Zynga knows very well that it needs to introduce a hit game to help it reclaim its position. Earlier this year, it revealed plans to launch ten new games to help it turn around its fortunes, and on Thursday, it launched one such game: Willy Wonka Slots.
Inspired by original characters
Zynga’s chief game designer and senior vice president of slots, Joe Kaminkow, said, “Beloved by generations, the Wonka-verse is full of pure imagination and whimsical fun, making it the perfect setting for an immersive social slots experience.”
Kaminkow added that Willy Wonka has characters and scenes inspired by the original film featuring Charlie, Willy Wonka, and the other golden ticket winners, and thus, this game gives players a feel of entering the unpredictable world of Wonka’s chocolate factory, experiencing the movie magic in a whole new way.
As of now, Zynga is struggling to get its own golden ticket in the $34.8 billion mobile game market and hopes its new free-to-play Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory Slots will help it get near that. The game will be available on iOS, Google Play, Facebook, and the Amazon Appstore.
At each level, players get to enter a new room in the famed chocolate factory, and the game includes real sounds, character voices, and artwork from the film. Zynga’s veteran team behind Wizard of Oz Slots and Princess Bride Slots has developed Willy Wonka. The game is a blend of eye-catching 2D visuals and gameplay with essentials of the Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory film that starred Gene Wilder.
Slot titles may get Zynga through
Zynga is targeting a broader group of gamers with the game titles it is planning to introduce in the following months. The game maker is hoping that its new slot titles will be popular and successful among the billion-plus casual mobile gaming fans.
Zynga’s slots games saw growth of 78% on a year-over-year basis and sequential growth of 7% in the fourth quarter. Social casino slots is a good category for monetization, and the game maker hopes that adding a new title like Willy Wonka will help it thave a full suite of games in the category.
At 9:50 a.m. Eastern today, Zynga shares were down 1.75% at $2.24. Year to date, the stock is down by over 16%, while in the last year, it is down by over 19%.
