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Zynga announced today the acquisition of MyMiniLife, a virtual world which enables users to create their own spaces and homes “through stylized economic activity involving the building of properties and neighborhoods, uploading and selling of useful and fun items, and the buying of objects using MyMiniLife money”. Users start off with a set amount of virtual currency and then can purchase more to add items.
According to Compete.com, the site currently attracts only around 30,000 users per month. Despite the small amount of traffic, the team has built a robust platform. In search of top talent, the company found a match with the guys at MyMiniLife. MyMiniLife is a destination site and doesn’t currently exist on Facebook or other social platforms. Zynga on the other hand has a dominant portfolio of games including YoVille, a virtual world with over 11 million monthly active users.
As the company expands it will continue to search for top talent even if that means acquisition. Zynga has also been investing in smaller gaming companies by providing traffic in exchange for ownership, according to industry insiders. If the games grow, Zynga will acquire the team and the game. It’s not a bad model for finding those games that work best.
I’m sure we’ll hear about additional acquisitions over the coming months and years as Zynga looks to expand its gaming portfolio. So far the company appears to be on a pretty good streak. It will be interesting to see how large a portfolio the company can build before they get snapped up by one of the larger gaming companies.
Update
One correction. MyMiniLife has been on Facebook since soon after the Facebook platform launched in 2007. We actually covered their launch. Currently the application has around 2,000 monthly active users.
Update 2
I’ve spoken with Sizhao Yang, the CEO of MyMiniLife, who has told us that MyMiniLife is being used to build out Farmville, the leading game on Facebook.
so… that’s why MML is shutting down— =(
Is MML closing down ?
it’s nice that zynga & mml are merging… i am an avid fan of both! i hope to see things get better for both… =)
i spent alot of time on mml,
when will the site be up again? wondering if all my houses will still be there
Please don’t tell me they are closing down MML for good! I love that game and haven’t been able to get on for a couple of days now.
What the heck is going on? MML was sold to Zynga, the people who bring you the crap known as YoVille and Farmville… The main site does not work anymore. No word to customers, paying and otherwise. What is the deal? Do I get a refund for the gold bars I just bought? What about the buildings and neighborhoods that people have put time and sweat into? Some of the neighborhoods have been worked on for more than a year, perhaps even two. This isn’t fair. You guys have at the very least a MORAL responsibility to keep us informed and to let us continue to access our hard work. If not, it shows Zynga and the talent at MML don’t care about customers and aren’t worth our time and effort.
wtf?
well… MML didn’t shutdown, that’s good! But the thing is.. it’s not working like it used to be before, perhaps, they’re in focus of building Farmville that’s why.
Hope it will go back to normal.
I am an avid fan of Farmville too, but MML entertains me more.
MML has closed down i hate Zynga MML was a great game farmvile is crap
why get MML To close it down whats the point
Zynga
DON`T CARE ABOUT ANYONE BUT THEM SELFS
so does it mean that MML will not exist anymore?
This is completely crazy. If you’re going to take down a site that people have dedicated a lot of time and energy to, then why wouldn’t you inform them? This whole thing is pretty F’d up. Even though my mom thinks MML is awesome and loves all my houses I have made on the site for more than a year now, she does that YoVille crap cause she’s not really creative enough for MML, which comes off a little too complex for her age group. There’s no way I would join that dinky-ass site. My mom’s sent me things from it and I’ve tried it and it’s stupid as hell. Nice business move guys.
Sure they will ruin this just like they did yoville.
hahahahah this is hilarious. zynga will never sell they are going to try and monopolize the industry. watch they’re games tank when the people give up on them!how many games ruined now? 3-4 more?the hackers used to account for a huge chunk of “monthly” users and now (finally) they are cutting those users down to size, but watch the change in they’re numbers as well. not to mention the users who are pissed about recent changes to a couple games thats driving players away in droves.
they HAD a good thing going….
hello
So Zynga bought MML to shut it down on its users with no warning?
Preposterous.
please return the minilife as soon as possible please
wtf i havent been on my minilife in a long time i was looking forward to go on their and finish my projects thats some old Bull SH!T ZYNGA buys mml and closes it down with no warning!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Noooooo!!!!Mini life shut down!!!!nooooooo>i have still alot of things!zygna y you shut it down??????……….