Hurray! Farmville May Break Away from Facebook
So long, Farmville, it sucked knowing you!
Farmville and all of the games it has spawned are probably the most annoying part of Facebook. People are always asking you to water their crops, feed their pigs or help look for their lost sheep when all you really want to do is message your cousin and log off. Today, I bring you good news: the game that started all could be breaking away from Facebook.
Last year there were reports that Zynga, the company behind Farmville, was planning to take the hugely popular game to its own portal, Farmville.com. With millions of people playing, the game was successful and it was easy to see why Zynga might want to operate as a standalone game; without Facebook, Farmville could take up the entire page (as opposed to sitting inside the Facebook UI) and presumably, the company would make way more money without Facebook taking a chunk of revenue.
Michael Arrington reports that there's been a lot of tension between Zynga and Facebook as of late and sources say the relationship is at an all time low. With things looking so dire, it looks like Zynga may soon take the plunge and tear itself away from Facebook. The reason for all the tension is said to be Facebook's fee for credits.
TC:
"Some of the frustration goes back to last year’s limitations on messaging users. But a much bigger concern now is Facebook’s force feeding of Facebook Credits as the only payment platform that Zynga and others can use. Facebook takes a massive fee – 30% – for Credits, and the big publishers like Zynga see it as little more than a protection racket."
Facebook is reportedly pressuring Zynga to remain exclusively on Facebook and has gotten up to some not-so-nice activities, like shutting off notifications for Zynga apps, while discussing an agreement with the company.
TechCrunch goes on to cite a source that said Zynga CEO, Mark Pincus, held an all hands meeting last week to update staff on the situation with Facebook. TechCrunch's source claims Pincus announced that Zynga would soon launch a social gaming network called Zynga Live. Not only that but with things turning so sour with Facebook, the company is prepared to leave in very near future should it come to that.
"Facebook and Zynga has been negotiating on Facebook Credits and the talks turned for the worst. In the negotiation process, Facebook shut off Zynga\’s feeds and threatened to shut down games. Zynga in the process threatened to completely leave Facebook and prepared to do so in the previous upcoming weeks."
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I'm sure a lot of people addicted to this rubbish care.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph!!
That is the single best piece of news I have heard about Facebook in a looong time.
LOL I dabbled in Farmville for a bit. Ultimately I realized it was a pointless, and useless waste of time. And quite frankly it's not even fun. It's just something to do while you wait for a game update to download.
Now it just annoys me when I log into Facebook.
facebook still has a long way to go in order to be as good (in my opinion) as it was in 2006-2007ish.
Oh noes! What will the all the idiot breeders I went to high school with do in between forwarding the latest teabagger rumor and thanking Baby Jeebus for the blessings of WalMart?
If only I could find a way to care less!
Oh noes! What will the all the idiot breeders I went to high school with do in between forwarding the latest teabagger rumor and thanking Baby Jeebus for the blessings of WalMart?
You are from Texas right?
Funny, I just click the hide button on all Farmville posts and enjoy my Facebook session - really not that hard.
But it Farmville is making money then fair shout to them for wanting to outgrow Facebook and move on, good luck!
I'm proud to say i wouldn't have known about Farmville had i not been a southpark fan...
Anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon line.
One of the largest wastes of time, right behind WOW and Facebook itself. People have gotten so stupid it's just amazing.
Funny, I just click the hide button on all Farmville posts and enjoy my Facebook session - really not that hard.But it Farmville is making money then fair shout to them for wanting to outgrow Facebook and move on, good luck!
Clicking 'Hide' doesn't stop the invitations to play. You can block those too but it's more difficult and a lot of people probably don't know how.
Need your head checked if your an adult playing this childish game.
I don't care what happens to Farmville as long as it occupies my girlfriend still.
Clicking 'Hide' doesn't stop the invitations to play. You can block those too but it's more difficult and a lot of people probably don't know how.
The easiest way to avoid annoying Farmville messages is to just not use Facebook. Seriously, give your friends your email address and move on.
I don't "play" Farmville, but I have to wonder if it will see the same kind of success when (if) people need to log in to a separate website to be a part of it. I imagine that part of the allure is integration - while you do whatever else you do on facebook, you can do the Farmville thing, easily send messages to your friends/post to your wall about how you need them to water your goats, baconify your pigs, etc., and send obnoxious notices every time a new blade of grass starts growing.
Will the hype sustain if people have to navigate elsewhere for their fix? Obviously achievements and updates are present in a lot of games, but I'm curious to see if dislodging it from Facebook will cause a meaningful drop in the number of users.
I don't care what happens to Farmville as long as it occupies my girlfriend still.
You'll care when you marry her and she starts spending your money on Farmville.
Clicking 'Hide' doesn't stop the invitations to play. You can block those too but it's more difficult and a lot of people probably don't know how.
Point taken, although I usually just shout at people who invite me too often. Hmmm maybe I should start smoking again - I'm really not very nice at the moment lol
Maybe Zynga is wondering what kind of income they are giving up being a Facebook exclusive? Certainly, on the iPhone, Zynga's absence has left a door wide open for competitors to come in and start capitalizing on the concept.
lol - previous upcoming weeks - so is that, like, now?
I don't play Farmville, but I do play some of the other games and this is what most of time on the site is spent doing now. With Facebook constantly removing more and more privacy settings, getting these games off the site would be a huge slap in the face for them as I'm sure there are many people who would leave to play the games on the Zynga portal.
They may have millions of users but it sure doesn't sound like much of a game.
I'm happy, but I'm still breaking away from Facebook anyway.
I never really used facebook. I couldn't stand farmville either, but everyone I know and their mothers all play it!
I don't get that if you don't like something that is spamming your facebook page, just block it and you will never see it again.
I blocked Farmville after 2 updates in my news feed. As I do all pointless game feeds.
I hate Farmville, but this is good for the games industry. It'll make people realise that Facebook isn't the only casual game center.
Honestly, I hope Facebook suffers.
I don't "play" Farmville, but I have to wonder if it will see the same kind of success when (if) people need to log in to a separate website to be a part of it. I imagine that part of the allure is integration - while you do whatever else you do on facebook, you can do the Farmville thing, easily send messages to your friends/post to your wall about how you need them to water your goats, baconify your pigs, etc., and send obnoxious notices every time a new blade of grass starts growing.Will the hype sustain if people have to navigate elsewhere for their fix? Obviously achievements and updates are present in a lot of games, but I'm curious to see if dislodging it from Facebook will cause a meaningful drop in the number of users.
You think to much.
You think to much.
I get that a lot.
However much Farmville sucks, this is just another example of how Facebook sucks worse. Charging 30% on in-game purchases and trying to force the game to be Facebook only. BS.
Of course as soon as they leave Facebook they'll start to lose most of their players and get virtually no new ones.
this is such good news... i was playing it to try and help out my younger cousins... but i cant play any game causally
so i turned into a power gamer even there... it was quite ridiculous until i woke and said whatever... it doesnt even bring socializing as i thought it might with my younger cousins... which i was hoping to teach them how to be decent at that game as i surpassed them in 2 days what they have been doing for months... I know pathetic but i quit at least 