Zynga's stock has fallen 70 percent since it went public in December, but the company hopes to revitalize the brand with its Wednesday release of "FarmVille 2," the follow up the Facebook hit.
According to NBC News, the original "FarmVille" maintained 10 million daily active users just weeks after its 2009 launch, cultivating 83 million monthly active users and 32 million daily active users at its prime. The site notes that the game only sees 3.2 million daily active users now, a stark contrast to its glory days.
In an interview with NBC, Tim LeTourneau, Zynga's Vice President of Games, admitted: "We recognize that, over time, there have been a lot of people that once played 'FarmVille' and don't play any more."
"We really wanted to re-imagine 'FarmVille' with the intent of capturing the imagination of those players and bringing them back to the 'FarmVille franchise."
So what's new in the sequel? For starters, there is an added emphasis on competition between players that will play to the strengths of social network gaming. In terms of gameplay mechanics, farmers can now interact with their animals instead of just harvesting them.
When asked about the future of the franchise, LeTourneau said, "FarmVille 2' is really about asking, 'how do we re-imagine digital farming if we were to make it brand new today?' It really is a fresh, different take on what virtual farming can feel like. We not only consider it the next generation of 'FarmVille' but the next generation of social games."
Zynga's attempt to revitalize 'FarmVille' comes at a crucial point in the company's lifespan where they have the opportunity to regain the trust of investors, or else face the consequences of failure.
Wright Bagwell, director of design for 'FarmVille 2' explains that the core concept behind the game is that "You are trying to bring an old family farm back into glory." If enough gamers tend to their farms, perhaps Zynga can return to glory once more.