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Zynga launches Draw Something 2, kills four other games

The social gaming company shuts down The Ville, Empires and Allies, Dream Zoo, and Zynga City on Tencent, but Draw Something 2 goes live Wednesday night.

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Donna Tam Staff Writer / News
Donna Tam covers Amazon and other fun stuff for CNET News. She is a San Francisco native who enjoys feasting, merrymaking, checking her Gmail and reading her Kindle.
Donna Tam
Zynga

Zynga executives say they're "doubling down on big bets," which means killing off games that won't bring in big bucks in the long run and sticking to franchises that do.

The company announced Wednesday that Draw Something 2, the sequel to the popular Draw Something mobile drawing game, goes live this evening. On the flip side, Zynga is killing off four other games: The Ville, Empires and Allies, Dream Zoo, and Zynga City on Tencent.

The new Draw Something 2 includes a social feed, where you can like or comment on drawings, and follow people. There's also a place to keep saved drawings and new drawing tools, according to Zynga.

Celebrity host Ryan Seacrest teased Draw Something 2 on Twitter last month, creating 40 million impressions on the social network in one day, Zynga COO David Ko said during the company's earnings call.

Ko said the company is "leveraging the cultural phenomenon" of Draw Something with Draw Something 2, helping beef up Zynga's mobile presence. He said the company plans to increase its mobile offerings this year.

Revamping successful franchises is a strategy that's working for the company, according to Zynga CEO Mark Pincus. Pincus pointed to the success of Farmville 2 duringZynga's earnings report as an example.

Updated at 6:13 p.m. PT: with more information from Zynga about Draw Something 2.