"The game's popularity peaked almost exactly on the day that the company was bought"

Given the timing did the new association with Zynga hurt them? Seems like consumers, in general, are probably not that in tune with the press but this all went pretty mainstream, and Zynga's rep seems to be taking blows at all levels now . . .

Also appears from the recent reviews that lots of folks are having issues with crashing:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/draw-something-free/id4886282...

Doubt that would be the primary driver, the average app user just wouldn't be that in time with behind the scenes movement. Nothing was put in app or in the download description to indicate that it was now a Zynga property.

Shortly after Zynga bought OMGPOP, my profile disappeared. If I wanted to play games, I would have had to create a new profile with no way of knowing if all of my coins/colors/current games would carry over.

I didn't care enough to sign up, and this time around I was forced to link it to either my email address or Facebook, which I did not want to do (before I could just create a username without linking it to anything else).

This friction is what led to my uninstall and is no doubt a consequence of the sale.

How fitting the name "OMGPOP" turned out to be.

Sounds like they sold at just the right moment.

I just downloaded this game the other day. It was fun for awhile (it still kinda is), but there are only so many words. I get repeats every day. And some words are just bizarre. How am I supposed to draw iCarly (some Nickelodeon show), when my opponent and I are both over the age of 13?

I assume Zynga's CEO didn't ever play the game. I knew it wouldn't last the first day I played it.

Agreed. Some of the words are ridiculous. The repeats are so bad after a few days playing, you didn't even have to try any more.

The free version was acceptable in the beginning. They show ads in return for it being free. I get that. I am fine with that. Then, it got to the stage where they were FORCING ads down your throat after every turn. It became unplayable, so I just removed it from my phone.

A drop from 14.5M to 10M is significant, but that graph is misleading because of the y-axis range. It only shows the range between 15M and 10M. 10M users is still nothing to scoff at. I think it was inevitable that the initial hype would wear off a little and the game would settle in to a smaller, dedicated fan base.

I would be very surprised if Zynga didn't consider this kind of a growth/ decline curve when buying. This is very common in viral spreading Facebook and iPhone games which zynga have many.