Zynga closes OMGPOP website, shuns attempted team buyout

The creator of hit mobile game Draw Something is dead following Zynga’s decision to axe the OMGPOP website.

OMGPOP.com will close on September 30th to make way for new and exciting gaming opportunities”, according to Zynga. Both Draw Something games and Draw My Thing will remain active but titles such as Cupcake Corner, Gem Rush and Pool World Champ will be axed.

What makes the pill all the more bitter is the fact that members of the OMGPOP team were trying to acquire whatever company assets Zynga was willing to sell.

TechCrunch reports that the OMGPOP team was in direct contact with Zynga leadership in an attempt to buy back the site or continue operating it”. They were even willing to press ahead with a purchase that excluded the Draw Something licence.

However Zynga said this would all take too much legal work and wouldn’t agree to sell anything”.

The site’s sources claim that OMGPOP’s non-Draw Something IPs were making enough money to warrant the running of an independent company.

Zynga acquired OMGPOP for a sum believed to be $200m in March 2012. In June of this year the studio’s staff were sacked by Zynga.