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319. Building Games That Don't Die: The Zynga Model
Description
Zynga's EVP of Studio, Yaron Leyvan, shares his 13-year Zynga journey, from the early days to Zynga to today, where the company operates under Take-Two, and the acquisition strategy behind successful post-acquisition integration in mobile gaming.
Yaron breaks down how Zynga builds forever franchises: sustainable games powered by live ops, repeatable game development, and disciplined iteration, where innovation is real, and data-driven decisions don’t kill creativity.
We also get into studio culture after an acquisition: protecting speed, talent density, and decision-making while aligning with parent-company expectations.
Chapters:
00:20 Yaron's Journey
10:00 Creating Forever Franchises
19:40 Post Acquisition Studio Management
30:45 Day in the Life of a Head of Studios
47:38 Hubris and Humility
59:18 The Role of AI and Future Outlook