Zynga, the largest social gaming network on Facebook, appears to be testing a new offers platform on their largest applications. Farmville is by far the largest Facebook application ever and it continues to grow with over 43 million users. So how does the most popular application ever generate revenue? Right now the company is using Offerpal as the primary offers monetization platform but as one inquisitive user noticed, the company appears to be testing out a service by a company never heard of before: “DoubleDing”.
My initial thoughts were that Zynga just cut out the middle man and built their own offers program but after a little bit of research, I’m unable to confirm my suspicions. A simple whois query shows that the domain is registered through a private domain registrar. I then figured that perhaps Zynga is serving up ads through the same hosting provider as their games. I ran a traceroute command to see what the end point was for Zynga.com and DoubleDing.com but the servers are in different locations.
DoubleDing.com appears to be hosted on Los Angeles based Rackspace servers that are registered to “Double Ding Inc”. Zynga is hosted out of San Francisco and their IP addresses are registered with their own company. So what is this new company? While we don’t have details, it appears that the company is looking to work with social gaming companies to help monetize them through various offers.
Quantcast statistics show that users of DoubleDing have a strong affiliation with RockYou and Slide applications as well as Habbo.com, Gaia online, and even Playdom, the social gaming company that Zynga is currently suing. Right now there are few details about this new offers program but they are using many of the same offers provided by Offerpal. With numerous companies already battling for leadership in the offers space (Offerpal, Super Rewards, Gambit, etc), this space is becoming increasingly crowded.
For now we aren’t aware of who runs DoubleDing and if they are owned by one of the social gaming networks. We’ll keep looking into this though. Have you heard of DoubleDing? Have any details you can provide us? You can view a demo here.
Update
I now have numerous sources saying that Mark Pincus, the CEO of Zynga, self-funded this new company and that it’s not owned by Zynga. We’ll be sure to post an update with any more information.
Also, we’ve found out that David Brooks, a former developer for Intermix, the company behind MySpace, is the Chief Technology Officer of this company.
The rumor has been that Pincus funded the company personally and then wanted to run it on all of zynga's apps. The old double dip. LOL I checked it out a few weeks ago and at the time the tracking links still went back to the zynga domain.
Comment by Oldskool — September 15, 2009 @ 6:54 am
keep us updated on what u learn – very interesting
Comment by Facebook User — September 15, 2009 @ 7:04 am
I've heard the Zynga rumor too. Also that Zynga has the rights to acquire the entire company. Seems unlikely that Playdom et al are using it. Any developer would be crazy to put their fate (and revenue) in the hands of a competitor.
Comment by Steve Reilly — September 15, 2009 @ 8:52 am
I heard the same rumor as oldskool
Comment by BenB — September 15, 2009 @ 9:46 am
Is that legal?
Seems like an effective way for Pincus to collect massive Zynga profits and not share them with the investors, founders and employees of Zynga. Casual reading on Pincus seems to indicate an eagerness to screw over his team like this.
DoubleDip could up their fees to "whatever the market will bear" until it consumes all of Zynga's profits, no more no less. In an actual market place they would need to keep their fees competitive with Offerpal etc, but there is a conflict of interest here.
Doesn't seem legal.
Comment by Nick7z — September 15, 2009 @ 1:24 pm
"Doesn’t seem legal."
Nick7z, when has that ever stopped them? They rip off successful games left and right.
Comment by Sam247 — September 15, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
Funny….Rackspace does not have Los Angeles based servers.
Comment by HMM — September 16, 2009 @ 6:56 am
Fucking genius!
I expect the profits will go towards building a secret base inside of a dormant volcano.
Comment by McDuck — September 16, 2009 @ 2:36 pm
Lots of us on Facebook are really mad at Zynga. They decided to change the primary method of how we earn coins. Net net a single visit to their "Sweets Factory" is approximately 45% less than their former "Widget Factory".
This is not, in my opinion, good faith at all!
Comment by B.S.C. — September 17, 2009 @ 6:07 am
I asked posted this on Zynga’s forum because I want to know the truth:
I read an article yesterday about Zynga’s refusal to confirm ownership of DoubleDing, the new company handling Vampire Wars FP offers? Is there any truth to this? I’d like Zynga to respond because Zynga claims they are not associated with the FP offer company but I now understand that DoubleDing was created to boost Zynga’s income. Note: Zynga is the only customer of DoubleDing and you won’t find anything else about the company online because the company is really Zynga. A little honesty would be nice right now.
I’m really upset about losing my FP to invisible Elder links, and have never received a single point from any of those FREE FP offers, nor reimbursement for the tricked links that literally stole my FP. 100 to 1000s of players lost FP to the hidden Elder purchase links, and many have not received any points for offers. I believed Zynga when they said they were not affiliated with company handling FP offers. Now, I don’t know what to think of Zynga in terms of honesty.
I have to say that the DoubleDing name is quite appropriate though. If you’re silly enough to give your personal contact information (yes, I fell for it once & got zero FP) to a spam company, then Zynga will ding you again after you receive the free points by simply embedding invisible FP purchase links on every other page that trick you into spending FP when you least expect it. Or, Zynga will ding you again when they act like they’re not affiliated with DoubleDing or any offers when you complain about missing awards.
Here’s what they did:
You have received a warning at Zynga Community Forums
Dear XXX,
You have received a warning at Zynga Community Forums.
Reason:
——-
Defamatory Material
I had to remove your post for:
Defamatory Material
Posts and/or private messages that, in any manner whether directly or indirectly, defame any other user and/or any Zynga Studio employee, officer and/or director.
Your post was not only off topic for the Vampire Wars forum, but you made many assumptions and accusations that are simply not allowed here. Please remember these are Zynga forums and you are a guest here. If you have had problems receiving FP, please contact support with the information listed here:
I completed Rewards offers for Points, Coins, or Chips where are they?
Please use more care when posting and keep in mind the forum Rules of Conduct.
Thank you,
XXX
Comment by Zynga User — September 18, 2009 @ 3:11 am
I asked posted this on Zynga’s forum because I want to know the truth, and they disciplined me for defamation. This is not the first post I’ve made about points but it is the first time that I asked about Double Ding and I get accused of defamation:
**********
I read an article yesterday about Zynga’s refusal to confirm ownership of DoubleDing, the new company handling Vampire Wars FP offers? Is there any truth to this? I’d like Zynga to respond because Zynga claims they are not associated with the FP offer company but I now understand that DoubleDing was created to boost Zynga’s income. Note: Zynga is the only customer of DoubleDing and you won’t find anything else about the company online because the company is really Zynga. A little honesty would be nice right now.
I’m really upset about losing my FP to invisible Elder links, and have never received a single point from any of those FREE FP offers, nor reimbursement for the tricked links that literally stole my FP. 100 to 1000s of players lost FP to the hidden Elder purchase links, and many have not received any points for offers. I believed Zynga when they said they were not affiliated with company handling FP offers. Now, I don’t know what to think of Zynga in terms of honesty.
I have to say that the DoubleDing name is quite appropriate though. If you’re silly enough to give your personal contact information (yes, I fell for it once & got zero FP) to a spam company, then Zynga will ding you again after you receive the free points by simply embedding invisible FP purchase links on every other page that trick you into spending FP when you least expect it. Or, Zynga will ding you again when they act like they’re not affiliated with DoubleDing or any offers when you complain about missing awards.
Here’s what they did:
**********
You have received a warning at Zynga Community Forums
Dear XXX,
You have received a warning at Zynga Community Forums.
Reason:
——-
Defamatory Material
I had to remove your post for:
Defamatory Material
Posts and/or private messages that, in any manner whether directly or indirectly, defame any other user and/or any Zynga Studio employee, officer and/or director.
Your post was not only off topic for the Vampire Wars forum, but you made many assumptions and accusations that are simply not allowed here. Please remember these are Zynga forums and you are a guest here. If you have had problems receiving FP, please contact support with the information listed here:
I completed Rewards offers for Points, Coins, or Chips where are they?
Please use more care when posting and keep in mind the forum Rules of Conduct.
Thank you,
XXX
**********
Comment by Facebook User — September 18, 2009 @ 3:16 am
I've been corresponding with DoubleDing via their support page for the last 4 days. It's been very one sided, as I have posted numerous times, and DoubleDing "support" has only posted once.
I joined a group to earn 40 Farmville Dollars. When I never received them, I posted a support ticket in which I provided the emails (with header information) to prove that I had joined a particular group.
After I had posted this information, "support" asked me for the welcome email from the group. (Didn't they read my post that included it?) I re-posted it, as well as other emails I've received from the group. "Support" has not replied again.
There's no email address to contact DoubleDing directly. You have to post on their board. Who knows when/if anyone is reading my posts. I'd like to find an email address to contact them directly.
Comment by Heather — September 20, 2009 @ 8:40 am
I completed the Blockbuster offer for 126 Favor Points for the Vamp Wars Zynga Game in August 2009. It's a month later, still no points. No way to find support as this is what the Zynga game Elder page says:
These offers are provided by a third party service, not by Facebook or Zynga. Please read all fine print associated with any offer, as some offers can take up to 2 days to credit points. If you are missing points from completing an offer, please click the green "View Offer Status" button below. NOTE: THERE IS NO *GREEN* BUTTON. THERE IS A BUTTON THAT SAYS "VIEW OFFER STATUS" when you follow the link you reach the DoubleDing webpage that says…
Please click on the "My Offer Status" from within your game to gain access to the support portal.
The "DoubleDing" website is a banner page with links to FAQ, Support, My Account that give no response whatsoever. I *once* got a list with some sort of "ticket" which had no explanation or help. I filled one out stating my concern, date offer was completed, etc. I have received no response.
WHAT A BIG, DISAPPOINTING RIP-OFF FACEBOOK/ZYNGA!!
Comment by Tina — September 23, 2009 @ 11:41 am
I too have been having a once-sided conversation with DD. I first tried to complete a "ticket" back on 9/13 and was not able to until 9/18. I got an immediate response for more information, but as Heather noted above, there is no contact information other than the "ticket" method; they never explained what they wanted or where to send it. I posted my "welcome" email on the ticket on 9/19. And now I'm getting no response. They may not be associated with Zynga, but Zynga hired them and I think we have the right to complain to Zynga about one of their vendors.
Comment by Julie — September 24, 2009 @ 2:02 am
I am having the same issue as above. I signed up to netflix for my 150 farm cash, I asked when I should see this farm cash hit my account they replied quickly saying they havent received conformation that I have joined and to post my confirmation email. I did that 10 days ago with no reply yet, every 2 days I post back asking for an update with no reply. ITS A SCAM OBVIOUSLY!
Comment by Vin — September 25, 2009 @ 8:00 am
I completed the Identity Guard on 9/18. Received all the emails from that company. Have written to DoubleDing every day. They said they needed me to forward the email from Identity Guard — which I did. A week has gone by, and no response. Yet another case of bullcrap scam!!
Comment by charles — September 25, 2009 @ 2:21 pm
same here. signed up for netflix 2 week trial and still no points. contacted them and received ONE response like heather saying to send confirmation emails. still waiting for their response 3 emails later. a friend did the netflix trial, too, last night and got lucky because the farmville cash immediately posted to her account. WTH!?
Comment by jo — September 29, 2009 @ 7:36 am
Note: DOUBLEDING sucks. I've been awaiting a response from them for FOUR DAYS regarding a sponsor offer that I completed and have yet to receive points for. I sent them copies of all emails validating completion, filled out the appropriate information and still have yet to receive the points – or a response- from doubleding… and there's nowhere else to go for help. Gamers will understand this: I'm at a crucial point in the game, can't get this resolved, need the points and, because I can't get a response there and have no other recourse, am afraid to purchase points. Meanwhile, my carefully built character loses power and I can't build it back up…
Comment by Juliet — September 29, 2009 @ 11:48 am
They (DoubleDing) really suck! I have been waiting over a week and haven't heard anything since they asked for proof of my end of the terms. I have provided them twice and sent daily comments to them which they have ignored DAILY since 9/23/09! I am in the same boat as everyone above! I signed up for Netflix and have yet to see the farmville cash. ZYNGA needs to offer their gamers a way of receiving the points and honor the company they chose as the managing company behind it. I am extremely disappointed and want to know the next step of recourse!!!!
Comment by Patty Jordan — October 2, 2009 @ 4:24 am
I have tweeted a link to how this seems to work by linking to http://twitter.com/hyuz/favorites
Comment by Geoff Hughes — October 5, 2009 @ 12:59 pm
i have started a group on facebook as im sick of DoubleDing. They owe be about 200 points and now i have a phone bill for $120 and get about 50 emails a day. Please join in and give your details., hopefully Zynga / Facebook will assist us in fixing the problem as its in there best interest.
group here
Time to Act on DoubleDing Ripping off Farmville users!!!
http://www.facebook.com/groups/create.php?customize&gid=160549643104#/group.php?gid=160549643104&ref=nf
Comment by Stuart — October 5, 2009 @ 4:15 pm
DoubleDing is a total scam. They take your information, don't award points and then claim they don't know what you're talking about. Stay away! Better yet, spread the word that this company is NOT to be trusted with any of your information because they do not hold up their end of an agreement.
Comment by Jason — October 5, 2009 @ 6:37 pm
I am having the same issue as above. I signed up to netflix for my 150 farm cash, I asked when I should see this farm cash hit my account they replied quickly saying they havent received conformation that I have joined and to post my confirmation email. I did that a month ago with no reply yet, every day I post back asking for an update with no reply. Who can help?
Comment by gisela — October 21, 2009 @ 6:41 pm
I too got double dinged.. no credits and two offers completed. Requested support, got the canned “no confirmation” and no reply. over a month later still no reply. Don’t fall for it.
Comment by DizzyD — November 1, 2009 @ 4:58 pm
Same here for me. Signed up for doubleday book club, paid with my cc enrolled in the year long program. Promised farmcash for setting up account and nothing. sadly disappointed in this group and took the shiny off the game for me for sure. Telling friends and family to stay away that its a scam. Also hundreds of email immediately which means they sold my info to 3rd party's as well as constant barrage of phone calls to my cell phone uggggg. Face it they are rip off artists more than they are artists.
Comment by lgibbens — November 3, 2009 @ 6:32 pm
DoubleDing ist Betrug. Angebot abgeschlossen, aber keine FV-Dollar erhalten. Nie wieder.
Comment by Lutz Lenk — November 10, 2009 @ 8:30 pm
I had the same problem getting points like most here until today. I sent 6 or 7 seven responses to DD through the support part of the game I play until that part of the game magically disappeared. I sent another email DD through their website, another to Zynga through their support page and a final one to Facebook. To my surprise, 30 minutes later, I have my FPs. Good luck everyone.
Comment by Derek — November 19, 2009 @ 11:28 am