The affairs of Mark Pincus’ company are on the mend. Zynga is still not in the black, but hopes to improve its affairs soon with the help of mobile projects and gambling.
The company’s revenue in the 4th quarter of 2012 amounted to $311 million. The quarter did not bring her any income, only losses of $48.6 million. It would seem that everything is bad, but, for example, losses for the 4th quarter of 2011 amounted to $ 435 million and this is with revenue of the same $ 311 million.
Zynga struggled with losses throughout 2012. Moreover, starting from the third quarter, it was very radical: it closed its divisions, transferred capacities to China and India, curtailed all unsuccessful projects, even those in which huge sums were invested and no less hopes were pinned. The other day, for example, it became known about the closure of as many as three major games: social Cityville 2, The Friend Game and mobile Party Place. In total, support for 10 projects was discontinued only in the 4th quarter.
Cityville 2 – Major studio failureBy the way, with the closure of Cityville 2, some details regarding the departure of Brian Reynolds, who headed the development of the game, became clear.
The continuation of the popular social sim at first, as expected, pulled the audience of the first part, and then in less than two months it lost it. According to rumors, the game was not tested as thoroughly as the one that broke the bank of FarmVille 2.
In general, cost reductions in the second half of 2012 allowed Zynga to recover from the hasty purchase of OMGPOP and earn about $1.28 billion in 12 months, which is 12% more than in 2011. Losses amounted to $209 million.
This year, the company hopes to become a plus for the first time since 2011. And, it is quite possible that she will succeed. There are several reasons for this.
FarmVille 2 is still gaining points on FacebookFirstly, it is now a “mobile-oriented” company.
Zynga, according to Mark Pinkus, focuses not on Facebook, but on the mobile market. But so far in this regard, she has a lot to grow. The monthly audience of Zynga mobile products is 72 million users. This is only a quarter of the total MAU of the company.
Secondly, Zynga was one of the first in the Western market to realize that you can earn not only on 35-year-old housewives, but also on hardcore. At the moment, the company is developing a number of midcore projects.
Thirdly, after the failure of Cityville 2, Zynga is going to pay more attention to preliminary testing.
And, fourthly, very soon the company plans to engage in gambling for real money. Zynga has already signed an agreement with bwin.party to integrate such features into its games in the UK.