Zynga casts mind control. Soren Johnson resists!

[sclpls]

Hooray!

http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/2/4056362/civilization-designer-soren-johnson-joins-stardock-entertainment

[I_smell]

Wow I had no idea that the design director at Zynga came from designing Civilization games at Firaxis.

[sclpls]

Brian Reynolds who designed Civilization II & Alpha Centauri also worked there (and it was reported that he also left recently) so yeah, it is pretty crazy that they had some of the most highly regarded strategy game designers working on things like FrontierVille. Anyway, I am very excited to see what both these guys end up working on now that they are no longer beholden to the casual Facebook gaming market!

[Nachimir]

Zynga also hoovered up Frank Lantz and Eric Zimmerman in an acquisition. I'd like to hear what they all think after they've left.

[elmuerte]

What I don't understand is that somebody who worked at Firaxis and worked on Civilization could go on and go to Zynga.

[BenLuke]

What I don't understand is that somebody who worked at Firaxis and worked on Civilization could go on and go to Zynga.

Welcome to the video games industry. 

[elmuerte]

How so? It was his choice, it has nothing to do with the game industry.

[Codicier]

I think what you need to remember is that he went to Zynga via EA's social gaming division, so its not like he's someone who got lured into the industry by the promise of a big pay packet, he was in all likelihood (as heretical as this may sound) interested in the possibilities offer by social games.

 

Outside Popcap no one has yet really made a critically praised and successful social game, so I can imagine to someone who has already helmed what is arguably the biggest IP in strategy gaming that the challenge that presents could have been a interesting one. For all we know now Soren might be joining Stardock to produce a Facebook version of Gal Civ or Elemental  

 

Anyway my point broadly speaking is that social gaming isn't inherently evil, and perhaps we should actually be a little sad that all these great designers don't seem to be able to quite find the formula for a breakout strategy hit, because personally I want as many people playing strategy games as possible.

[Nachimir]

Some good designers went to Zynga just after a period when Facebook games had a pretty bad rap and "Farmville" was shorthand for "exploitative, addictive, repetitive shit". I could totally understand why they'd see it as a challenge, and I bet Zynga were able to make some very good job offers at the time too.