While the agreement gives Zynga greater latitude to pursue growth on other sites, including its own, it also removes the special status that the social-gaming leader has enjoyed since 2010, when Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and his Zynga counterpart, Mark Pincus, forged the five-year pact. Now, other game developers will have equal footing as they try to lure users of the social site, said Will Harbin, chief executive officer of game maker Kixeye Inc.
“Facebook is moving toward treating all developers as equal,” Harbin said. “They are doing their absolute best to be a fair and open platform. They don’t want to muddy the waters; they don’t want to play favorites.”
Zynga shares plunged 7.6 percent to $2.42 at 9:31 a.m. in New York. Facebook shares were little changed at $27.39.
Under the new contract terms, Zynga users will no longer have to use Facebook as the login for the Zynga.com gaming portal. Zynga can also elect not to use Facebook Payments as the way for users to make purchases on its site, and it can opt not to display ads served by Facebook. While the social network can now develop its own games, Facebook said that’s not planned.
Read also:
Facebook: SEC Should Investigate the Pump and Dump (Huffington Post)
Zynga Slides After Changing the Rules of Its Relationship With Facebook (Wall Street Journal (blog))
Facebook and Zynga to end close relationship (BBC News)
Explore: 422 additional articles.
From Our Sponsor
