Things in the online gaming world continue to change, and change at a very fast pace. Online gaming is attracting people of all ages, from youth with players such as Montreal’s Woozworld, to Zynga which has developed worldwide popularity and has even started to make roots in Canada when it acquired Toronto’s Five Mobile back in the fall of 2011. Even Quebecor Media is getting into the online gaming world as they announced investment in a startup last week.
Just about every quarter of 2011 we reported a startup raising funds for their play at the online gaming business, so needless to say, the days of the old cartridge games are soon to be a thing of the past. Companies like Electronic Arts (EA) continue to struggle as they are not face with playing catch up to rival Zynga, which went public a few months ago and currently hovering around $8 a share, down from its initial price of $10. A few weeks ago Zynga also managed to steal away Barry Cottle, who was the Vice President for EA Interactive, we also now came across an article that points EA will be going though a number of layoffs within EA Canada, again as they fail to keep up with the digital times.
As digital players such as Zynga continue to zip through the online world, their market share grows with it, which will only leave behind companies that do not change with the times.