319. Building Games That Don't Die: The Zynga Model — Deconstructor of Fun

Listen in the Podli app 🎧

Follow your favourite podcasts, listen offline and in the car with CarPlay and Android Auto, and always pick up where you left off. Free to try.

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