Why did all my Facebook games disappear?

The Mafia are a notoriously deadly foe, and vampires are even worse, but as social games maker Zynga learned this week, economic reality may be the toughest enemy of all.

If you’ve ever been on Facebook and seen status updates such as “Brenda just got a new puppy in PetVille!” or something similar, you’ve encountered Zynga. The San Francisco-based company managed to enter the market at a near-perfect inflection point, offering fun, easy-to-use online games on a social media service that was just picking up steam.

After a highly promising IPO in 2011, however, Zynga’s stock has been pummeled in recent months. Just before the new year, it began shutting down many of its games, both online and within app stores. Nearly 11 titles have been cut, including PetVille, Mafia Wars and Vampire Wars. It also closed down a facility in Japan and laid off workers.

According to Piers Harding-Rolls, senior principal analyst with IHS Screen Digest in the U.K., it is inevitable that the gold rush of PC social network games and mobile apps will result in casualties, but not necessarily because you can’t create a successful business in this space.

“Let's not confuse the distribution channel with the business model. Zynga has suffered because it has been unable to fully translate its PC-based success to the mobile platforms. This is very related to Facebook's inability as well,” he said. “Zynga also made some misssteps around its choice of game genres. It chose to double-down on heavily saturated content areas, while competitors sought out fresh opportunities and exploited them.”

In some ways, Zynga has acted like a Hollywood studio that produces a blockbuster hit and then can’t stop churning out endless sequels. FarmVille, FishVille, ForestVille . . . you get the idea. Another analogy might be bubblegum pop music, a genre also known for producing one-hit-wonders whose massive popularity is quickly forgotten.

“Social games have a quick turnaround time, so companies have a short time span in which they grow exponentially, then fizzle out as a result of changing gamer tastes,” explained Nikoleta Panteva, senior analyst at IBISWorld headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. “Competition for consumers’ attention and discretionary dollars is high among these types of companies, which also contributes to the fast growth and decline.”

Unlike a board game or even something you have to dig out a console of some kind to play, however, social gaming is integrated into the fabric of what, for many people, is now a daily set of social media activities. That means that while Zynga’s decision probably makes good business sense, it will be wrenching for the thousands of people who have been playing and enjoying these games for free. The company may be able to win them back – Zynga still has some 30 titles or more – but it will have to reconceive what gaming in the 21st century could look like. It’s a blurry picture at the moment, but it’s almost certainly an experience that brings together a wildly diverse community across a range of device types, where some of the value is not merely in scoring points but achieving some other kind of recognition.

In the meantime, Zynga needs to stop cloning its own product line – and making sure it doesn’t have to pull the plug on any more games – before a good portion of its audience decides it’s SplitsVille.

If your game progress is no longer appearing then don't worry: it should be possible to restore it, especially if you connected the game to Facebook. 😊

Please go through below steps to see if that helps.

First, ensure you are still connected to Facebook in the game:

• Open "Settings" in the game by tapping the cog wheel (⚙️)
• If you see the option "Log out", you are connected
• If you see the option "Connect", tap it and follow the steps to connect your Facebook
• Once you see the option "Log out", check if your progress is restored.

If your progress is still not visible, the progress might have been saved under a different Facebook account or the wrong progress was selected.

Did you get the option to choose between the progress on your device or in the cloud and choose “device”? Let us know by tapping “Contact us” in the top right.

If you suspect the progress might have been saved under a different, second Facebook account then please try the following:

Facebook games range from quizzes and card games to applications that allow you to build virtual farms. By default, games are allowed to post updates to your news feed, including when you receive a new high score or reach a new level. To see only your game updates and those of your friends, use the "Games" filter available on the news feed screen. If you have previously hidden a game from your feed, remove it from your hidden list to restore its updates.

1. 1.

   Sign in to your Facebook account; the site will automatically direct you to the home page. If you are already on Facebook but on another page, click the "Facebook" icon in the top left corner of any screen to return to the home page.

2. 2.

   Click the "Most Recent" link at the top of the news feed.

3. 3.

   Select "Games" from the menu. Facebook will refresh your home page to only show your game applications.

4. 4.

   Return a game to your news feed that you previously hid by clicking the "Most Recent" link and selecting "Edit Options." Scroll down to the "Apps" section and click the "x" next to a game to remove it from your hidden list. In the future, all updates from that game will once again appear in your feed.

   Where did all my Games go on Facebook?

   Tap in the top right of Facebook. Scroll down and tap Gaming. Under Recent Activity, you can find the games you've recently played.

   How do I get my FB Games back?

   Return a game to your news feed that you previously hid by clicking the "Most Recent" link and selecting "Edit Options." Scroll down to the "Apps" section and click the "x" next to a game to remove it from your hidden list. In the future, all updates from that game will once again appear in your feed.

   What happened to my Games on Facebook 2022?

   In a statement published on Sunday, the company reiterated that much of the functionality of the app will be transferred to the main Facebook app. “Beginning on 28 October 2022, the Facebook Gaming app for iOS and Android will no longer be available,” the statement from the Facebook Gaming team read.

   Why can't I see my Games on Facebook?

   Open Facebook Settings (using the mobile app or website version). Make sure you have allowed the use of Facebook to sign in to third-party sites and applications (Settings-> Apps and Websites-> tap on the Edit button in the Apps, Websites and Games section-> check if the setting is turned on).