Zynga, the mobile game publisher behind Words With Friends and FarmVille, suffered a breach in September 2019 when a hacker known as GnosticPlayers gained unauthorized access to one of its player databases. The attacker claimed to have downloaded records for every Android and iOS user who had installed Words With Friends before September 2, 2019. While Zynga's own public statement acknowledged the breach, independent estimates put the exposed record count at approximately 172.9 million unique accounts. The attack is believed to have involved social engineering, though Zynga has never released a detailed forensic account. The stolen data included email addresses, usernames, login IDs, and passwords stored as salted SHA-1 hashes, a format that is weaker than modern encryption standards and can be cracked with enough computing effort. Many records also contained phone numbers, password-reset tokens, Facebook IDs, and Zynga account numbers. No financial or payment data was stored on the compromised server, so credit card information was not exposed. Even so, the combination of email addresses and crackable passwords gives attackers the core ingredients for phishing campaigns, credential stuffing, and account takeover attempts, particularly against users who reuse the same password across multiple services. Zynga notified affected players and prompted password resets following the disclosure. No major regulatory action was publicly reported in the aftermath. For anyone who played Words With Friends or other Zynga titles before September 2019, the practical risk is that their login credentials may have circulated in criminal markets for years. Changing passwords on any account that shared credentials with a Zynga login remains the most important step affected users can take.

Gaming platforms collect user accounts, emails, passwords, and in-game activity data, often tied to social features.

Zynga remains an active part of Take-Two’s mobile strategy and continues to run large live-service franchises and brand partnerships across its game portfolio. Recent public announcements in 2025 and 2026 highlight major updates to Top Eleven and a cross-title CBS Survivor collaboration, showing that the label is still being used to launch seasonal content, partnerships, and live-ops expansions across multiple games.