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To celebrate Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Zynga is spotlighting some of our incredible AAPI-identifying employees throughout May. We recognize the important influence that the AAPI community has had on the history, culture, and achievements of our organization and the world, and we are excited to share our employees’ stories. We are kicking off…

If you’re ready to experience American sports racing at its finest, speed over to CSR Racing 2 (CSR2) for the “America Series” hosted by racing legends Danica Patrick and Mark Webber.  Players start with a free Ford Mustang RTR Spec 3 to compete in 10 events on seven tracks across the U.S. With each succeeding…

Puzzle Combat, Zynga’s newest mobile match-3 action role-playing game (RPG) where players recruit heroes, build bases and compete in player-vs-player (PvP) battles in a zombie-themed setting is now available to players globally. In Puzzle Combat, players immerse themselves in battling enemies from the dangerous Dread Army with power-ups by creating unique match combinations.  To achieve…

Throughout the month of March, Women at Zynga (WAZ) has hosted a series of virtual initiatives to honor Women’s History Month. Zynga’s commitment to women throughout the company is core to our mission every day, and this month provided us with the opportunity to further honor their accomplishments, contributions, resilience, and perspectives. In addition to…

Zynga is continuing our celebration of Women’s History Month by spotlighting our female employees who work at our studios all around the globe. This week, we spoke with Sheetal Joshi, the HR Business Partner Director for the Casino Match team in Austin, Texas. As an HRBP Director, Sheetal thrives on making a positive impact on the…

Throughout the month of March, Zynga has spotlighted some of the incredible women that work at our game studios around the world in honor of Women’s History Month. We are concluding the celebration with a feature on Maria Camenzuli, a Senior Software Engineer based out of Zynga’s Boss Alien studio in Brighton, England. As an…

Zynga continues to celebrate Women’s History month as we spotlight some of the amazing women that work at our studios around the world. We are excited to feature Kate Stavola, the Senior Creative Director on the Words With Friends team! Kate has been working in the gaming industry for about 20 years. As an avid…

Zynga continues our celebration of Women’s History Month by spotlighting some of the incredible women that work at our game studios around the world. We are thrilled to be featuring Ozge Agziemiz, a UI-UX Designer based out of our Casual Cards Studio in Istanbul, Turkey. Ozge’s passion for art and design started at an early…

To celebrate Women’s History Month, Zynga is spotlighting some of the incredible women who work at our game studios around the world. We sat down with Miranda Smith, a Principal Software Engineer based in Carlsbad, California. Miranda has been a member of the Zynga family since 2012 when a previous company she worked at was…

Holi is originally a Hindu festival termed “the festival of colors.” Today, this vibrant festival is celebrated by a variety of communities in India and throughout the world to celebrate the arrival of the spring season, the blossoming of love, and the opportunity to gather, play, and laugh with family and friends.  This year, Holi…

Zynga’s celebration of Women’s History Month continues as we spotlight the stories of some of the amazing women who work at our global studios. We are excited to be featuring Bhagya Gopalakrishna, a Senior Software Engineer based out of our Bangalore studio in India. Bhagya has been with Zynga since 2012 and joined the team…

Zynga’s Women’s History Month celebrations continue as we spotlight some of the talented and inspiring women that work at our studios across the globe. This week we are featuring Keisha Krainer, a Talent Operations Manager on the Global Recruiting team who joined our Toronto studio in 2019. Throughout the interview process, Keisha expressed that she…

Zynga is continuing our celebration of Women’s History Month by spotlighting some of the magnificent women who work in all divisions of our business at our studios around the world. This week we spoke with Milica Denic, a Senior Producer on the CSR Racing team based out of Zynga’s Natural Motion studio in London. Milica…

To honor Women’s History Month this March, Zynga is highlighting the stories of some of the amazing women who work at our game studios around the world. We spoke with Eveliina Aalto, a Graphic Designer based in our Small Giant studio in Helsinki. Having been drawing and creating characters since childhood, Eveliina always knew she…

In celebration of this year’s International Women’s Day, Zynga has teamed up with global organization, Girls Who Code (GWC), in support of women in tech. We’ve pledged $100,000 from our Social Impact Fund to enable GWC to support girls at all points throughout their educational journey from 3rd grade into the workforce. GWC is an…

Zynga is continuing our celebration of Women’s History Month by spotlighting our female employees who work at our studios all around the globe. We spoke with Corey Harper, the Office Manager for the Casino Match team at our Chicago studio! Corey was introduced to Zynga right out of college and has been with us for…

To celebrate Women’s History Month, Zynga is showcasing a number of our female employees from our studios all over the world throughout the month of March. We are kicking off our celebration with an introduction to Amy Oka-Shek, a Senior Manager on the Publishing team’s Demand Planning division. Based in Los Angeles, California, Amy has…

To honor this year’s Black History Month, Zynga is spotlighting employees who work in all divisions of the business to make our community and products as inclusive and diverse as the people who play our games. We are excited to feature Aaliyah Sowards, a Revenue Accountant on our Finance team! Aaliyah joined Zynga in June…

Zynga is continuing our celebration of Black History Month. This week, we spoke with Keith Bullock, a producer on the Hit It Rich! Slots team who is based out of our San Francisco office. Keith is an avid gamer who has been working at Zynga for almost 11 years. You may be curious as to…

Beginning this week and running through the remainder of February, FarmVille 2: Tropic Escape is celebrating Black History Month with a special in-game event and creative experience honoring prominent leaders of the Civil Rights Movement.  Come check out Yasmine X and Zuri Y, a pair of discerning performance painters, as they bring their live act…

Zynga and Lucasfilm Games today announced Star Wars: Hunters, a free-to-play competitive arena combat game for the Nintendo Switch system and mobile devices landing in 2021. The game will bring players together to engage in thrilling, squad-based multiplayer battles.  Star Wars: Hunters connects players in real-time to battle in settings inspired by iconic Star Wars…

This year, February 12th marked the first day of the Lunar New Year. Jessica Ho, User Acquisition Manager based in our Zynga San Francisco office, describes what her Lunar New Year celebration entailed and how the Zynga Asian Pacific Islander (ZAPI) employee resource group contributed to this years’ festivities.   Lunar New Year which is…

Throughout the month of February, Zynga is honoring Black History Month by spotlighting employees who work in all divisions of the business to make our products as inclusive and diverse as the people who play our games every day. This week, we spoke with Evette Love! Based in Zynga’s Chicago office, Evette is the Senior…

At Zynga, we believe the world needs more young people to develop computer science skills. Only 3% of Black students learn computer science in high school or beyond. Currently, there are numerous structural and cultural barriers to young Black Americans choosing to focus on computer science. This Black History Month, let’s explore ways in which companies…

Zynga is proud to announce that it has partnered with Grammy Award-winning artist, will.i.am, and the i.am Angel Foundation to help bring educational opportunities to underserved students across the country through Zynga’s newly formed Social Impact Fund.  Zynga’s Social Impact Fund is designed to provide social and charitable giving across industries and communities. The fund…

Continuing its annual tradition, Google announced its Best of 2020 awards — the company’s list of the best apps, games, movies and books for the year. The top apps and games, which are picked by both Google Play users and editors, have brought hours of fun for players and have brought people from across the globe together. That…

Zynga’s director of benefits Bryan Aycock has been named Employee Benefit News’ 2020 Benefits Professional of the Year for his work during the COVID-19 healthcare and financial crisis. Amidst a year of upheaval and transitions in the world of work, many employees have been left feeling unmoored and unmotivated, searching for a new post-coronavirus paradigm. Bryan…

Poornima Seetharaman, a game developer, entrepreneur, the leading lady behind ‘Farmville 2’, and a gamer herself, has entered the Global Hall of Fame for Women In Gaming. With 15-years dedicated to the craft and running her own gaming blog Drowlife, she’s currently the Lead Game Designer at Zynga Gaming, the brain behind games like Zynga Poker, CSR2, and…

Rhett Lezama has been working in the gaming industry for almost 10 years and is a Senior Programmer on the CSR team in our London Natural Motion Studio. Holding a degree in computer science with a focus on games development, Rhett is passionate about his craft, and the teamwork and creativity that go into creating…

NaturalMotion concludes its celebration of Black History Month this week with a profile on Esther Sodeke – Product Marketing Manager. She is a crucial part of the employee resource group, Black Zynga Union (BZU) and has also lead initiatives for NaturalMotion Education Outreach programme. Continue reading to learn more about Esther Sodeke’s career journey and her…

Introduction Caching is an important aspect of building an application that performs well at web scale. Proper caching can reduce the number of API calls, save on CPU time, make requests faster, the application more responsive, and reduce the infrastructure cost. We used one of the techniques mentioned in this article to reduce the average…

Dan Joseph joined Zynga in 2014 and is NaturalMotion’s Senior Game Designer on the Racing franchise. With the support and growth opportunities provided by the design team, throughout the last six years Dan worked his way from QA Tester, to Designer, to Senior Game Designer. Dan says that being a game designer is heavily based…

When Antonia Oguntokun joined NaturalMotion almost three years ago, she went through the culture shock of transitioning from a strictly corporate environment to the more fun, creative and laid back atmosphere within the colourful walls of our London studio.  Having always worked as an accountant, her transferable profession has opened her doors to the games…

Women at Zynga (WAZ) is an employee-led community empowering women in gaming by creating more opportunities for them to succeed and grow as leaders in the industry. Founded in 2010, our mission is to foster an inclusive work environment while pushing to correct the gender imbalance that currently exists in gaming. This September, WAZ’s Austin chapter…

As a passionate and avid gamer, Ponappa was thrilled to begin his career with Zynga as a Product Manager at our Bangalore studio in 2015. Two years later, he transferred to our London studio where he currently works as a Lead Product Manager for the Action-Strategy group which comprises Dawn of Titans, Star Wars: Commander…

Betty is BossAlien’s indomitable Art Director overseeing the Character Team. She brings deep experience and a keen perspective, gained over more than 11 years in the games industry, to keep all aspects of character concept, modeling, and animation on track and in top shape. Betty embodies BossAlien’s passion and values towards reflecting diverse inclusion across…

Whitney’s Story When Whitney graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in computer engineering, she chose to build her career at Zynga because the company’s highly creative environment allowed her to combine her passion for both art and technology. She worked her way up from being a software engineer to a manager position,…

Women at Zynga (WAZ) is an employee-led community empowering women in gaming by creating more opportunities for them to succeed and grow as leaders in the industry. Founded in 2010, our mission is to foster an inclusive work environment while pushing to correct the gender imbalance that currently exists in gaming. Summer is one of…

Having joined Zynga in January 2020, James Nicholls is the General Manager of our new NaturalMotion Racing Studio in Birmingham. Throughout his 17 year gaming journey, James’ love for the game-making process and the entrepreneurial and team-oriented culture helped him advance from programmer, to designer, to creative director and finally, general manager. One of the…

Join in to to celebrate the 51st anniversary of the moon landing in FarmVille 2: Tropic Escape with an in-game event on July 20th, lasting until July 30th. The month of July is filled with notable anniversaries of space achievements, and Tropic Escape has always enjoyed celebrating them in the game. This year, the space agency…

Rick and Morty are returning for more fun in Merge Dragons! in a special live event called Froopy Flight taking place on July 10th, 2020, lasting until July 13th, 2020. The duo is embarking on special events that reward players for healing land and collecting points. Rick and Morty enter the game through a strange…

CSR2 is here to take you on an all American Road Trip to celebrate American car culture.     While cruising coast to coast, every day is a different story exploring iconic cars and locations!   Download CSR2 here https://zynga.social/CSR2AmericanRoadTrip   Follow the Road Trip and unlock in-game rewards at https://bddy.me/31ASNOw

[Shared at the request of Zynga employees] Dear Zynga: I want to follow up on Matt Bromberg’s earlier email to you about the importance of equality and justice.  The events of these past days and weeks have been profoundly difficult—for our communities and for each of us.   These events ask us to consider, and…

DISH: RIGATONI, SPICY SAUSAGE, BROCCOLI RABE By Melissa King Recipe can be made vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free Yield: 6 people 1 box – Large Rigatoni (Barilla Collezione works nice or any high-quality brand) 3 links – Hot or Regular Italian Sausage, remove casing, break up meat (Can omit and be vegetarian) 1 bunch – Broccoli Rabe…

SAN FRANCISCO – May 18, 2020 – Zynga Inc.  (Nasdaq: ZNGA), a global leader in interactive entertainment, today announced the launch of Hypercar Festival, a three-part event series in CSR Racing 2 (CSR2). The Hypercar Festival is a celebration of Hypercars taking place in the game’s Storm Drain Track. The event series, which begins later…

Amazon and Zynga Team up To Bring Free Mobile Content to Words With Friends Players with Amazon Prime Memberships Can Claim Free Rewards Zynga Inc. (Nasdaq: ZNGA), a global leader in interactive entertainment, today announced a collaboration with Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) to bring free content to Amazon Prime members in one of Zynga’s most popular…

Global Games Industry Encourages Players to Follow Health and Safety Guidelines for COVID-19; Provides Information and Social Connection WHAT Today, the global and far-reaching games industry agreed to disseminate key messages from the World Health Organization to help slow the spread of COVID-19. To promote these messages, 18 game industry leaders in the interactive entertainment…

Heather Decker continues our celebration of Women’s History Month! Based in Zynga’s Chicago office, Heather joined the studio in 2013 from the small start up Spooky Cool Labs and is now a Production Lead on Game of Thrones™ Slots Casino overseeing a large team across more than six locations. In 2016 Heather founded Chicago’s Women…

Since joining Zynga in 2009, Deepthi Menon has seen the radical growth in mobile gaming and been along for the ride inside Zynga’s ever evolving business. Beginning with Zynga in product development for titles like CityVille, YoVille and FishVille, then transforming Zynga India into a game studio powerhouse, Deepthi is now the Senior Vice President…

Continuing Zynga’s honor of Women’s History Month, we would like to introduce Janice Lansing, the Senior Director of Business Operations for Zynga’s Casino Match division.  She joined Zynga after starting her career in finance at a pharmaceutical company, and was introduced to gaming through a position at Electronic Arts. Janice helps drive the operating performance…

Sunday, March 8th marked International Women’s Day, and Zynga has been celebrating all week with events produced by Women At Zynga (WAZ) chapters across the globe. Women at Zynga (WAZ), is the longest standing employee resource group at Zynga. With a mission to empower women to succeed and become leaders in their careers and communities,…

Zynga is happy to kick off celebrating #WomensHistoryMonth with an introduction to Whitney Mak, an engineering manager of the iconic game Words With Friends. Based in our Zynga Toronto office, Whitney joined the studio after working as an engineer at XMG Studio, Research In Motion, and ionGrid, Inc. She is deeply involved in Women At…

Recently NaturalMotion General Manager James Nicholls participated in the Interactive Futures Conference, an annual event focussed on the West Midlands gaming hub, celebrating the huge development presence in the region and introducing people who are interested in entering the games industry to potential roles in the local area. Moderated by writer and broadcaster Jordan Erica…

Yesterday Zynga was honored to host a panel about gender equality, gaming and the workplace, inspired by the book Alpha Girls: The Women Upstarts Who Took on Silicon Valley’s Male Culture and Made the Deals of a Lifetime. Hosted by the company’s employee resource group, Women At Zynga (WAZ), Alpha Girls author Julian Guthrie was…

Zynga concludes its celebration of Black History Month this week with a profile on Esther Sodeke, a Product Marketing Coordinator in Zynga UK. Esther recently graduated from De Montfort University and joined Zynga studios within the NaturalMotion team, focusing on work with the CSR2 team. She is a part of the employee resource group, Black…

We sat down with Zynga Poker Ambassador Hugh Grant to learn more about the tricks of the trade and how poker has changed his life. Hugh is one of the top-ranking Zynga Poker players and currently on the poker circuit trying his hand at a tournament title. He recently played in the Zynga Poker WPT…

Happy 10th Anniversary Zynga India! This week Zynga India celebrated their 10th anniversary with a host of celebrations across three days of activities. Commemorating their love of games, food and knowledge, the office has joined together for friendly game competitions like a Pool & Table Tennis tournament, Musical Chairs, Snakes and Ladders, Treasure Hunt and…

Zynga continues its celebration of Black History Month this week with Robert Hamiter. He is based in our San Francisco office as a Quality Assurance Analyst. Born in Philadelphia and raised in Los Angeles, Rob is an avid gamer who has enjoyed the growth and creativity of the video game industry over the years. What…

This month, Zynga is celebrating Black History Month by spotlighting employees who work in all divisions of the business to make our products as inclusive and diverse as the people who play and engage with our games every day. This week we spoke with Tracey Thomas! Based in Zynga’s Austin office, Tracey oversees Zynga’s Learning…

This month, Zynga is celebrating Black History Month by spotlighting employees who work in all divisions of the business to make our products as inclusive and diverse as the people who play and engage with our games every day. Kicking off our employee spotlight is Ian Osawaye! Ian is based out of Zynga’s Toronto office…

On January 20th, Zynga’s studio leaders Timo Soininen (Small Giant Games), Eren Yanik (Gram Games), and Julian Widdows (NaturalMotion), took to the stage at the 7th Annual Pocket Gamer Connects London conference to talk about the process of mergers and acquisitions for the “Integrating an Acquisition into Your Business” panel. Steel Media COO Dave Bradley…

Since launching in 2009, Words With Friends has become the world’s most popular mobile game with over 279M players challenging their friends, family members and strangers to lay down their letter tiles. Over the years, the games team has partnered with mega stars like actor Alec Bladwin and musician Garth Brooks, as well as non-profits…

Why & How Words With Friends Is Adopting React Native
By John Bacon, Brian Liang, and Peter Turner on September 18, 2018
App and game developers who work on frequently updated products are often tasked with keeping up…

In 2018, we’ll be celebrating our 9 year anniversary since launching Words With Friends on mobile…

Parikshit Agnihotry and Leo Nishio Migrating primary data stores with no downtime, without losing data can be tricky and a lot could go wrong. One of the games at Zynga, recently completed such a project to migrate our primary data store to Couchbase from Membase, an older version of Couchbase server which is Memcached with…

Andrew Heidgerken Running a live social game can be a lot like playing a game of Jenga; the more moves you make the higher the chance the whole thing may crash down. Earlier this year, noting an increase in user complaints, we realized that the web game I work was threatening to collapse. Years ago,…

(AWS Global Infrastructure)
Purpose
Zynga games have a wide global audience. Our main servers…