Facebook readies a big change for games

Facebook is readying the launch of its Game Dashboard interface and other changes that will affect the way gamers experience and interact with games on the social network.

In FarmVille, Zynga has begun asking players if they will accept emails from the game, since, with the launch of the Game Dashboard, Facebook is eliminating some ways players will get information from the game, even as it creates others. Meanwhile, Zynga also warned that some players are having troubles posting feeds and clicking on feed links to FarmVille. Zynga said it is working with Facebook to resolve the problem. The glitch doesn’t seem to affect playing the game. But it may put a damper on spreading the good word about your accomplishments or needs in the game. FarmVille thrives on such communication, which helps it spread in a viral fashion.

A little glitch in FarmVille is no laughing matter. There is a lot at stake. FarmVille has 76 million monthly active users, a big chunk of Zynga’s total 230 million monthly active users on Facebook, according to AppData.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. 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.