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Zynga Debuts 'Words With Friends 2' Eight Years After Launching Original iOS Game

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In 2009 developer Zynga debuted Words With Friends, a Scrabble-like game on the iOS App Store that quickly became one of the most popular and well-known apps associated with iPhone gaming. Today, Zynga is launching the first proper sequel to the game, Words With Friends 2, as a brand-new and free app on the App Store, and it'll carry over all of your friends, running games, and settings from the first app.

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In terms of gameplay, Words With Friends 2 plays the same as the original, offering up a word-creation board game against your friends in an asynchronous multiplayer experience. Additionally, Zynga said that it has added in a few new features to the sequel, "requested from the Words With Friends player community," including a Solo Challenge that pits you against an AI bot, a team versus team Lightning Round, and an enhanced Social Dictionary.

Solo Challenge is meant to help you develop your strategy and vocabulary in a single player-style experience of "increasingly tough matches." The Lightning Round mode is Zynga's first-ever synchronous multiplayer feature, allowing you to play against more than one person in the same match by joining a team of five total players, resulting in a "faster and more competitive" mode than the traditional gameplay.

words-with-friends-2-1.jpg

All of the new features come in an app that's also newly designed with a "refreshed, modern look and feel," according to Zynga.
"As one of Zynga's most popular and iconic forever franchises, Words With Friends continues to connect millions of people around the world every day through a shared love of social wordplay," said Bernard Kim, President of Publishing, Zynga. "Words With Friends 2 honors the rich, pop-culture legacy and beloved social gameplay of Words With Friends, while introducing innovative features in the largest refresh in the game's eight-year history.

We're proud to bring our loyal fans a brand-new experience that's inspired by all the ways they want to play. Whether it's teaming up in our first-ever synchronous multiplayer mode with Lightning Round or improving their vocabulary prowess in Solo Challenge, Words With Friends 2 gives players more opportunities to master their favorite word game than ever before."
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Zynga mentioned that over the course of eight years, more than 140 billion words have been played in Words With Friends, and to this day over 6.5 million matches are created every day. The popular original game spawned numerous spiritual successors created by Zynga and tackling other well-known game genres, including Hanging With Friends, Chess With Friends, Matching With Friends, Crosswords With Friends, Boggle With Friends, Word Streak With Friends, and more.

You can download Words With Friends 2 on the iOS App Store for free beginning today [Direct Link]. The sequel is also available on Google Play for Android devices.

Article Link: Zynga Debuts 'Words With Friends 2' Eight Years After Launching Original iOS Game
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/11/08/zynga-words-with-friends-2/
Agreed, I see no way to opt out of ads, I’ll keep playing my ad free old version.

What is it with these dam developers that can’t give us an app to purchase so we don’t have to deal with ads? So tired of this crap!
 
The rise and fall of Zynga was amazing. They amassed over 300 million users in just 3 months then lost more than 1/3 of them in a single month.
 
OldSchoolMacGuy said:
Updating the original won't bring people back. Releasing a new app means many of the people that download the original but haven't touched it in years will download the new app to check it out.
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It seems easier to get people to open an updated app that is already install than to somehow reach them and get them to download a new app. But you're probably right. Or they just want to abandon the paid, no-ad version without upsetting people that paid for it, so they release a second app without the option. I'm kind of glad I just naturally stopped playing Words with Friends. I don't really miss it.
 
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iMerik said:
It seems easier to get people to open an updated app that is already install than to somehow reach them and get them to download a new app. But you're probably right. Or they just want to abandon the paid, no-ad version without upsetting people that paid for it, so they release a second app without the option. I'm kind of glad I just naturally stopped playing Words with Friends. I don't really miss it.
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We don't know what the uninstall rate is but chances are a good deal of the people that downloaded it the first time have now deleted the app. With most people having automatic updates turned on, they don't even know if there's an update that adds new features.

I can't think of any app that made a big comeback simply by releasing an update to the existing app. Instead, they've always released a new app, even if it is just AppName 2.
 
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Why do they insist on making the UI and overall experience in games like this as vulgar as possible? It’s the visual equivalent of someone shouting at me from left, right and centre.

It’s not plain, quick or easy (at first) to navigate with numerous unnecessary pop-ups. It looks fat and bloated on my iPhone 7 Plus. The monetisation is stupid and nobody wants it like this. I’ll pay a good price for a plain, simple and micro transaction-free Scrabble-like app. This is not even close, nor is the official Scrabble app either, unfortunately.

There in’t even a way to delete old “friends” from back in the day that are clearly no longer playing.
 
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This game stopped being fun when cheating websites came about. You literally upload a screenshot of your board and the site returns the most valuable move you can play.

I occasionally still played with a couple friends who I know would not cheat, but after some time we sorta lost interest.
 
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I play this frequently with, shocker, friends. I had the ad-free version. I got the new app, started it up, and it runs great and looks good. I deleted the older version and no issues with current games, and I don't see ads.
 
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AllergyDoc said:
The ad-free old version doesn’t work in iOS 11. You’re forced to use an app loaded with ads, unless you pay $30 for the ad-free version. No thanks.
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Works fine for me, are you sure you have the latest update of the app? If so, which iOS device are you using?
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Booch21 said:
I play this frequently with, shocker, friends. I had the ad-free version. I got the new app, started it up, and it runs great and looks good. I deleted the older version and no issues with current games, and I don't see ads.
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Then why do I see new reviews complaining about too many ads?
 
Infrared said:
Maybe they didn’t previously have the ad-free version?
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Must be. I've played several turns in WWF2 today and haven't seen a single ad. In the app description, it also says "Play Words With Friends 2 without third party ads between moves if you previously purchased either Words With Friends Pro or no third-party ads in the original Words With Friends on any mobile device."

I bought the paid version way back when I started playing on the original app and haven't ever seen any ads, including on New Words With Friends and now Words With Friends 2.
 
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