Zynga Euthanizes PetVille and 10 Other Games

The social games juggernaut known as Zynga announced it has pulled the plug on 11 of the 13 games it plans on shutting down as part of a cost cutting effort. Far and away the most popular of those titles is PetVille, a cute little game that had 1 million active monthly users in December 2012.

"Thank you for supporting PetVille and for being a loyal player! We’re sorry to inform you that PetVille will be shutting down on Dec 30, 2012," Zynga informed Petsville players on Facebook. "In place of PetVille, we encourage you to play other Zynga games like Castleville, Chefville, Farmville 2, Mafia Wars and Yoville.

"We appreciate your participation in PetVille as it helped make the game a fun place to meet and war with friends. As a loyal PetVille player, you are eligible for a one-time, complimentary bonus package in one of either Castleville, or Chefville, or Farmville 2, or Mafia Wars or Yoville."


The list of alternatives is shrinking. In addition to PetVille, Zynga has closed down the following titles:

• Mafia Wars 2
• FishVille
• Vampire Wars
• Treasure Isle
• Indiana Jones Adventure World
• Mafia Wars Shakedown
• ForestVille
• Montopia
• Mojitomo
• World Scramble Challenge

It seems like a minor thing to close down titles that never really built up a significant fan base, but that won't come as any consolation to the users who invested many hours and dollars into their game of choice. Nevertheless, Zynga's focused on turning its fortunes around, in part by focusing on the mobile market and, more recently, getting itself approved for online gambling in the U.S.