Empires & Allies

Lore & Background

Empires & Allies was a freemium game set in a military cartoon world of archipelagos. Each player began with one island and could expand to up to four. The player's task was to recover their island nation's glory and defeat the main villain, 'The Raven,' and his commanders. The game began with a massive enemy attack, and the player was drawn into a war to stop the enemy from using a valuable ore for a super weapon. The game featured advisors: civic, military, construction, and mission advisors.

Reader's Guide

Empires & Allies marked a significant shift for Zynga, moving from browser-based games like Mafia Wars to a graphics-based game portraying modern warfare and violence, while retaining the graphical style of CityVille and FarmVille. Its launch was called the 'biggest launch of any Zynga title to date' by G4TV.com writer Jake Gaskill. The game's freemium model and social mechanics, requiring players to trade ores and ask friends for parts, drove its rapid growth to 33 million monthly active users. Its closure in 2013 alongside three other Zynga games highlighted the volatility of the social gaming market, though its revival as a mobile game in 2015 demonstrated enduring interest. The game's rock-paper-scissors combat and island-hopping campaign structure influenced later strategy games on social platforms.

Did You Know?

• Empires & Allies was Zynga's first combat and strategy game.
• The game launched in twelve languages on June 1, 2011.
• Within nine days of launch, it had gained nearly 10 million users.

Launch & Early Success

Empires & Allies arrived on June 1, 2011, as Zynga's first foray into combat and strategy gaming. Released from Zynga's Los Angeles studio, it debuted simultaneously in twelve languages, a scope that G4TV.com's Jake Gaskill described as the most ambitious launch in the company's history. The reception was immediate and massive: within just nine days of going live, the title had attracted nearly ten million players. By the third week of June, monthly active users had climbed to thirty-three million, making it the fourth most popular game on Facebook. The freemium model—free to play with optional premium purchases—lowered the barrier to entry and helped fuel that explosive growth. For a studio previously known for casual city-building and farming titles, the leap into military strategy clearly struck a chord with the social gaming audience.

World & Story

The game unfolds across a cartoonish military world made up of archipelagos, each functioning as a militarized island nation. Players start on a single island and can expand to up to four others. The narrative kicks off with a devastating enemy assault that nearly destroys the player's nation, pulling them into a war of revenge. As the story progresses, it emerges that the player's island holds a valuable ore the enemy needs to build a super weapon, and the player must stop it at all costs. The overarching villain, The Raven and his commanders, have seized separate archipelagos, forcing the player to island-hop along a chain until reaching The Raven's home island. Advisors guide the player: civic, military, construction, and mission specialists. Despite the warfare theme, the tone stays lighthearted—enemy commanders carry comedic biographies, and The Raven earned his name because he failed to catch an eagle and settled for a raven instead.

Gameplay & Social Mechanics

The core loop pairs city-building with asynchronous turn-based combat. Players construct buildings that produce materials needed for military units and further construction, while combat follows a rock-paper-scissors dynamic between different unit types. Experience gained from both combat and production unlocks stronger units and more productive buildings. A unique social layer ties progression to friendship: each player can normally produce only one type of ore, yet many units and campaign events demand multiple ore types, pushing players to request parts from friends. Empire Points serve as a premium currency for selling certain items; new players receive fifteen at the start, with additional points available through in-game purchases, Zynga's website, local game cards, or completing specific in-game goals. The title also regularly ran multiple concurrent limited-time events, each offering a special award upon completion, running alongside the main campaign.

Closure & Revival

On April 24, 2013, Zynga announced that Empires & Allies would be shut down alongside three other titles: The Ville, Dream Zoo, and Zynga City (which operated on Tencent). The final closure date was set for June 17, 2013, confirmed on May 16. The game's two-year run on Facebook came to an end, but the story did not fully conclude. On May 5, 2015, Empires & Allies returned in a transformed shape—re-released worldwide as an entirely different mobile game on Apple's App Store and Google Play. The old Facebook page was repurposed to serve this new mobile version. While the 2015 title carried the same name, it was a distinct product from the original browser-based strategy experience, marking both an end and a reinvention of the franchise.

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