Games Are Fun

Games are fun. But they can be socially relevant too. Please share this. At Draw Something, by OMGPOP & Zynga, we just added the word HOODIE.

– OMGPOP CEO Dan Porter, via Twitter

QOTD: Stick to Pictures

I’m sorry for what I said on Twitter last night. No excuses.

Former OMGPOP CEO Dan Porter, apologizing after describing Shay Pierce, a former OMGPOP employee who declined to work for Zynga, as “the weakest one on the whole team.” Among Porter’s many critics was Twitter CEO Dick Costolo: “Wow, what a nitwit comment that was.”

What It Means Now That Zynga Has Bought Its Way Back to the Top of the Charts

By acquiring OMGPOP, Zynga may have set the expectation that if it doesn’t create the most popular game organically — it will acquire it.
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News Byte

Zynga Confirms OMGPOP Acquisition, But Not How Much it Paid

As we reported earlier today, Zynga has officially acquired OMGPOP, the New York company responsible for the overnight mobile game hit Draw Something. In a conference call, Zynga’s Chief Mobile Officer David Ko declined to say how much it paid, but our sources say it was a pretty penny: About $180 million plus another $30 million in employee retention payments. OMGPOP’s CEO Dan Porter will become Zynga’s VP and General Manager in New York. Since launching six weeks ago on Android and iOS, Draw Something has been downloaded 35 million times and in the past week alone, players have created one billion drawings.

After Five Years, Draw Something Is an Overnight Hit for OMGPOP. Now What?

From zero to two million users a day, in less than a month. CEO Dan Porter on overwhelming Amazon, navigating iTunes and keeping an eye peeled for Zynga.
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Casual Games Start-Up OMGPOP Raising a Serious Funding Round

Does the casual games boom have more life in it? Here’s another bet that it does: Investors are pouring more money into OMGPOP, via a round that could bring in more than $10 million for the game site.

Don’t Tell a Soul! Media, Tech Moguls Take Manhattan for Semisecret Quadrangle Conference.

Wouldn’t you like to bump elbows with media moguls and hear from the likes of Eric Schmidt, Biz Stone and James Murdoch? Me too! Alas, Quadrangle’s Foursquare conference is closed to the public and the press. But at least I can tell you whom you won’t be hearing from.
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Is Twittermania Running Face-First Into Quittermania?

Remember all the way back, a couple weeks ago, when everyone was talking about Twitter and Oprah and Ashton Kutcher and the millions of people who were joining Twitter every week? Turns out the majority of those new Twitterers–three out of every five–won’t be back in May. That’s a problem, says Web measurement service Nielsen.
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Investors Bet $5 Million on Casual Game Site OMGPOP, Hope Users Start Paying Up

Web start-ups that plan to make money from advertising are having a rough time raising money. But Web start-ups that say they’ll do it by charging customers something? Still possible. Today’s example: OMGPOP, the casual gaming site formerly known as iminlikewithyou, which has raised a $5 million in a round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.
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