SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Small Giant Games (“Small Giant”), a subsidiary of Zynga Inc. (Nasdaq: ZNGA), a global leader in interactive entertainment, is announcing an epic expansion to its popular franchise, Empires & Puzzles. The expansion, backed by player demand, features significant base updates including an increase of the stronghold’s max level from 20 to 21 as well as advanced versions of mines, farms, storage units and houses. A brand new building, the Hunter’s Lodge, is also being introduced, allowing players to craft new battle items.
“Since the Small Giant team joined the Zynga family last year, we’ve been blown away by their continued ingenuity in innovating within Empires & Puzzles, a cornerstone of our portfolio of forever franchises,” said Bernard Kim, President of Publishing at Zynga. “Comprised of passionate gamers, this expansion shows the team’s commitment to creating the most fun experiences for the Empires & Puzzles community.”
Zynga acquired Helsinki-based Small Giant in January 2019. Small Giant brought with it an experienced development team and another forever franchise to Zynga’s live service portfolio with Empires & Puzzles, which blends approachable match-3 battles with deeper gameplay elements like hero collection, base building and social alliances.
Since its debut in 2017, Empires & Puzzles has been downloaded more than 34 million times and has reached the #1 grossing position in 57 countries on the Apple App Store and 24 countries on Google Play. The hit title has also broken into the Top 10 Grossing Games charts globally in a combined 124 countries on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Empires & Puzzles’ latest expansion was primarily driven by one of its talented developers, Sofia Vanhanen. At 20 years old, Vanhanen is on the younger side of female developers working in the mobile gaming industry. As an avid player of Empires & Puzzles, she joined Small Giant upon completing her university career in computer science.
“It’s a dream come true to work on a game that you’re already so passionate about,” said Vanhanen. “I’m able to bring my perspective as a dedicated fan to implement new ideas that our players will love. I can’t wait to see what everyone thinks of the new base updates.”
Editor’s Note = Supporting still and video assets: https://app.box.com/s/wyywt4moif6gqj4v062gvogrysxfwc1i
About Zynga Inc.
Zynga is a global leader in interactive entertainment with a mission to connect the world through games. To date, more than one billion people have played Zynga’s franchises including CSR Racing™, Empires & Puzzles™, Merge Dragons!™, Words With Friends™ and Zynga Poker™. Zynga’s games are available in more than 150 countries and are playable across social platforms and mobile devices worldwide. Founded in 2007, the company is headquartered in San Francisco with locations in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, India, Turkey and Finland. For more information, visit www.zynga.com or follow Zynga on Twitter and Facebook.
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements, relating to, among other things, future expansion and updates to Empires & Puzzles. Forward-looking statements often include words such as "outlook," "projected," “planned,” "intends," "will," "anticipate," "believe," "target," "expect," and statements in the future tense are generally forward-looking. The achievement or success of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involves significant risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Undue reliance should not be placed on such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date hereof. We assume no obligation to update such statements. More information about these risks, uncertainties, and assumptions are or will be described in greater detail in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), copies of which may be obtained by visiting our Investor Relations website at http://investor.zynga.com or the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.
