Draw Something Sells, Drops 5 Million Users

The makers of the popular app Draw Something–OMGPOP–may have made the best deal of their careers recently when they sold the game to Zynga for a tidy sum right before millions of users dro...
Draw Something Sells, Drops 5 Million Users
Written by Amanda Crum
  • The makers of the popular app Draw Something–OMGPOP–may have made the best deal of their careers recently when they sold the game to Zynga for a tidy sum right before millions of users dropped it.

    Zynga picked up the app for $200 million, which may have seemed like a deal to them before 5 million people suddenly stopped playing, leaving Zynga with just 10 million customers. The game, which soared in popularity right after it debuted, has players guess a word with clues drawn by their opponent, Pictionary-style. Although initially addictive, the game has frustrated some users with word repetition and the awkwardness of use (unless the screen on your phone is good-sized, it’s difficult to fit a drawing in the small space allotted and still leave room for the letter spaces at the bottom).

    Zynga has already made moves to improve gameplay–and gain back some users–by talking big-name companies into shelling out dough in exchange for the names of their products to be integrated into the game, such as Doritos. They’ve also added celebrity names to the list of words, giving the game more of a pop-culture twist. But that only brings up more questions, namely how one is supposed to draw Nicki Minaj with only four colors. It also brings to light the issue of the game becoming a big advertisement, which could lose them even more users.

    Unlike Facebook’s acquisition of photo-sharing app Instagram, this deal seems to have been done solely on the basis of the game’s popularity and not on actual numbers. Draw Something is simply too new a game to prove itself just yet, and users are fickle.

    The zenith of brand engagement? Zynga’s plan to further monetize Draw Something: Make users draw brands http://t.co/kKEv7bGs via @TNWmobile 33 minutes ago via Tweet Button ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Remember Draw Something?? April was so lame. LOL! 2 days ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Ad Age: “NHL Among First to Buy Paid Terms in Hugely Popular Social game” piece on NHL partnering w/ Draw Something http://t.co/h6Rw3lD0 3 days ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    I was seriously addicted to Draw Something, but I got bored/overwhelmed. Seems like I’m not the only one http://t.co/hE65hcaW 3 days ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Dear Draw Something: My vocabulary is larger than that of your average Jersey Shore watcher. Please accommodate me. 4 days ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

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