Mobile Games
OMGPOP
OMGPOP's drawing game Draw Something was a viral sensation, and Zynga bought the studio for about $200 million at the very peak — days before the game began shedding millions of players. Barely a year later, Zynga shut OMGPOP down.
- Company
- OMGPOP
- Started
- 2012
- Ended
- 2013
- Draw Something daily users, peak vs. one month later
- 15M → 10M
- Collapse speed
- Rapid
- Preventability
- High
- Lesson transfer
- Universal
- Last reviewed
- 2026-07-22
Narrative
The story
The ambition
For a few weeks in early 2012, everyone was drawing. OMGPOP, a New York game studio, had made Draw Something — a simple, charming mobile game where you sketched a word for a friend to guess — and it exploded into one of the fastest-growing games the App Store had seen, a genuine cultural moment.
The rise
The timing looked perfect. At the very height of Draw Something's popularity, in March 2012, Zynga — the social-gaming giant then hunting for its mobile future — acquired OMGPOP for about $200 million.
The cracks
It was a fad. Almost as soon as the deal closed, the novelty wore off: after a few rounds of guessing repetitive words, players simply stopped, and there was little in the game to monetize beyond cosmetic colors. Draw Something shed roughly 5 million daily active users within a month, falling from about 15 million to 10 million — and kept sliding. Zynga had bought a company for one peaking hit, not a durable business, and a culture clash between the two didn't help.
The collapse
The write-down came fast. Barely a year after the acquisition, in June 2013, Zynga laid off most of OMGPOP's staff and closed its New York office — some employees reportedly learned they'd been let go from social media. The studio was shut down.
The aftermath
OMGPOP became the emblematic cautionary tale of acquiring at a peak: a company bought for one viral moment that had already begun to pass by the time the ink dried.
The lessons
Virality is not durability, and a peak is the most dangerous time to buy. A single explosive hit can make a studio look like a franchise, but a game with no retention and little to monetize is a fad with a valuation — and paying top dollar at the moment of maximum hype guarantees the decline lands on the buyer. Acquire the ability to make hits, not one hit at its zenith.
Causal timeline
Failure Anatomy
- 2012
Draw Something goes viral
OMGPOP's mobile drawing game Draw Something became one of the fastest-growing games on the App Store in early 2012. [1]
- 2012-03
Zynga buys at the top
At the peak of the game's popularity, in March 2012, Zynga acquired OMGPOP for about $200 million. [2]
Bad timing - 2012
The fad passes
The novelty wore off and there was little to monetize; Draw Something lost ~5M daily users within a month (from ~15M to ~10M) and kept sliding. [3]
No real demand - 2013-06
Shut down
In June 2013, about a year after the acquisition, Zynga laid off most OMGPOP staff, closed its New York office, and shut the studio down. [4]
No real demand
Structured analysis
What Went Wrong
Root causes
A fad, not a franchise. Draw Something's novelty wore off quickly and it had little to monetize, so its huge user base evaporated almost as fast as it had formed. [3]
Bought at the peak. Zynga acquired OMGPOP for about $200 million at the very height of Draw Something's popularity, just before the decline began. [2]
Immediate trigger
Zynga shuts the studio down. About a year after the acquisition, Zynga laid off most of OMGPOP's staff and shut the studio down. [4]
Visible symptoms
Millions of players gone in a month. Draw Something lost roughly 5 million daily active users within a month of the acquisition, falling from about 15 million to 10 million. [3]
Warning signs
Decline began within weeks. Draw Something's usage started collapsing almost as soon as the acquisition closed. [3]
Affected groups
Evidence
Claims & sources
Every numbered marker in the analysis links to the claim it rests on, and each claim to its sources.
- [1]
OMGPOP was a New York game studio whose mobile drawing game Draw Something became a viral sensation in early 2012.
- [2]
At the height of Draw Something's popularity, in March 2012, Zynga acquired OMGPOP for about $200 million.
- [3]
Draw Something proved a fad — its novelty wore off and it had little to monetize — and usage collapsed almost immediately, losing about 5 million daily active users within a month (from ~15 million to ~10 million).
Moderate Reported explanation Draw Something Loses 5M Users a Month After Zynga Purchase Zynga Shuts Down OMGPOP One Year After Acquiring It For $200M - [4]
Barely a year after the acquisition, in June 2013, Zynga laid off most OMGPOP staff, closed its New York office, and shut the studio down.
Sources
Zynga Shuts Down OMGPOP One Year After Acquiring It For $200M
TechCrunch · 2013-06-04
Draw Something Loses 5M Users a Month After Zynga Purchase
Forbes · 2012-05-04