Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) has unveiled an early beta version of its action-strategy game Empires & Allies for mobile. There are significant differences between the Facebook version and the mobile version. The modern combat art is more realistic, and it replaces a cartoon version.
In testing phase
With this move Zynga will put Empires & Allies in the reach of a more hardcore audience. In June 2011, Empires & Allies debuted on Facebook. Within the first 25 days, the free-to-play turn-based strategy game gained more than 39 million users. The combat was not at all graphic and had a more accessible, cartoon art style. In April 2013, the Facebook version of the game was shut down by Zynga because it fizzled out.
Zynga noted that the development team received extensive feedback and insights from players, which has been used for the new Empires & Allies reimagined for the mobile audience. Presently, Zynga is testing the game in limited areas, and if all goes well, the game maker will add more regions. The company says that it will test the new version for weeks or months, and during that time will be constantly improving it based on feedback.
Zynga plans more action-strategy game
Clash of Clans is the most popular action-strategy game, and this genre is becoming a favorite of mobile gamers. The category already has many games from competitors, therefore, Zynga will have to bring out games that can compete with existing titles. For many years, Clash of Clans has been dominating mobile gaming, and the developer Supercell launched a cartoon like combat game called Boom Beach earlier this year. There are a lot of similarities between the original Command & Conquer series and new Empires & Allies in terms of art. Command & Conquer was launched by EA as a free-to-play game, which did not see much success.
Zynga has plans to develop more games for this category next year, and the first step towards it is the beta testing for Empires & Allies according to a blog post. A team of veteran real-time strategy developers is engaged in the development of the game in San Francisco. The team includes veterans such as Mark Skaggs, who helped in developing Command & Conquer, a modern real-time strategy PC game franchise of Electronic Arts. Skaggs has already worked on Zynga game titles including Farmville and The Ville.
