Making video games that are fun to play can be surprisingly hard work. Just ask Zynga, the company known for Farmville, Words with Friends and other popular video games. When Zynga had an opportunity to rethink its headquarters and workplace strategy, creating the right environment to inspire employees was a top priority.

For years, Zynga’s headquarters was in San Francisco, near technology talent and the buzz of urban living. The company was known not only for its popular products, but for its fun, creative and dog-friendly offices that naturally attracted and retained the best video game talent.

“We didn't know how much square footage we needed or what the mix of workspaces would look like. JLL helped us envision the future. We couldn't have gotten to this point without JLL.”

—Ken Stuart, VP, Real Estate & Workplace, Take-Two*

- *Zynga is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.

To make hybrid work a formal reality, Zynga needed to protect its distinct corporate culture— known for creativity, collaboration and innovation—while embracing the positive aspects of working from home. Determining the optimal square footage and the right mix of productivity spaces for the new age of work was challenging, since Zynga lacked a methodology for predicting overcrowding or under-utilization of space.

A second, riskier, decision was location. Zynga had the option of simply renewing its current headquarters lease, but with less square footage. However, tenant-friendly market conditions meant that attractive and cost- effective space alternatives also were options.

First, the JLL team toured Zynga’s current 200,000-square-foot headquarters office to understand workflows and space needs. Using JLL’s data and predictive analytics tools, the team forecast Zynga’s future office headcounts in the hybrid working model.

With a better understanding of Zynga’s space needs, JLL used location analytics to uncover several potential locations that offered better employee commute times, as well as neighborhood restaurants and coffee shops, all at a lower cost. 

Ultimately, Zynga decided to relocate from San Francisco to San Mateo, where it leased all four floors of a 60,000-square-foot building. Zynga secured not only a year of free rent, but also generous concessions, prominent exterior signage, and a tenant improvement allowance far above pre-pandemic levels.