As online videogame pioneer Zynga Inc. prepares to go public, one of the gaming industry's veterans is starting to creep onto its virtual turf.
Electronic Arts Inc. has cracked Zynga's hold on the top games played on social-networking website Facebook Inc. with "The Sims Social." Since the game's August debut, it has become Facebook's second-most-played game, according to industry tracker AppData, with 38.3 million monthly active users. Zynga's "CityVille" is No. 1, with 54.5 million such users.
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EA, known for console games like the "Madden" football series, scored its Facebook hit in part by siphoning players like Francis Java away from Zynga titles. Mr. Java, a 20-year-old Californian in college in the Philippines, said he quit playing Zynga's "Mafia Wars" and "YoVille" to play "The Sims Social," a suburban-life simulator.
"You can decorate your place, and they give you new items every week," Mr. Java said. "It gives you something to look forward to."
Zynga still is the leading Facebook game developer. It accounts for seven of Facebook's top 10 games, according to AppData, and its game portfolio has more than 200 million monthly active users, triple runner-up EA's 67 million.
That dominance has given the four-year-old San Francisco company as much as a $20 billion valuation for its initial public offering, which people familiar with the matter have said could come later this month.
But EA has emerged as Zynga's first substantial rival in what is known as social gaming. The deep-pocketed Redwood City, Calif., company also has a head start in a field where Zynga is pinning its future: gaming on mobile gadgets, such as smartphones and tablets.
Barry Cottle, who heads EA's social-gaming efforts, said the company's strategy is to use the expertise at Playfish, a social-gaming start-up it acquired in 2009, to turn successful EA brands such as "The Sims" into Facebook games.
"Our formula for success...is to take a leader in the space that really knows those games and marry that with our franchises," he said. "Zynga and others are continuing to build quality games and are improving the bar. We like competition, and competition keeps us driven to do better."
Zynga declined to comment for this article.
The competition comes as Zynga has upended the traditional game industry with its business model of selling digital goods in videogames. By selling virtual horses and houses in hits, such as "FarmVille" and "CityVille," it raked in more than $270 million in the second quarter. Its success has spurred traditional videogame makers, such as EA, which has seen its revenues stagnate in the past few years, to dive into social gaming.
"The Sims" series is one of EA's biggest successes, having sold more than 125 million copies for PCs and gaming consoles. The company previously tried to turn the series into a fee-based online, multiplayer game, but it was a flop. Now EA is taking a page from Zynga's playbook, by letting people play the game free on Facebook and selling players virtual merchandise.
"When you look at EA, what you see is that it's possible to take market share away from Zynga," said John Lee, a marketing vice president for Raptr Inc., a social network for videogame players that tracks the playing time of its members.
"The Sims Social" has flourished partly by luring Zynga players, Mr. Lee said. In an October study of its 10 million members, Raptr found that 50% of the game's players also played Zynga games. Mr. Lee added that he isn't sure how many of those players play "The Sims Social," instead of Zynga games, and how many play the game in addition to Zynga titles.
EA also met success by marketing "The Sims Social" to fans of its PC and console games, such as "The Sims 3," and its other Facebook games, such as "Bejeweled Blitz," analysts said.
Any lull in releasing new social games can be costly. In regulatory documents, Zynga said it saw a 4% decline in bookings in the second quarter, which it attributed to fewer daily average users and the fact that it didn't launch any new games in the first half of 2011.
EA's Mr. Cottle said his company's goal is to win not just in the market for Facebook games, but across all digital platforms, including mobile devices. EA already has more than 100 apps for Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPad.
Zynga has the popular "Words with Friends" app, but is still working on making other games available on smartphones and tablets. In total, Zynga has 10 games for the iPhone, iPad and Android devices, with two other games "coming soon."
"EA should have zero trouble because they're already dominant in mobile," said Michael Pachter, a Wedbush Securities analyst.
Still, EA, with only one hit so far, is playing catch-up in social gaming, he said.
In addition, "The Sims Social" player base has dropped in the past month. The game was No. 3 among active daily users, as of Tuesday, behind "CityVille" and "Farmville," but it ranked second among monthly active users.
EA, Mr. Pachter said, is "nipping at their [Zynga's] heels, and EA's about ankle high."
Write to Stu Woo at Stu.Woo@wsj.com and Shayndi Raice at shayndi.raice@wsj.com
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