The latest release from social gaming champion Zynga, Treasure Isle, has already registered 3.2 million monthly active users, making it one of the company’s top ten games. In one day, 2.5 million users had logged in, according to Zynga’s general manager Jeremy Verba, meaning that user engagement is also very high.
In Treasure Isle, users explore the world and seek out treasures like lost jewels and ancient artifacts, which can be shared with friends at neighboring islands. Before anyone gets to digging for hidden gems, the game kicks off with a quick character creation and customization screen. Advancement in the game is marked by which tools have been unlocked, like certain shovels required to break through certain types of ground.
Just as the ever-popular FarmVille was a clone of another game on Facebook, Farm Town, Treasure Isle has much in common with an older game on the social site called Treasure Madness.
“We’ve been able to learn on the lessons of other games here,” says Verba. “Zynga’s an environment of perfect improvement, and an example of that is how this game came out, from an operational point of view.”
Zynga should be happy about the early popularity of Treasure Isle. Another new title from the company, Poker Blitz, has only reached 1.2 million users since its launch three weeks ago.
No one should be surprised about Zynga’s latest success, though. Though the company’s older games may have hit plateaus in new users, those users still maintain strong engagement, making Zynga one of the most profitable third-party companies taking advantage of Facebook’s platform. Earlier in the week, a report stated that if Zynga were public today, it would be traded at a $5 billion market cap and $15.75/share.
