Zynga unveils its NFL Showdown mobile game as it pushes into sports titles

Just in time for football season, Zynga is launching its NFL Showdown game, its first sports title for mobile devices. The title reflects the company’s effort to step up its game quality and move into new genres in pursuit of mobile gamers.

The expansion into football is a very serious effort for a company that made social games like FarmVille, and it is another sign that brands are becoming a strategic weapon in mobile gaming. Much like the recently rebooted Zynga Poker game, NFL Showdown and its larger sports brand are critical to Zynga’s future in gaming.

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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.