Could Mafia Wars be worse off than we think?

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If you ask [Mafia Wars Loot Lady][2], a dedicated [Mafia Wars ][3]fan blog, one of [Zynga][4]'s first games could soon be on the chopping block. MW Loot Lady writer Jennifer Patterson took it upon herself recently to get a better of exactly how many players log into the game daily, and the results aren't pretty: It could very well be fewer than 239,000. That's way lower than the reported 560,000 [by AppData ][5](and, you would imagine, Zynga).

Patterson recorded the dismal data using a script (an automated program) created by Team Spockholm--a seasoned creator of third party Mafia Wars tools--to measure the exact amount of votes cast in the recent in-game event, New Year's Resolutions. According to what Patterson recorded after the event was live for 24 hours, just 239,156 votes were cast. Worse even is the fact that players had the opportunity to vote multiple times.

For what it's worth, we can't simply assume that fewer than 239,000 players logged into Mafia Wars on a given day. It's entirely possible that features like this simply aren't popular with the game's supposed 560,000 daily players. However, these promotional events are always placed front and center, just begging to be interacted with. Patterson goes on to say that daily player metrics could have been worse than reported even over a year ago, citing another player voting event.

Again, we can't say for sure that Mafia Wars has way fewer daily players than AppData reports, but why would Zynga even bother with these event if they were that unpopular? Besides, it's no secret that Mafia Wars has been on a downward curve for some time. And sadly, [according to AppData][6], its [sequel ][7]is actually doing worse. Have Zynga fans simply gone legit?

[Image Credit: [MW Loot Lady][2]]

**Are you still playing Mafia Wars daily? Why do you think both games have been on a downward curve? Sound off in the comments. [Add Comment.][8]**

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[1]: http://o.aolcdn.com/dims/GAME/5/168/168/100/http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.games.com/media/2011/12/mw2.jpg
[2]: http://mwlootlady.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-many-daily-players-are-left.html
[3]: http://blog.games.com/category/mafia-wars
[4]: http://blog.games.com/tag/zynga
[5]: http://www.appdata.com/apps/facebook/10979261223-mafia-wars
[6]: http://www.appdata.com/apps/facebook/121581087940710-mafia-wars
[7]: http://blog.games.com/tag/maifa+wars+2
[8]: http://blog.games.com/2011/12/30/mafia-wars-daily-players-worse/#disqus_thread
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