Categories

Zynga chief operating officer Downie describes its new gameplan (interview)

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 8 min

Zynga pioneered social gaming on Facebook, and it has been trying for a couple of years to replicate that magic on mobile. That path has been much more difficult than anyone thought. Yesterday, it announced it would accelerate that effort by paying $527 million to acquire Natural Motion, maker of CSR Racing and Clumsy Ninja.

Zynga also said that it was beginning to turn around financially, but it also made another round of layoffs, cutting 314 employees, or 15 percent of its total. That shows the company isn’t out of the woods yet.

Unlock premium content and VIP community perks with GB M A X! Join now to enjoy our free and premium perks. 

Join now →

Sign in to your account.

Next page
Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.