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Zynga shutters four OMGPOP games and web portal

Sources claim Zynga turned down independent buy-back from OMGPOP staff

Zynga will close four OMGPOP games at the end of the month, with the OMGPOP.com website following at the end of September.

Cupcake Corner, Gem Rush, Pool World Champ and Snoops will all cease to operate on August 29, and their host website will close on September 30. The move will not have an impact on the operation of Draw Something, Draw Something 2 or Draw My Thing.

However, as those games are now Zynga-branded, it does mark the ultimate disappearance of the OMGPOP name. Zynga acquired the studio and its IP for $180 million less than 18 months ago. The bulk of its staff were made redundant in June.

According to a report on TechCrunch, which cites multiple sources familiar with Zynga, the OMGPOP team made a final attempt to save the studio's website. Multiple team members attempted to buy OMGPOP.com on an independent basis, but Zynga refused. Other employees then offered to operate the site for free, but Zynga remained steadfast.

The sources claimed that the site and its games were profitable enough to make their existence as independent entities worthwhile. Zynga has not commented on the rumours.

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Matthew Handrahan

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Matthew Handrahan joined GamesIndustry in 2011, bringing long-form feature-writing experience to the team as well as a deep understanding of the video game development business. He previously spent more than five years at award-winning magazine gamesTM.

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