The Facebook gaming giant isn't without its issues, however. Whether share options, cloning or game design by metrics, it's certainly not the most loved games company.
Dealing with those issues was never going to be the point of COO John Schappert's GDC 2012 talk, which was entitled the Future of Gaming.
Instead, it was something of promotional piece for the company's new platform business.
Fun and games
"Play is instinctual. It's the first thing you learn to do socially," Schappert pointed out, of the company's origins.
"You play with your friends. Play is social and accessible."
In terms of how this is changing the industry, Schappert argued we're in a golden age of gaming.
"Almost everyone is a gamer now. And they are prepared to pay too. Gamers spent $9 billion on virtual goods in 2011," he said.
Get connected
In terms of Zynga's on research, Schappert said that:
- 63 percent played with close friends
- 43 percent played with relatives
- 82 percent feel more connected to friends and family through playing
- 62 percent have reconnected with old friends
- 74 percent have made new friends
To drive this, Zynga is now focused on accessibility for its games, across Facebook, iOS, Android and Google+.
As an example, Schappert used Words With Friends, which grew from 2 million daily active users on iOS when Zynga bought developer Newtoy to now over 9 million DAUs on Facebook, iOS and Android.
Business With Zynga
But with its business heavily dependent on Facebook as a platform, the company is now rolling out its own solution on the web, so that third party developers can tap into its audience.
Of course, Zynga will take a cut of the business, just as Facebook takes a cut of its business.
"It's easier than ever to make a game, but it's really hard to capture an audience and scale your game to millions of players," said Rob Dyer, Zynga's VP, Platform Partners.
"We see a huge opportunity and we want to provide a consistent, level playing field for all."
Announcing Rebellion, Playdemic and Konami as new partners for the platform, Dyer said that such companies would benefit from Zynga's massive audience, strong marketing channels, its Zcloud infrastructure for hosting, as well as its analytics tools.
Together, we can build the industry into one that addresses the needs of one billion gamers, added Schappert.
