From pixels to figurines, Zynga’s FarmVille, Words with Friends, and other social networking games are being morphed into actual board games by Hasbro, the company that created Clue, Risk, and Connect Four.
“I would buy the board games,” Kerri Lustig, senior, said. “Call me old fashioned or weird or whatever, but when I was a kid (back in the 90s) board games were the best. I still love them.”
Sales of traditional board games are plummeting as consumers turn to social games on smart phones and tablets. Hasbro’s game and puzzle sales slid seven percent in its fourth quarter, following a 22 percent drop the year before, according to “Hasbro, Zynga Partner,” an article from The Wall Street Journal online. Hasbro has had an inability to fully capitalize on the rise of the casual smart phone and social-media games that have made Zynga a growing power.
Zynga’s Words with Friends, a Scrabble knockoff, has 13 million active monthly users on Facebook, according to the research firm http://appdata.com.
Zynga, the San Francisco-based firm behind the popular online games, has signed a deal with Hasbro that will allow the 89-year-old board-game company to create real-life versions of the hit social media games. The first toys based on Zynga’s virtual creations will be on the shelves this fall.
Brian Goldner, chief executive of Hasbro, said in a press conference in early February, the deal was part of the company’s plan to expand “from digital to analog and back again. Zynga is redefining how people play. This strategic alliance plays off both Hasbro’s and Zynga’s proven strengths and is [symbolic] of the new innovations and new platforms we are creating across our entire gaming portfolio.
The Hasbro deal is expected in order for Zynga to create virtual versions of Hasbro’s games, which also include Nerf guns and water pistols, My Little Pony, and the war-based board game Risk.
For the time being, the partnership does not extend to Zynga making new videogame versions of Hasbro’s board-game classics. Electronic Arts Inc. currently holds the digital rights to Hasbro board games.
The question is will the Zynga board games be as popular as their online counterparts.
“Probably not,” Chrissy Bono, senior, said. “Words With Friends is the same as Scrabble. [Zynga games are] just convenient for me on my phone and I can play multiple games at once.”
These games were created to be played online with friends on Facebook. But in the age of the Internet, some people spend more time playing Hanging With Friends, rather than actually hanging out with their friends.
“I would rather meet my friends and play games with them face to face instead of over the internet where I technically have no human interaction with them,” Lustig said.
Zynga fan, senior, Morgan Behrens enjoys playing Zynga games on screen. She used to be a major FarmVille fan, but right now she enjoys Hanging With Friends.
“I think making them into real board games could be really fun. That way they could reach out to a younger generation and get people off the computer and interact with people in person rather than just online,” Behrens said.
Zynga board games have the chance to be a really great party game. Teenagers are already a fan of online games and apps, so the gaming duo has a chance to capitalize on fields they have yet to explore. The idea of FarmVille with a dice and figurines, in your living room, may win in the end.