Zynga Partners With USC to Support Diversity, Inclusive Game Production and the Creation of Innovative Social Mobile Gameplay...
May 09 2017 - 11:00AM
Zynga (Nasdaq:ZNGA), a leading social game developer, has made a
substantial gift to USC to promote the study of social mobile
games, inclusive game production and advancing diversity in the
industry. The gift was announced jointly by Frank Gibeau, CEO of
Zynga and Tracy Fullerton, Chair of the USC School of Cinematic
Arts’ Interactive Media & Games Division and Director of USC
Games. The gift funds three years of class curriculum and an
event series of panels and lectures on inclusivity and diversity in
the video game industry.
“We’re proud to partner with the USC School of Cinematic Arts to
invest in the next generation of social game developers,” said
Frank Gibeau, CEO of Zynga. “We’re continually impressed with the
USC faculty and inspired by our interactions with students across
the campus. USC has always taken a cutting-edge approach to
advancing the intersection of entertainment and business
innovation, and we’re thrilled to share our unique view on how to
blend art and science disciplines in social mobile gaming. As a
proud alumni, it’s also rewarding to see a diverse mix of Zynga
employees return to USC to share their skills and perspectives on
new tech frontiers and career opportunities in gaming.”
Zynga’s support will fund a class on creating social mobile
games using Zynga’s design methodology. The class will begin in the
fall of 2017 and extend through the spring of 2020. The
program will not only advance social mobile game exploration and
innovation, but will also incorporate best practices for team
building production. Students from across the USC campus who
are interested in innovative game design, as well as inclusivity
and diversity in the development of social mobile games will have
access to the course.
In addition to the class, Zynga will also sponsor an event
series covering production, creative, and engineering topics with
experts representing an array of disciplines in the social mobile
space, including the company’s Women at Zynga employee group. The
series kicked off with alumni speakers Anshul Dhawan (Computer
Science Games ‘10) and Anna Huerta (Interactive Media & Games
’09 & Rossier ME Educational Psychology & Instructional
Technology ‘10), both now long time employees at Zynga.
Students across the USC campus are invited to attend all upcoming
events.
Tracy Fullerton, Chair of the USC School of Cinematic Art’s
Interactive Media & Games Division and Director of USC Games,
says, “This gift shows a great commitment on the part of Zynga to
some of our shared core values: innovation in games coupled with
best practices for inclusive production teams. So many of our
alumni are working at Zynga that it’s a natural fit for us to work
with them to help more young designers and developers learn these
core skills.”
As part of its work with the University, Zynga has also
partnered with the Marshall School of Business on a Product
Management Bootcamp program for MBA candidates. The Bootcamp
features seven sessions on social game development covering Product
Management fundamentals including product lifecycle and design, A/B
testing and product growth strategies. The initial pilot concluded
in April 2017 with students participating in the first ever Zynga
Product Case Competition at USC. The Zynga PM Bootcamp will
continue with a new cohort of students in the Fall of 2017.
ABOUT ZYNGASince its founding in 2007, Zynga's
mission has been to connect the world through games. To-date, more
than 1 billion people have played Zynga's games across Web and
mobile, including FarmVille, Zynga Poker, Words With Friends, Hit
it Rich! Slots and CSR Racing. Zynga's games are available on a
number of global platforms including Apple iOS, Google Android,
Facebook and Zynga.com. The company is headquartered in San
Francisco, Calif., and has additional offices in the U.S., Canada,
Finland, U.K., Ireland and India. Learn more about Zynga at
http://blog.zynga.com or follow us on Twitter and
Facebook.
ABOUT THE USC SCHOOL OF CINEMATIC ARTSThe
University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts is one
of the leading media schools in the world. Founded in collaboration
with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1929 over
87 years ago, the USC School of Cinematic Arts has fueled and
mirrored the growth of entertainment as an industry and an art
form. The School offers comprehensive programs in directing,
producing, writing, cinema and media studies, animation and digital
arts, production, interactive media and games, all backed by a
broad liberal arts education and taught by leading practitioners in
each field. Its more than 13,000 alumni are among the world’s most
distinguished animators, scholars, teachers, writers, directors,
producers, cinematographers, editors, sound experts, video game
designers and industry executives. Since 1973 not a year has passed
without an alumnus or alumna being nominated for an Academy Award
or an Emmy. https://cinema.usc.edu/
Press contacts:
Kristin Borella, School of Cinematic Arts, 213.740.9514Cari
Sanders, The Angellotti Company, 818.506.7887Sarah Irvin, Zynga,
415.533-7677
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