Poor Zynga. With shares a-tumbling, copyright lawsuits arriving, and senior staff abandoning ship, the social games specialist has turned in desperation to the dark arts of “hardcore” game development. Um.
It might sound like the setup for a corporate fish-out-of-water comedy, but Business Insider is reporting that Zynga is out to net a “more masculine audience” with its new title, which represents a move into “hardcore gaming”. It’s unlikely that move indicates a newfound respect for the traditions of our fair medium – bear in mind that Zynga is also looking to online gambling as a source of income in its downward spiral.
For a while, though, we’ve pined for a meaty game or three to lose ourselves in on Facebook. Wouldn’t it make for the most wonderful deathbed redemption if that game came from the developer least likely?