Zynga and Atari have launched their first game together, under the Zynga Mobile Partner Program — announced this summer. The program allows third party companies to tap into Zynga’s network, while helping Zynga beef up its mobile gaming ecosystem as it seeks to grow its non-Facebook business. Back in June, Zynga reported having 22 million daily active users on mobile (vs 53 million daily active users on Facebook).
The game is a reworking of Atari’s Breakout arcade classic. Players play as a character called Rodney the bunny who’s on a quest to rescue various cute creatures from cages at the nefarious Evil Animal Testing (E.A.T. — see what they did there?) Labs. The Breakout aspect of the gameplay involves using Rodney as the ball (it’s ok, he’s got a crash-helmet on…) to bounce around breaking bricks to free the other animals. Additional playable characters can be unlocked, and there are 40+ levels to bounce through.
The iOS app — which works on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad — costs $0.99, with optional in-app extras to buy. An Android version of the app is listed as “coming soon”.
Atari was one of a handful of initial partners of Zynga’s Mobile Partner Program, along with Phosphor Games and Crash Lab. The Atari brand is familiar to anyone who grew up in the 70s as a maker of arcade games, games consoles and home computers. Atari has long since stopped making hardware; the current leadership team is focused on leveraging IP and brand cachet — and pushing its software development efforts into mobile and social gaming, hence the Zynga tie-up.