Zynga, the undisputed behemoth in social gaming, has just acquired OMGPOP, the developer of the hugely successful Draw Something game. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, it's basically a mobile version of Pictionary, where you're paired up with a fellow iPhone or iPad owner, and you take turns drawing things and having the other guess what it is with a given set of letters. Both sides get to watch as one gradually finishes drawing and the other attempts to solve the puzzle. There's both an ad-supported free version and a premium version that gets rid of the ads, but Draw Something makes its real money through microtransactions which unlock different colors to draw with.
OGMPOP has a few other titles under their belt, mostly for the web, but Draw Something has been their biggest hit yet. Rumor has it that Zynga shelled out $200 million for the 40-man team, but neither Zynga nor OMGPOP went into specifics of the deal. This is a pretty big acquisition for Zynga, but definitely a sensible one. I worry a little bit that clever iOS development shops are doomed to getting sucked up into these giant companies, but then I look at Rovio and see how well they've managed to do by sticking it out on their own. In Zynga's press release, they did a great job of outlining some great stats from Draw Something.
- In the last week, more than 1 billion drawings have been created.
- Draw Something had three drawings per second the day the game launched.
- Yesterday, Draw Something has over 3,000 drawings per second at its peak.
- Draw Something is the #1 word game in 84 countries according to the Apple App Store — shout out to Sweden and Norway for being the first two countries to recognize Draw Something's greatness. Nordic Love!
- The most popular words in Draw Something are: Starfish, pregnant, hangman, six pack, boom box
- The least popular word in Draw Something is latrine
- The best guessed words in Draw Something are: Rainbow, catfish, sun, fish, house, god, tornado
- The least guessed words in Draw Something are: Oar, Metroid, Warhol, pounce, polaroid, meathead, Autobots
Out of curiosity, how many of y'all are playing Draw Something? Does it change anything for you if Zynga owns them? If you're leaving or switching to something us, let us know what and why. If you're sticking with Draw Something, add your user name to our Gaming Forum list and challenge another member of the iMore nation.
Source: Zynga
