A Dark Day for Gaming: Zynga Is Bigger Than EA

Oct 28 by Ty Dunitz | 8 comments

I’ve never liked Electronic Arts much, DRM-hawking corporate bad guys that we hardcore gamers make them out to be. But this is a sad day, indeed. BusinessWeek has reported that Zynga, makers of Farmville, have surpassed EA in worth, growing to 5.51 billion, next to EA’s 5.22 billion.

Imagine that. EA is a gaming GIANT, arguably the most prolific, holding some of the world’s most legendary franchises (The Sims alone is the best selling PC game of all time), and Zynga has been able to surpass it all by selling pictures of wheat and cows to bored housewives.

I dunno what else to say. Seems the end times of gaming are upon us. Then again, EA is also responsible for Shaq Fu, so maybe this is just karma.

Now let us hold hands and weep.

WRITTEN BY TY DUNITZ

Ty is an illustrator who stays up too late, and has to wear glasses. You can follow him on Twitter if you want to (@glitchritual), but he's just gonna throw your stupid PR crap in the garbage, so don't email him.

COMMENTS
  • Dylan Jones

    This is my first comment on techi.
    But I just had to sigh with you…
    *sigh*

  • http://toddish.co.uk Todd

    Same, first comment. This makes me sad :(

  • http://pixeno.com Andy Johnson

    Blimey, this seems so strange. I consider zynga to be one of those annoying companies like jamster, not a huge gaming giant. Farmville was annoying enough!

  • http://mobigyaan.com Puneet

    Zyanga games are monotous. and personally I feel they are very very boring.
    Zyanga games are definitely not for hardcore gamers.

    • steve lam

      honestly how many ‘hardcore gamers’ (aka little kids or grown men living in basements) are there compared to your typical facebook surfing/casual game time killers? not a surprise zynga is surpassing EA.

  • Ben

    Hey I think you guys are overlooking that Zynga and EA are on separate ends of the market. I mean there is not much cross over in audience between EA games and Zynga. In fact Zynga becoming huge is a good thing for games as it is opening the gaming market to more types of people. Those people may be inexperienced and find bad games fun, but many of them get bored with Farmvile and move on to something like The Sims or even MMOs. Also the more Zynga abuses virtual items, the more competitors are going to have better more fair systems.

  • http://tagmyphone.com/ Richard

    I have the feeling Zynga will die a quick death once people realize what a scam Farmville its.

    its not a game, its a real life social ponzi scheme.

    “Joe really needs your help to grow crops”

    “Sally needs your help to build a barn”

    All their messages are designed to guilt people into participating.

    It will die within a year or two, God willing. The exodus has already started.

  • Gav

    What is the world coming to when Farmville has become so popular? In the event of an real-life Armageddon would be people actually know how to farm & cultivate crops?!! I guess not…