Categories
News Video Games

Breaking: No longer speculation, Zynga launches Rewardville Beta

Zynga Rewardville

You read it here first.  After days of speculation as to what Zynga’s plans were for the domain name Rewardville.com and even a mention on AOL’s Games.com for confirming the rumor, Zynga minutes ago unveiled its Beta site for Rewardville.

Although no official announcements have been made, Zynga started displaying a web page this morning for its newest venture Rewardville.com, which will be rolled out over the next few weeks according to a message posted on the website.

zPoints and RewardVille FAQ

Information made available on the Zynga customer help site explains more how Rewardville will work.  According to the website, http://zynga.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3273, Rewardville will involve zCoins and zPoints.

What are zPoints?

Zynga writes: zPoints are points you earn for playing Zynga games. You can earn a maximum of 80 points per game per day, with a maximum of 300 points across the entire Zynga network each day. As you earn points you increase your zLevel and earn zCoins. Currently, you can earn zPoints for playing the following games: FarmVille, FrontierVille, Mafia Wars, Treasure Isle, Zynga Poker

What are zCoins?

“zCoins are awarded when your zLevel increases. zCoins are redeemed in RewardVille for in-game items.”

How do I sign up for zPoints?
 

“You automatically earn zPoints for playing all Zynga games. To redeem zCoins in RewardVille, you must register for a Zynga account.”

News on the launch of Rewardville

Although Zynga hasn’t announced the launch on its own blog or news section and nothing has appeared in the news, expect the big launch of Rewardville to be put out through Facebook to Zynga users in the coming weeks. 

I’ve informed several technology blogs and news sites about the launch of Rewardville Beta, and am hoping that any articles written will attribute the information in their stories to the correct source.

Updated 4:45PM EST:  Thanks to the following news sites for mentioning this story today: TechCrunch, Games.com News, Business Insider, Inside Social Games, and Gamezebo

Robin Wauters, was the first in fact, to write me in the wee hours of the morning after I posted my story to let me know the TechCrunch story was online with credit back to Fusible.com.

I also received a statement from Zynga this afternoon while I was away from the computer, hours after my story went online.

“As a company focused on innovation we’re constantly testing new products and features.  When experimenting with new products we take the feedback we receive and apply it to deliver the best possible user experience.  We look forward to hearing how our users like RewardVille.”  -Zynga”

Categories
News Trademarks Video Games

Zynga likes to buy unlikely domain names, and social gaming is expected to be a billion-dollar business in 2011

Warstorm

MafiaWars.com, Cityville.com, Rewardville.com, Warstorm.com, YoVille.com:  As reported by Leena Rao of TechCrunch, social gaming is expected to be a billion-dollar business this year.  And those businesses that are getting into the social gaming market will be looking for domain names. 

As they did in 2010 and previous years, social gaming market leader Zynga will likely be looking for more domain names to use for their up-and-coming games.

The company has bought thousands of dollars’ worth of domain names on the aftermarket, including the name for its best performing game on Facebook Cityville.com, which it paid $38,225 for in June 2010 at Moniker.   Cityville is expected to top 100 million monthly active users on Facebook at any moment.

Most recently, the company paid  $4,500 for the domain name Rewardville.com at Sedo, which is rumored that it will be used for its virtual rewards system.   Though Zynga hasn’t publicly confirmed plans for a Rewardville application, the company filed for a trademark in  Europe as reported here on Fusible.com.

But Cityville.com and Rewardville.com weren’t the only publicly reported domain name purchases by Zynga on the aftermarket.

Zynga purchased Mafiawars.com in 2009 on Sedo GreatDomains for €23,500.00 (or about $33,100).  Mafia Wars has gone on to be one of the top Facebook games, with nearly 3 million daily active users according to the latest Appdata metrics

The company also owns Warstorm.com.  Though Zynga didn’t directly buy the domain name Warstorm.com, it did buy the company Challenge Games that acquired the domain on Sedo in 2008 for $9,450.

But one of the best domain deals for what is now a Zynga-owned game, is that of Yoville.com, which was purchased for a measly $400 on Sedo in April 2008, shortly before Zynga purchased the Facebook game in July.

With the social gaming market looking to make history in 2011, so might sales of domain names that end up as Facebook games.  Are you holding a winning lottery ticket?

Categories
News Video Games

Cityville app is oh-so-close to 100 million monthly active users (Domain bought for only $38,000)

Cityville by Zynga

Cityville, the popular social game developed by Zynga, is very close to reaching 100 million monthly active users. 

According to the latest stats from application trends and metrics tracker Appdata, Cityville has reached 98,798,539 monthly active users and is set to be the first game in history to hit 100 million users, within the next week.

Cityville, like many of Zynga’s social games, has experienced a quick rise to the top.

It quickly hit 6 million online users within 8 days of going online.

The domain name Cityville.com, which Zynga owns and re-directs to its Facebook application page, was purchased for a mere $38,225 at Moniker less than a year ago.

Although Cityville and Zynga have made a lot of headlines, the company did recently acquire Rewardville.com for a somewhat bargain price of $4,500.

But after the historic success of Cityville and other games, Zynga may have a hard time acquiring “ville” domains at these prices on the aftermarket. 

At least with people and companies a little more familiar with domain names and the possible mystery buyer behind the offer.

Categories
News Trademarks Video Games

Proof that Zynga has plans for Rewardville: Trademark application filed in Europe

Zynga Rewardville

Rumor over on Elliot’s Blog is that Zynga, the popular social game development company, purchased the domain name Rewardville.com, possibly for a rewards program that was announced back in late November in a Zynga  Press Release.

Being a big fan of Zynga, I did a little digging on the name Rewardville. 

While the domain name, which recently sold through Sedo for $4,500, is privately registered and redirects to rewards.zynga.com as Elliot Silver noted in his story, here’s what I did find out that no other technology site or blog has reported.

Zynga filed for Trademark in Europe for word: Rewardville

In mid-December, Zynga Inc. filed for a European trademark that went unnoticed. 

The trademark application can be found here, by typing the term “rewardville” in the trademark name search field.

Rewardville trademark by Zynga

Though Zynga’s ultimate plans for Rewardville are not known at this time, chances are it’ll end up being an online resource  and directory of rewards programs offered between Zynga and its partners.

Categories
News

$38,000 domain sold in June at Moniker, now the most popular Facebook application

cityville

After selling for $38,225 in June at Moniker, CityVille is now bigger than FarmVille, Mashable is reporting.  

Referring to the latest statistics provided by Appdata, a site that tracks Facebook application metrics, Cityville surpassed Farmville and the Facebook game now has nearly 17 million daily users.  On Dec. 11, Cityville which had been online less than 2 weeks, had 6 million users and it has continued to grow at a phenomenal pace.

The top 10 Facebook apps on the leaderboard according to Appdata are:

1.  CityVille 
2.  FarmVille   
3.  Phrases   
4.  Texas HoldEm Poker  
5.  FrontierVille   
6.  Causes   
7.  Mafia Wars Game   
8.  Café World   
9.  Phrases (new)  
10.  My Year In Status