#shay pierce

[odditie-s]

Schrödinger's Kittens [Shay Pierce]

Every time you press a key, the kittens jump and multiply. Keep doing this. There are three categories of high score: 'Distance' didn't interest me, 'Kittens killed' is broken, which leaves 'Seconds with 1000 kittens.'

Play

[selectyourplayer]

Well, well, well...

So Zynga are in deep doggy do-do.  Can't help but recall that a certain someone saw this coming:

http://selectyourplayer.tumblr.com/post/20110024665/when-an-entity-exists-in-an-ecosystem-and-acts

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-06-15-zynga-falls-back-to-earth?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=european-daily

Also worth mentioning that Shay Pierce got stick for leaving when Zynga took over, suffering accusations of being selfish.  He who laughs last...

Player 1

[bubbly-suffer-girl]

Effects of a Zynga Buyout

Several weeks ago Zynga bought out OMGPop and we got an interesting look at one employee who took the buyout money and left OMGPop. Shay Pierce,the one employee, turned down the Zynga job offer because the company would not give him an answer on whether or not he'd have to remove his own game from the app store (Detailed in the link above). Today I came across this announcement. Apparently all of OMGPop's old games are going to be removed from the website gaiaonline.com and, most likely from everywhere else. I don't know if this would have required Shay's independent game to be removed but it does seem that his fears might have had some substance to them.

[ensignau]

And then I wondered: why was I even trying to compromise? Zynga has an Austin studio, where several good friends of mine work. Yet I had never applied to Zynga. Why? Because the company's values are completely opposed to my own values, professionally and creatively. Because I believe that developers are at the front lines of game development and deserve to be treated well, and I didn't trust Zynga to do so. All this was still true -- except that their complete unwillingness to negotiate with me only confirmed my concerns. Why on earth was I even considering joining?

Shay Pierce, on how he became the only employee at OMGPOP to turn down Zynga's job offer. 

Given the choice between joining Zynga and losing control of his previous games, or leaving a stable job but maintaining sole creative ownership, Shay chose the latter.