I still don't see how people can equate Zynga with the game market as a whole.
The "Ville" products are not games. They don't reward skill, you can't win them, and they don't offer any fulfilling multiplayer experience. Most real games fit one or more of these attributes.
Zynga products have more in common with cigarettes than something like Starcraft. Both of the former offer a not-terribly-fun experience that has been thoroughly optimized to provide maximum compulsion and habit. The other is made for entertainment and draws its value from people enjoying this entertainment.
And it is worth noting that, unlike FarmVille, Starcraft has created a pretty involved tournament scene. Many people enjoy being spectators, there are screencasts with commentators, and top players can make a living winning tournaments.
I don't think well-crafted, interesting games will crash.
I'm not saying Zynga is the same as EA, though the impending implosion of mobile/Facebook-based social games seems to match the possible implosion of the console game market as well [1]. It's a separate phenomenon, but they seem to be coincidentally happening at the same time.
It's interesting that Blizzard/Activision doesn't ever get labeled as a social gaming company, even though they've created three of the the best social games in the last 10 years with World of Warcraft, the Call of Duty franchise and Starcraft.
"Social game" is a bit of a misnomer and refers specifically to the mechanic of leveraging social networks to gain more users through explicit in-game benefits of doing so. It doesn't really have anything to do with "being social"; it's just iterated word misuse.
The "Ville" products are not games. They don't reward skill, you can't win them, and they don't offer any fulfilling multiplayer experience. Most real games fit one or more of these attributes.
Zynga products have more in common with cigarettes than something like Starcraft. Both of the former offer a not-terribly-fun experience that has been thoroughly optimized to provide maximum compulsion and habit. The other is made for entertainment and draws its value from people enjoying this entertainment.