Despite having fewer titles and less revenue than Zynga, EA bought Playfish for ~$400M. Both companies have similar business models and very similar products, but the philosophy of the companies are much different.

Playfish focuses on the quality of their games with a consistent design aesthetic and compelling game design. While this might mean fewer games and higher cost per game it ensures their mission statement of creating the best games they can stays true.

Zynga focuses on making money. They either acquire games or fast follow/emulate other games and pump money into the space to drown out the competition in marketing and customer acquisition.

Zynga makes alot of money. Playfish does as well. And both companies have a lot of users playing their games. But at the end of the day is it the quality of the customer (repeat player, organic word of mouth, user turned ambassador) versus the number of customers (one time players, subversive acquisition, lead gen tactics) that really matters to potential acquirers?

It will also be interesting to see what will happen when the changes to the Facebook platform take effect in the new year in regards to notification spamming, customer acquisition flow, and direct messaging.

Read the Silicon Alley Insider article here