FarmVille

FarmVille
Developer(s)Zynga
Publisher(s)Zynga
EngineFlare3D
Platform(s)Android[1]
iOS[2]
Adobe Flash
HTML5
ReleaseFacebook
  • WW: 19 June 2009
HTML5
  • WW: 13 October 2011
Genre(s)Simulation
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

FarmVille is a series of agriculture-simulation social network games developed and published by Zynga in 2009.[3][4] It is similar to Happy Farm[5] and Farm Town.[6][7][8] Its gameplay involves various aspects of farmland management, such as plowing land, planting, growing, and harvesting crops, harvesting trees and raising livestock.[9][10] The sequels FarmVille 2 and FarmVille 3 were released in September 2012 and November 2021, respectively.

The game was available as an Adobe Flash application via the social networking website Facebook and Microsoft's MSN Games.[11] It was previously available as a mobile app for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad for a brief period in 2010. The game was free-to-play; however, to progress quickly within the game, players are encouraged to spend Farm Cash (in FarmVille) or Farm Bucks (in FarmVille 2), which are purchasable with real-world currency. FarmVille was thus one of the first major freemium games.[12][13][14]

After launching on Facebook in 2009, FarmVille became the most popular game on the site, and held that position for over two years. At its peak, in March 2010, the game had 83.76 million monthly active users. Daily active users peaked at 34.5 million.[15] After 2011, the game began experiencing a considerable decline in popularity. By May 2012, the game was ranked as the seventh most popular Facebook game. As of April 30, 2016, its rank had fallen to the 110th most popular Facebook game as measured by daily active users, while FarmVille 2 had climbed to 42nd place.[16]

On September 27, 2020, Zynga announced that it would discontinue the first FarmVille on Facebook on December 31, 2020, as Facebook was to stop supporting games running on Flash Player—required by FarmVille—on that day.[17] Following the existing FarmVille 2, FarmVille 3 focuses on mobile devices.

  1. ^ Zynga. "FarmVille 2: Country Escape - Android Apps on Google Play". google.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-05. Retrieved 2015-05-13.
  2. ^ Zynga Inc. (17 April 2014). "FarmVille 2: Country Escape". App Store. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  3. ^ Victor, Daniel (2020-12-31). "FarmVille Once Took Over Facebook. Now Everything Is FarmVille". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2021-01-01. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference graun was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Kohler, Chris (24 December 2009). "14. Happy Farm (2008)". The 15 Most Influential Games of the Decade. Wired. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  6. ^ Gardner, Jasmine (29 September 2009). "Futurology: FarmVille on Facebook". London Today. Archived from the original on 1 October 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
  7. ^ "Zynga Launches "FarmVille". Does it Look Familiar?". All Facebook. 22 June 2009. Archived from the original on 16 August 2010. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  8. ^ Nutt, Christian (October 11, 2009). "GDC China: Chinese Indie Game Trends and Opportunities". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on October 19, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
  9. ^ "Facebook farmers want India flag". BBC. 9 October 2009. Archived from the original on 11 October 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
  10. ^ "Zynga's FarmVille Becomes Largest and Fastest Growing Social Game Ever" (Press release). Market Watch. 27 August 2009. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
  11. ^ "Farmville Coming To The iPhone In June". TechCrunch. 7 June 2010. Archived from the original on 9 June 2010. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
  12. ^ Beausoleil, Michael (January 6, 2021). "RIP Farmville: The Facebook App that Shockingly Changed Gaming".
  13. ^ Workman, Lance; Reader, Will; Barkow, Jerome H. (March 19, 2020). The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behavior. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108900966 – via Google Books.
  14. ^ Poell, Thomas; Nieborg, David B.; Duffy, Brooke Erin (October 14, 2021). Platforms and Cultural Production. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9781509540525 – via Google Books.
  15. ^ "Zynga's CityVille becomes the biggest-ever app on Facebook | GamesBeat". venturebeat.com. 3 January 2011. Archived from the original on 2018-07-05. Retrieved 2017-11-12.
  16. ^ "Facebook Apps Leaderboard - AppData". appdata.com. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  17. ^ Bigtas, Jannielyn Ann (27 September 2020). "FarmVille on Facebook officially announces closure after 11 years". GMA Network. Archived from the original on 13 January 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021.