Zynga has launched legal action against two former senior members of staff after alleging that they stole confidential information to support a new employer. According to the Arstechnica.com website, Massimo Maietti and Ehud Barlach, who left Zynga in July and September respectively, took the data to social gaming startup Scopely. In a 28-page civil complaint, Zynga said Maietti was the creative director on “one of Zynga’s most ambitious soon-to-be released games, which goes by the code name Project Mars”, while Barlach was general manager of Hit It Rich! Slots. Both men are alleged to have stolen vast quantities of data,…

Social gaming company has agreed to a deal to acquire Superlabs, the incubator founded by chief executive officer Mark Pincus prior to his return to the firm earlier this year. As reported by iGaming Business, Pincus in April returned to the company that he founded after the departure of Don Mattrick as its chief executive. During his time away from Zynga, Pincus founded the Superlabs incubator, with the idea of using his own money to build ideas and projects that he had been considering. Pincus is reported to have invested as much as $2.2 million (€1.9 million) in the incubator,…

US fantasy sports company FanDuel has recruited 40 developers who previously worked for Zynga as part of a move to strengthen its operations in the country. FanDuel’s new offices in Orlando have been opened to support its established bases in New York and Los Angeles, as well as in the Scottish cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. As part of this US expansion strategy, the company has brought in a team of 40 developers who made up the Zynga Sports 365 division of social gaming outfit. Zynga opted to close the Orlando-based division earlier this month as part of a strategy…

iGaming Business – Social gaming company Zynga has announced that its ‘Hit It Rich!’ free social slots game is now available worldwide on Google Play. The game, which is already available for free download from Apple’s App Store as well as on the web, is part of Zynga’s Casino franchise that provides consumers with a free-to-play casino experience. Hit It Rich! features a number of branded slots games that were previously exclusive to the casino floor, such as ‘Farmville 2’, ‘The Wizard of Oz’, ‘Ted’ and ‘Sex and the City’. Joe Kaminkow, chief game designer for Hit It Rich! at…

Biz Journals – Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga, the once-super fast growing gaming company, is leaving his operational role as chief product officer, but will stay on as as chairman of the board. Zynga also named a raft of new top executives. The announcement is part of the founder’s shift away from day-to-day management of the gaming company. Pincus remained chief product officer when he relinquished the CEO role to former Microsoft and Electronic Arts executive Don Mattrick. Pincus recruited Mattrick to the position last July. Mattrick relayed Pincus’ decision in an email to employees, which was disclosed as the company announced quarterly revenue of $168 million, a 36 percent…

iGaming Business – Social gaming company Zynga is to ‘soft launch’ three updated versions of its core mobile titles as part of an effort to boost its presence in the mobile gaming sector. According to the Reuters news agency, ‘FarmVille 2: Country Escape’ went live on Monday of this week while updated versions of ‘Zynga Poker’ and ‘Words With Friends’ will be rolled out by the end of June. FarmVille 2: Country Escape includes a number of new elements such as a virtual goods exchange while players will also be able to play offline. Zynga said the new versions of…