Zynga to Shutter Six More Games – Including CastleVille and ChefVille

Following two major closure announcements earlier this year, for its CityVille and Pioneer Trail Facebook games, Zynga has announced another new set of game closures, all slated for April 30, 2015. This wave of closures will impact both web and mobile titles, including the once popular CastleVille and ChefVille simulation games.

CastleVille launched on Facebook in November 2011, and set records for Facebook game growth, surpassing five million daily active players during its first week on the platform. The medieval kingdom building game took players to a fantasy world where they fought off the “beasties” and villains of the Gloom, completing quests for a series of lovable non-playable characters. The game was so successful, it sparked the release of a spinoff in CastleVille Legends, which will remain available to play on Facebook and mobile devices.

Meanwhile, ChefVille launched on Facebook in August 2012, and was a restaurant management game with a noticeably different style than Zynga’s Cafe World (which itself closed in July 2014). In ChefVille, players focused on the collection of individual ingredients used to cook recipes one at a time on themed appliances. In contrast, Cafe World allowed gamers to cook multiple units of the same dish, with less regard to ingredients, so long as they had free stoves. As was the case with other major Zynga releases, ChefVille was an instant hit, rocketing to over 55 million monthly active users by September 2012. Over time, though, numbers for both games have drastically fallen.

In a recent blog post, Zynga said these closures are “based on the natural evolution of our game storylines and changing consumer preferences.” As traffic has slowed for Facebook games, the developer has shifted its focus to mobile, where it expects to launch “six to ten” new games this year, according to a recent earnings call.

The other games affected by this wave of closures are Bubble Safari Mobile, Bubble Safari Ocean, Puzzle Charms and Skateboard Slam. This takes the total to 13 games being shuttered by the end of April, including CityVille, Zynga Slots, Duck Dynasty Slots, Riches of Olympus, Pioneer Trail, Ayakashi: Ghost Guild and FarmVillage.

Readers: Are you sad to see any of these games close? Are you surprised Zynga is closing this many games?