Mafia culture. Great for 1%, Ugly for 99% - Anonymous employee Zynga Employee Review

2.0
Jun 23, 2012
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

* Be your own CEO: is true for most parts. Anyone (Designer, Artist, PM, Engineer, QA, Community) can impact the game by innovative initiatives. You will get enough opportunities to test our your intuition, and hone your game skills. * Fast moving culture: You do 1 years worth of work in 1 quarter. Thus have big wins weekly, monthly. You commit many mistakes and learn a lot in a compressed period of time. * Meritocracy: In most parts. Very numbers driven company. At least, an year or two ago, the person moving the bigger number wins. Good while things were growing.

Cons

* Meritocracy: Meritocratic culture is dying. Politics and finding the right God Father can help you better than your real value addition. * Nepotism: Lop-sided promotions. You will see many inexperienced Directors, VPs from the old-timer's list. If you are not in the inner circle, you are wasting your time. * HR has too much power. Probably the most hated HR team in the world. One wonders whether they work to make employee's life better, or celebrate themselves and their chief everyday. Its ridiculous. * Sign up your life for Zynga: You are a bonded labor. Forget the weekends, forget your family. Terrible place for married people. You will find enough thrill at the work-place, but kiss your happiness good-bye. You shouldn't promise your husband a dinner date. You can't live up to it. * Open ended vacation policy is actually awful: It results people taking much less vacation than the 1 week per quarter promised. * Week Analysis: The PMs are numbers driven, but I don't respect most of them. Doesn't feel like they really understand numbers. * They don't care: Zynga doesn't care really. The Execs don't care. Everyone works for the bonus, and the stock (which is no longer valuable). If it is worth it for you, then take it. If you can get into the 1% inner circle, then do it. Else don't waste your time.

Explore other reviews about Zynga

5.0
Jun 1, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Amazing Company - people are great, the work is fun, and everyone is happy to be here.

Cons

None. fun company, good people.

2.0
Jul 10, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Working at a leader in the mobile gaming industry is a huge plus on your resume. Plus, having the opportunity to work in gaming is fun. - Collaborating with some of the most smartest, creative and innovative people in the gaming/tech space - It's a great opportunity to learn mobile gaming and hone your skillset. Zynga has a strong inclusive culture and it can be very welcoming initially. You should always be learning at every stage of your career and you can definitely do so at the company - You can connect with some really cool people

Cons

- Pay was slightly below average and not always congruent/1:1 to your skillset and experience - Limited opportunities and typical corporate rhetoric/structure holds the company back from the next levels of success. Once you realize that you have no one really advocating for you to move up and or take on more responsibilities, you have to be honest about your future at the company. - Some management/teammates are egoistical and passive aggressive in their behavior towards certain employees and clear favoritism is shown. - The relationship you have with your manager will make or break your career, which is frustrating. If you have a manager that will look out for you/advocacte your career, you'll do fine. If you don't, you're stuck

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