Zynga now valued at $5.51 billion, more than Electronic Arts

SharesPost has valued Farmville developer Zynga Game Network at $5.51 billion, according to Business Week. That means it is now estimated to be bigger than console publisher Electronic Arts, which stands at a market cap of $5.16 billion. It still has a long way to go to beat Activision Blizzard, which has a market cap of $13.9 billion.

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I hate farmville with a a real hate. My House mates (2 ladys and a gay guy) all go on it religously for no reason! hell the gay guy has basically got as far as a human possibly can yet he goes back just to look at his garden!

Kind of upset to hear that EA is doing so badly, I mean they publish games like crysis and BF:BC2 and they are being beaten (in value anyway) by this rubbish!

This is insane. People go absolutely bananas over Farmville.

That dang Farmville - has most everyone in the world addicted to it.

Definitely has to be a case of quantity over quality. Between Farmville and Mafia Wars, facebook has become nothing but an annoyance.

That is quite impressive, though I don't condone them. I think most of their games on facebook are mindless drivel and anyone who plays them a lot shouldnt have a computer

I never though such a game could make a company grow so much, to the point it has beaten EA at least in value... Well it's like the wii philosophy, looking for a bigger market that doesn't necessarily covers true hardcore gamers...

There must be a lot of unemployed people right now. Face Book and this game make me want to set my face on fire. As poser said so aptly, it is "mindless drivel and anyone who plays them a lot shouldn't have a computer." My 2 year old can play Farmville....it's a game for people with low intelligence quotients who have no lives and TONS of time. Humanity is doomed. Now people play it on their phones?? I saw this trend at work...people on Face Book when they SHOULD have been working.

I have a 32 year old friend who plays Farmville and once i asked him "Why do you play this" ... his answer - "I do not know ....really.... "

And they say WoW is addiction ...

This is just another sign of the changing times and the continued growth of the casual market. There will always be a place for hardcore games that we 'real' gamers expect from the industry and I hardly think we should worry considering many good games are still being published by EA. Popularity rarely equates to the best quality, and in this case they are at the bottom of the barrel. However that doesn't change the fact that tons of money can be made from it...unfortunately.

facebook and farmville can kiss my HWA!
Seriously though, I see why this is possible.
These games are free first and foremost. They also are interconnected to an already established base of users. It is no surprise that Zynga has made a killing off of these lame implementations of interactive simulators. The days of pay to play are on their way out the door as developers opt for different cash revenues that pay just as well or better than micro transactions or full retail, digital or brick and mortar, and avoid piracy altogether.
There is no stopping the doomtrain that is Social Gaming.

who is Zynga never hear of it...

Good point actually, its a bit like the premium Sound Market,

Not many people have heard of company's like Bowsers & Wilkins or Bang & Olsen or even Bose.
But plenty have heard of Sony, Logitech or Panasonic.

Same with this, not all my friends know what crysis is and even less with BF:BC2 yet I (and I assume all that read this comment) know that they both are better than farmville.

Quality will always prevale quantity in my books.

In a world where Apple is sucessful, how could any of you think the average PC user has any bit of intelligence left?

I don't understand how can people play FarmVille, that's one of the most boring and stupid game ever made... but then again, that's just my opinion.

Your all just jelous you didnt come up with the game. I know I am.

Gotta agree - wish I had come up with something like that .

I feel its rather sad tho that such a simple game has pulled in so much money.

lol.. classic.

Wow, people really like wasting money on non existent things. I gotta hand it to Zynga for exploiting the stupidity in people though.

Just imagine the games we could have if profit was not the goal. If every company competed to make the best and most unique products we would be years ahead of where we are today not just in the gaming industry but society as a whole. Some of you will disagree claiming that profits drive improvement, and it does to some extent, just not as well as it could be.

Well Said, in fact facebook can fall in that category as well. It has its uses, but those that put in hours per day I certainly wouldn't class as intelligent.