any refunds-akin to dropping a quarter in an arcade game.
ReplyDelete