The Washington Post reports that Zynga has announced it launched Farmville 2 today on Facebook and its own social gaming platform. The sequel to 2009’s Farmville is the first title from Zynga to make use of 3D graphics, and adds several new features, such as a player-controlled avatar, to the tried-and-true formula of the original.
Despite the rapid success of Zynga in the social gaming market since 2009, the company has suffered from increased competition, lagging sales and dropping share prices for the past several months. Last month, competitor EA filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming the Farmville developer infringed on its copyrights of The Sims Social by releasing The Ville. Late July, several Zynga executives, including CEO Mark Pincus, saw a class-action lawsuit filed against them for insider trading.