FarmVille is one of the most influential games of all time.
Debuting on Facebook in 2009, the browser-based casual farming sim went on to change the course of the industry in various ways so it s perhaps surprising to learn of its humble origins.
As Zynga s former senior vice president Mark Skaggs, who led the original FarmVille team, recalls, they had been asked to create a strategy title for Facebook following their success with Mafia Wars. But he soon realised it wouldn t get off the ground. I know some people would want an Age of Empires but running in Flash on Facebook, he says. And that wasn t going to happen.