Portalarium Is Now A Zynga Partner
I have no idea what Richard Garriott is doing partnering with Zynga, but there it is.
At its ongoing Zynga Unleashed event in San Francisco, the social media game giant revealed three new partners: Majesco, 50 Cubes, and Portalarium.
Majesco’s current crop of top properties include the Zumba Fitness franchise and Cooking Mama. 50 Cubes currently features three titles on its website, including the “Facebook top fashion game for 2011” Mall World. Portalarium, which was founded by Ultima series creator and RPG legend Richard Garriott in 2009, recently launched a casual game based on garage sales, and is working on a project the company says will return Garriott to his RPG roots.
At its conference, Zynga also highlighted three partners it announced during GDC 2012: Konami, Playdemic, and Rebellion.
Now, to be fair, given the example of Konami, it would seem that Zynga partnership is not the same as turning over the keys to the kingdom, so to speak. Indeed, it would seem that the main point of these partnership agreements is to a) allow third-party companies to leverage Zynga’s publication and distribution platform, and b) allow Zynga to share in the profits from successful, partner-produced games. At least in theory, it sounds like a “win-win” scenario, and in some cases it may in fact be.
Still, this is Zynga we are talking about. They are arguably worse, in this day and age, than Electronic Arts was during the reign of Trip Hawkins. Indeed, I’d almost go so far to say that were Richard Garriott working on Ultima 5 or Ultima 6 today, “zynga” would be a curse-word in the games, and you’d be hunting for the treasure map of the dread pirate Pincus. I can’t help but thinking that Garriott and Portalarium are exposing themselves to the very real risk that Zynga will crib their ideas and hammer out…I don’t know…Collection World: Rummage Sale in a year’s time.
Ultimately, though, we can only speculate as to what this all means, and about what Garriott’s intentions and aims are here. Still, I know for a fact that I’m not the only one here who is thinking that Lord British has just made a deal with the devil, so to speak.
It’s like what LB is angry with the Avatar about, but in reverse this time!
(in the BW plot, at least)
1st why is Zynga evil? Just for making a quick buck with countless senseless games or is there more?
2nd my first thought was also ‘history repeating’ but then remembered that back then origin selling to EA seemed inevitable to RG and the following deconstruction of Origin as much the fault of LB as of EA.
This time? Who knows, perhaps makes more sense than competing with Zynga. Especially as such a small company.
They are known for copying successful games made by small independent studios. When I say small, I mean like 3 person studios. “They are arguably worse, in this day and age, than Electronic Arts was during the reign of Trip Hawkins.” is a pretty good summary.
All I hope for is that it won’t be as bad as when he sold Origin and later Destination Games…
There’s nothing hinting at a possible buyout of Portalatirum by Zynga, so I wouldn’t worry too much about this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zynga#Controversies
Obviously churning out countless senseless (and more or less identical) games isn’t evil. Though it really should be considered a crime against humanity.
They have been accused of some fairly shady business practices though.
It is really hard to know what to make of this. I suppose in a way it makes sense to have them as a partner rather than as the competition and I will reserve judgement till we actually get some idea of what this RPG he’s working on actually looks like. It’s just that the Zynga and the idea of anything even approaching quality don’t exactly go hand in hand. . .
Well If you played Ultimate collector, it already is a zynga-like game, so i’m not surprised. What I don’t like about it is that it may influence Ultimate RPG development…
I wouldn’t read to much into this, Zynga seems to have these partnerships with a lot of companies and so does Portalarium it seems. So I’d think this is either about :
– Ultimate Collector to appear on Zynga’s web platform (which would commercially makes sens considering UC is very Zynga-ish already)
– Zynga related products appearing in Ultima Collector.
– Zynga using the Portalarium Player (since the idea is to have the Portalarium Player licensed to outsides parties – A Mythical Land is already using it)
Or something amonst those line.
Either way I don’t see something as drastric as Zynga buying out Portalarium being in the cards, and Garriott would hopefully refuse if the offer was made (though admitedly he isn’t the only one calling the shots).
Considering how much Garriott enjoys his iPhone, it’s obvious to me that the Eight Virtues don’t apply to his personal life. Now that he’s partnered with Zynga, it’s again obvious to me that they don’t apply to his professional life either.
Though I’ve considered him to be my hero for the Ultima games (IV – VII), his dispassionate pursuit of personal wealth and the fulfillment of his childhood fantasies is beginning to strike me as somewhat narcissistic and delusional. Of all my faults the one thing I like about myself is my ability to draw a line in the sand and protect one side of it. I don’t think Garriott’s line is defined by good will, but rather personal gain. I’m now officially sad. God damn.
Considering how much Garriott enjoys his iPhone, it’s obvious to me that the Eight Virtues don’t apply to his personal life.
😛