Zynga Product Sense: Pitch One New Feature for a Game You Play Often

You are interviewing for a product manager role at Zynga, the mobile game publisher. Choose a game you love to play and, acting as its product manager, propose one new feature you would build for it. Explain why the game needs it, which players it serves, how it works, and how you would know it succeeded. ```hint Find the moment players drop off Before naming any feature, pick one group of players and the point in that game where they get stuck, bored or stop coming back. A feature that fixes that moment and also moves something Zynga's business depends on, such as retention or in-game spending, beats one that is merely fun to describe. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Must the game be a Zynga title, or can I choose any game and then explain how the idea would carry over to Zynga's portfolio? - If you would rather I work on one of Zynga's own games, do you want a single new feature, or my broader plan for improving that game, which might combine a few changes? - Should the feature serve a business goal you already have in mind, such as retention, revenue per player or new installs, or is choosing the goal part of the exercise? - Can the feature change the game's core rules and scoring, or should it work around them? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - An accurate description of the chosen game, its core loop and how it makes money (ads, in-app purchases), with a reason for picking it - A specific player segment and a pain point grounded in how that game is actually played - Several candidate features compared, with one chosen through stated criteria such as impact on the goal, effort and risk to game balance - A concrete walkthrough of the feature, a success metric with guardrails, and a way to test it - Risks specific to free-to-play games, such as pay-to-win perception, cheating, or cannibalizing existing modes and purchases ### Follow-up Questions - In your A/B test, players with the feature play more often but spend less on in-app purchases. Do you ship it? - How would you adapt the idea for a Zynga game with a very different audience, such as a social casino title? - What is the smallest version you could ship to learn whether players actually want it?