Corporate Culture
In 2011, Zynga started to move employees to new headquarters, located in San Francisco's South of Market district, where Zynga has leased 270,000 out of 650,000 square feet of seven-story building. Zynga’s headquarters, nicknamed “The Dog House,” features a coffee shop, gaming arcade, gym, basketball court, and wellness center. At its San Francisco headquarters, former Zynga CEO Pincus's goal was to create a "playful gaming environment" that evokes a "fantasy land." Zynga employees, also referred to as “Zyngites,” enjoy perks such as free gourmet meals, access to an in-house nutritionist, personal training, and insurance coverage for pets.
Prior to the company’s 2011 IPO, Zynga’s corporate culture received some negative media attention for renegotiating the equity packages of four senior employees. Those employees were required to either give up part of their non-vested stock or be fired. Although a San Francisco employment lawyer said in The Wall Street Journal that Zynga's actions would violate the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, no court has ruled on the issue since it has been rare for companies to demand non-vested stock as a condition of continued employment. Pincus later explained that Zynga
wanted to find them another position at the company versus just parting ways. They had the option to leave and have a package, as happened with some other leaders, but we in addition to that offered them other positions at the company that came with different forward compensation.
Zynga is reportedly known for having a highly competitive and stressful culture, with long hours and relentless tracking of progress.
In another criticism, in 2010 an ex-employee was cited quoting Mark Pincus as saying "I don't fucking want innovation. You're not smarter than your competitor. Just copy what they do and do it until you get their numbers."
In November 2011, The New York Times reported that Zynga “operates like a federation of city-states” with each of its games, such as FarmVille and CityVille, run by autonomous teams. This culture reportedly fostered “fierce internal competition” and caused some employees to complain about long hours and stressful deadlines. Two former senior Zynga employees, quoted anonymously by the Times, speculated that Zynga’s corporate culture caused the company to lose a bid to acquire mobile game company PopCap and nearly derailed its acquisition of MyMiniLife, which later developed the technology that is the basis for FarmVille. At least one Zynga employee said he planned to cash out and leave Zynga after the IPO.
When asked about the criticisms Zynga had received for its workplace environment, former CEO Pincus said the company strives to be a meritocracy with a culture of leveling up through promotions. Pincus’s management philosophy is to “turn people into CEOs,” encouraging employees to identify and fully own “something really meaningful” to the company. The former CEO's philosophy is part of the Zynga meritocracy in which employees are rewarded for results. Pincus told The New York Times:
The only way people will have the trust to give their all to their job is if they feel like their contribution is recognized and valued. And if they see somebody else higher above them just because of a good résumé, or they see somebody else promoted who they don’t think deserves it, you’re done.
In a June 2012 article on the Forbes website, Zynga Chief Engineer Kostadis Roussos defended the company’s meritocracy culture, writing that it attracts people who are “obsessed with business outcomes” rather than those enamored “with their own pet projects.”
Joe Raposo, the quality assurance lead on CityVille, is also the bassist for Southern California punk band Lagwagon. Raposo praised pro-creativity culture in Zynga, saying "I love working at Zynga because they really support anything you do on the creative side, and they nurture that." While on tour with Lagwagon, Raposo often works remotely for Zynga.
Over the summer of 2012, the company lost a number of key executives.
In February of 2013, Chief Game Designer Brian Reynolds discussed company culture positively in a post for VentureBeat at the time of his exit from Zynga. saying "the capability to absorb and adapt to change quickly is one of the great strengths of Zynga’s culture – the true meaning of the motto and occasional battle cry Zynga Speed!" among other comments.
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