JULY 16, 2010 • Zynga reports that its new title FrontierVille has amassed more than 20 million users, making it the third most popular game from the publisher after FarmVille and Zynga Poker. FrontierVille was launched back in June, and already 6.3 million people are building cabins, and 3.3 million entrepreneurs are building general stores.

Impact: In an industry addicted to sequels and licenses, Zynga is proving it can be successful with them as well.  We view FrontierVille largely as FarmVille with a different theme.  The graphics quality and game mechanics, as well as business model, are all essentially the same with a few new enhancements in FrontierVille. We at DFC don’t necessarily think this is bad for Zynga as it is a proven model for them and consumers don’t seem to mind the similarities given how fast they have been flocking to the newer title.  However, we still question the long term viability of churning customers at such a rapid rate.  Our conservative view is that building a more long-term customer base through a solid game play experience may make for a more stable long-term business.