It’s official: Turning familiar tech properties into scripted entertainment is the modus operandi for the show business industry. The latest to join the ranks is Farmville, the popular social media game from Zynga. The Wall Street Journal reports that it’s becoming a half-hour animated TV show.
Brett Ratner — of Rush Hour, Prison Break and X-Men: The Last Stand — will be directing the program, which will be produced by Canadian production company Six Eleven Media.
It’s not yet clear which network will air the show, but whoever gets it will be lucky to get even a fraction of the millions who play the Farmville and Farmville 2 games daily. It’s also unclear who the show will cater to. The cute but simplistic graphics might appeal to children, but adults are the ones who primarily make up the userbase and are familiar with the brand.
Either way, this must be great news for the struggling Zynga. After some messy rounds of (well-publicized) layoffs last quarter, the company reported a quarterly loss earlier this week, so it needs all the help it can get.