How Ads Could Ruin Zynga and Why They (Probably) Won't

Post IPO, does the gaming giant need to see the advertising light?

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Players can spend a lot of time chopping trees, quarrying rocks and planting grapes in CastleVille, all in the name of helping a princess build her home. When they run out of the energy needed for such tasks (given out as energy points, which are tracked on an on-screen bar), they have lots of ways of getting more juice—ways that, usually, will cost them more money, or, in some cases, test their friends’ patience. (Players can ask Facebook users for help in gaining more energy.)

But despite the time users invest in CastleVille, Zynga’s latest runaway hit game, participants can play for a while without seeing much in the way of advertising.

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