Mar 26, 2012 17:01 BST Zynga Buys "Draw Something" for $210m

The red-hot smartphone game Draw Something is to be sold off for $210m to Zynga, adding another socially-buzzing game to its ranks as well as the rest of OMGPOP’s social games. The developers of OMGPOP have more than 35 other titles in their cache that will now belong to Zynga.

Reports are that there will be $180 million for the company itself and an additional $30 million paid to retain the staff working at OMGPOP. David Ko, the chief mobile officer of OMGPOP, will remain in charge and the firm will stay at its New York offices. The 40 staff that are retained will develop games for mobiles as well as adding weight and more fun into their existing titles. It’s hoped that the marketing buzz from the take-over will rekindle some of the older titles and be more recognizable under the Zynga brand.

In less than two months since the Draw Something game was launched, which currently sits at the top of the App Store’s free and paid lists, it turned out to be a company and life changing game for all of those that work at OMGPOP. Already, there have been more than 1 billion drawings created with the app that has revolutionised the game of Pictionary. Available on Android and iPhone devices, the game has more than 35 million people using it; a figure that will rise every day. There are two versions, a free one with adverts or one that costs just £0.49 without adverts.

David Ko was quoted in saying, “if you haven’t already downloaded it, then you should check it out as it’s super fun”. The CEO for OMGPOP, Dan Porter, stated that the company would focus much of their time on Draw Something while having new and existing ideas in place for apps that will have a similar impact across the globe.

Porter also added, “the game will not change or be any different after joining Zynga. We will keep the magic and honesty of the game the same, but now we have more resources and our expansive gaming experience there will be even more surprising games launched soon. After being launched on Facebook, the app had 12.2 million daily users which trounced Words with Friends, which was leading the way with 8 million daily gamers using it.

The incredible popularity of Draw Something has made waves in the mobile app and gaming world, as other developers will be scurrying around thinking of new ideas that have a similar basis to try and piggy-back off Draw Something. The game is simple, one user draws something and sends it to their friends who have to guess what it is and draw something back. There is nothing much more to it but it does have an addictive nature and one user’s phone book can send the game viral in a very short space of time. And, as we’ve seen with Zynga’s quick decision to ‘flash the cash’ mobile developers could go from small-time ‘mo-devs’ to running a million-dollar company in just a few weeks.

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