社交游戏公司Zynga开发了多款备受玩家喜欢的Facebook游戏，如FarmVille和FontierVille等。然而最近，该公司的前资深员工在一篇文章中却声称，Zynga公司的一贯做法是抄袭竞争对手的游戏创意，然后利用zynga公司自身的市场营销力量推广游戏。

面对旧金山发行刊物SF-Weekly的采访人员，这名前Zynga员工还称，Zynga公司的首席执行官Mark Pincus曾在论及公司竞争者的时候夸夸其谈道“我并不推崇创新。我们所要做的就是抄袭（我们竞争对手的成果），然后超越他们。”

FarmVille

SF Weekly也向另一位Zynga员工证实了这一说法，得出的结论便是“抄袭其它公司的游戏创意，再凭借Zynga公司的市场影响力将这款游戏超越原版游戏，是Zynga公司的常规发展模式。”

目前，zynga公司的多款游戏都在Facebook等社交网站上享有高人气，其中FarmVille更是以8300万活跃用户的数量高居游戏排行榜榜首，而该类游戏首创者Slashkey公司出品的Farm Town则仅仅拥有1900万活跃用户。

此外还有许多类似例子如：Mafia Wars对比Mob Wars, Café World对比 Restaurant City, FishVille对比Happy Aquarium, PetVille对于Pet Society。Zynga的公司盈利则主要源自于游戏内置广告和玩家解锁游戏时微型付费。目前该公司的估值已将近40亿美元。

尽管FarmVille在今年初开始出现一些下滑趋势，但Zynga公司另一款游戏FrontierVille的出现则弥补了这一劣势，６月期间累计拥有活跃用户3600万。近期，Zynga公司不再依赖于Facebook社交网站，玩家可以在iPhone、yahoo或Zynga网站等多个平台畅游Zynga的所有游戏。

The company behind Facebook’s most popular games such as FarmVille and FrontierVille  is a habitual copycat whose domination results from ruthless strategies and marketing might, claims a new article based on revelations from an former senior employee at the firm.

Speaking to San Francisco publication SF Weekly, the ex-employee said that CEO Mark Pincus ranted about the follies of innovation in a company meeting, saying, “I don’t want innovation. Just copy [what your competitor does] and do it until you get their numbers,” with reference to Zynga’s competitors.

SF Weekly cross-checked with other former staff, concluding that “stealing other companies’ game ideas – and then using Zynga’s market clout to crowd out the games’ originators – was business as usual.”

The source also claimed that there was a widespread casual misappropriation of Google’s motto, changing it from “Don’t be evil” to “Do evil.”

Many of Zynga’s titles have been noted for being quick to pick up on emerging trends in Facebook and other social games – FarmVille, Facebook’s number one game, topped out at 83 million active users, while its genre predecessor in Slashkey’s Farm Town managed just short of 19 million before choking.

Other comparisons can be made: Mafia Wars and Mob Wars, Café World and Restaurant City, FishVille and Happy Aquarium, PetVille and Pet Society. With Zynga making its money from in-game advertising and micro-payments from players that want to unlock game features, the company is worth an estimated $4 billion.

Though FarmVille has since dropped from its peak earlier in the year, FrontierVille picked up the slack, accumulating 36 million users since June; Zynga has also become far more independent of Facebook and players can use the iPhone, Yahoo!, or Zynga’s own website, to play some of the games. （Source：Independent）