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Zynga digs deep into its back-catalogue for newly soft-launched game Mafia Wars

The title returns for another crack at the big time

Zynga digs deep into its back-catalogue for newly soft-launched game Mafia Wars
By , Editor

Zynga appears to be relaunching one of its most popular Facebook games on mobile platforms with the soft-launch of new game Mafia Wars.

It was released in Indonesia on Android and iOS on March 30th 2017 and has not received any updates so far.

The game revolves around building up a gang and forming alliances with other players. It will feature real-world cities and locations that can be taken control of alongside other alliance members.

Whacked

"We're testing a new Action Strategy MMO mobile game – Mafia Wars – which draws inspiration from one of our most popular, early franchises on the web," said Zynga in a statement.

"The team is in the early stages of game development and we look forward to hearing from our players during our soft launch."

Mafia Wars is best known as a Facebook game launched in 2008 and subsequently shut down in 2016. It made its way onto iPhones back in 2009, but this version too was shut down.

Despite its popularity in its Facebook heyday, Zynga has had trouble relaunching the IP in the past, and killed two of its spin-offs in January 2013.

Mafia Wars is not Zynga's only game currently in soft-launch. It is also developing a reboot for its Words With Friends game, appropriately titled New Words With Friends.


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Ric Cowley
Ric Cowley
Editor

Ric is the Editor of PocketGamer.biz, having started out as a Staff Writer on the site back in 2015. He received an honourable mention in both the MCV and Develop 30 Under 30 lists in 2016 and refuses to let anyone forget about it.

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Reply
Saief Mahmud
Mafia Wars is the game where i spend too much time of my life. i am playing mafia wars since 2009 and i am missing my favorite mw after 2016 june 6... i really miss those old school day a lot. i want mw return with our old stats
Reply
David W Sutton
Mafia wars was one of Zyngas successes back in the day. Once it had almost 20 million active players but they got to greedy with the game, spam the feeds, too much content, try to force us into spending more money, kept changing the TOS rules. We the players tried over and over to voice our thoughts but Zynga the greedy bastards that they are refused to listen. Simple really, if a player base is happy they will pay for their fun and entertainment but Zynga lost focus and turned a blind eye to the player base.
Reply
Robin Boersma
No way will I play this game on my phone, either bring it back where we left off or or stick it where the sun don't shine
Reply
Tony Reeder
I started when New York was the only locale. Whether they start it back or not, I don't see it going anywhere unless they start people at the levels they left off on the original. I certainly do not plan to start all over.
Reply
Robert Stevens
(double middle Finger) to Zynga. I will never play another game made by Zynga after what they did their loyal MW players & how they lied over & over to the players
Reply
Henning H Witt
No way I want to play another Zynga game after what you did to us loyal mafia wars players. Good luck getting some of the old players back. After some years, you probably also close this down and lose even more customers. Well done Zynga
Reply
Dan Maddox
Mid-Finger to Zynga, ya screwed me once and that is enough!! Thank you.
Reply
Malorie Crawford
Good luck with that! Not a chance in hell I will return after how they treated loyal players. I will keep my life, thank you. I don't know anyone that would start playing a Zynga game now.
Reply
Michael Mcgee
how dare they.we played it for years about 9 years..did 3 years without missing a day. spent money on it and i said i never would. because there profit margin was not big enough they pulled the plug..well.f..k them
Reply
Jimmy Moreno
Zynga lost thousands of players worldwide who spent $$ & so much time with mafia wars. No one will come back unless some how they got their original accounts back. Unless that happens forget it!
Reply
Henrik Drewes
Zynga! This finger is not a thumps up finger
Reply
RG Reser
After playing for years, Zygna decided to shut down the game. Whether it was a strategic decision or a financial one, it was shutdown.

Why would I want to re-engage with a company again. Mafia Wars, Farnville, other games they had (that I tried) were all shutdown.

I have no faith in their offerings continuing once they don't making their profit margins.
Reply
George Darcy
Unless the game Mafia Wars is not returned to active status, and that may not be near enough to get any of the millions of players that was dumped after years of playing!