2. INTRODUCTION
The world’s fastest growing gaming company doesn’t boast top-of-the-line
graphics, heart-pounding action, or masterful storytelling. It doesn’t make
games for the Playstation, Xbox, or Wii. The company in question is Zynga,
and if you have a Facebook account, odds are you’re already well aware of
its most popular games. Zynga’s explosive growth illustrates the potential of
social gaming and the ability of social networks to provide critical data
about a company’s customers. Founded in 2007 by Mark Pincus and a
group of other entrepreneurs, Zynga is the leading developer of social
network games, such as CityVille, Texas HoldEm Poker, and FarmVille.
These games, along with Zynga’s Empires & Allies game, are the four most
frequently used applications on Facebook. Zynga’s games have over 290
million monthly active users and 65 million daily players whose gaming
keystrokes and clicks generate 3 terabytes of data every day. Since its
inception, Zynga has put a priority on data analytics to guide the
management of its games and the business decisions of the company
3. 1. It is said that Zynga is "an analytics company
masquerading as a games company.” Discuss the
implications of this statement.
.Zynga's success has been example for video gaming industries.
Zynga used the information available free for them i.e. the data of
player frequency, preferences. It didn't interested much on short
term income charging for customers but applied analytics to better
improve users experience so that customers are retained more.
•It maintained an eco-system of player, games and company data
analysis system. Although Zynga's developers disliked the
company's strategy of data analysis rather than game development it
continued the way of retaining customers on simple games instead
of plugging users on hard games.
4. 2. What role does business intelligence play in Zynga's
business model
Zynga have dedicated Vertica cluster for developing real-time
graph of data on daily basis. Zynga's feeding and notification
system is highly influenced by analysis of previous night's
graph. It aims to better match level and type of gift for active
players and lowering spamming inactive players.
When Zynga proposes and add certain feature to any game it
can quickly get picture of its pro and cons, effectiveness by
that day end graph so that they can improve or remove such
feature.
5. 3. Give examples of three kinds of decisions supported
by business intelligence at Zynga.
Zynga have system to get day to day analytics graph that
interprets terabytes of data. It determines user preference so
that user preferences are measured more accurately.
Depending upon user interest and involvement it can feed
virtual goods likely to be purchased.
Zynga on the other hand have access to players profile,
background and interest from their Facebook profile. Most
users sharing things on Facebook so Zynga can make this
profile a source for greater accurate information.
Zynga attempts to suffer inactive members less through spams
but prioritize active ones offering limited edition offers which
the gamers prefer much. Similar behavioral users group are
detected and targeted for game-related promotions and
activities.
6. 4. How much of a competitive advantage does business
intelligence provide for Zynga? Explain.
Zynga accounted $91 million dollar profit in 2010 with
revenue of $600 on same year jumping from the figure
of $121 in 2009. Zynga followed different track than
traditional business and have been role model for some
running and some startup game industries. The revenue
figure concludes its success of strategy. Zynga doesn't
target revenue from original game but from virtual goods
which are offered very precisely with detail analysis of
available data.
7. 5. What problems can business intelligence solve for
Zynga? What problems cannot it solve
Business Intelligent system can be used to reduce spam
and promote active players interaction. Moreover it can
use data analytics to get information of good and bad
products so that they can trash rubbish piling up in their
system. It can measure users' likelihood of accepting
changes and upgrades on games by daily updates.
If Zynga underestimated requirement of creativity and
only concern data analysis then they fail on success.
They parallel should focus on both. Moreover its higher
dependency on Facebook make it parasite to it so if
Facebook raised some change in its strategies or policies
then the direct effect is on Zynga
