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Zynga’s Facebook title Mafia Wars 2 has lost 900,000 users after peaking at 2.5 million since its release last month, according research firm AppData.
The title, which had more than 80 staff working on it for a year before release, has also failed to meet sales expectations, claims Bloomberg.
Less than ten per cent of Mafia Wars 2 players are returning to play the game everyday, with the online games giant having targeted a retention rate of double that at 20 per cent.
“All the old Mafia Wars guys who finished everything you could do came over here and said, ‘This is the same game with different missions,’” said Wedbush Securities Michael Pachter.
“They are already tired of it, so they are dropping off. I think it’s a good case study for what can go wrong.”
The news of an exodus of users for one of Zynga’s leading brands comes as the company is about to file its initial public offering, from which it hopes to raise $1 billion.
