Zynga became even more interesting to watch since ex-Xbox 360 lead, Don Mattrick, left the Redmond giant to join the struggling social gaming company. And it looks like his first order of business is to post massive losses, reverse their plan to get into real world gambling and then fire 520 people.
Ah Don…we don’t miss you in the console world..
Anyway enough reminiscing; let’s look at the facts. In the last quarter Zynga posted earnings of $213 million, down from $332 last year this time which is a drop of 31%. Not only did revenue drop but also the number of active players dropped from 72 million a day down to 39 million. Which is a 45% drop. This shows they got better at monetising but far more worryingly is that they alienated a lot of gamers.
To pile more worry on Don’s shoulder,s this drop also reflects a drop of 24% on the number of active gamers they had from Q1 this year. The number of unique paying gamers followed the same trend and dropped from 4.1 million to 1.9 million users.
Zynga also announced they would not be entering the real money gaming world which sent their stock price plummeting as this was seen as their saviour by many investors – but Don is still confident things will get better.
“To do that (grow again), we need to get back to basics and take a longer term view on our products and business, develop more efficient processes and tighten up execution all across the company. We have a lot of hard work in front of us and as we reset, we expect to see more volatility in our business than we would like over the next two to four quarters. I’m privileged to lead Zynga and I look forward to spending more time with our players, employees and shareholders.”
But why did they drop so badly? Well these are the 6 games they released in the last quarter
- Hidden Shadows
- War of the Fallen
- Draw Something 2
- Battlestone
- Solstice Arena
- Running with Friends
Anyone recognise anything other than Draw Something 2, which admit it, you are only recognising because the original Draw Something was massively popular for a month?
Last Updated: July 26, 2013
Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)
July 26, 2013 at 11:34
Since Don is the owner of a magical jacket, he will steer this sinking ship back into port, and drown his sorrows in sweet delicious rum and wenches!
Trevor Davies
July 26, 2013 at 11:35
I’m not worried, alienating gamers is what Don excels at.
Oh wait, that’s what everyone DOESN’T want.
Ultimo_Cleric N7
July 26, 2013 at 11:36
Don has a buff known as “Developer fail”. It decreases sales of games/consoles by 1000%
That Super Twit
July 26, 2013 at 11:48
Draw Something? What is this Draw Something that you speak of?
ElimiNathan
July 26, 2013 at 11:57
You missed out man
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
July 26, 2013 at 11:48
We shall have to wait and see. He only just moved across. He still has to actually get to doing anything.
But I’m not optimistic. The free-to-play, microtransaction, casual gaming market is too saturated and I just don’t think there is enough business to go around
Grant Hancock
July 26, 2013 at 11:57
Just what I was thinking… like in any new market it, operates on a sort of predotor-prey model … Zynga was pioneer in the F2P early days leading to rapid expansion… now there are lots of similar companies vying for a slice of the not rapidly increasing pie… What Don should be looking at is a strategy to survive the inevitable cull, when weaker companies will fall by the wayside and develop a new business model to operate in a mature social/F2P/casual gaming market.
I doubt there is room for a one-hit-wonder game to steal the market now… Scaling down operations probably a wise decision.
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
July 26, 2013 at 12:03
Indeed.
This is now simply a matter of who can last to the point where it settles and which of those that lasted have the better business model.
OVG
July 26, 2013 at 12:13
Once he has turned the company around he will be partnering with Microsoft to bring all those games over to the Bone.
Mark my words. GIVE ZYNGA A Bone.
RinceDAmasterdebata
July 26, 2013 at 12:32
Oh I mark your words. I can see that happening man. Xbox One, credit card payment…
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
July 26, 2013 at 12:32
Hold on. I just figured it out. Don is going company to company and taking out the ones who are killing the industry one by one. He didn’t go to EA because he wasn’t ready for them yet and needed more training first….
RinceDAmasterdebata
July 26, 2013 at 12:37
He’s the night we don’t want, but the one we need kindda thing? 0-O
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
July 26, 2013 at 12:44
*knight
You using a phone and autocorrect or something today man?
But yes. Not the one we want. But the one we need 😉
RinceDAmasterdebata
July 26, 2013 at 12:47
I blame the rooti (oil in the shape of) I was eating. That and pure fucking idiocy.
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
July 26, 2013 at 12:49
Lol. Don’t worry man. It’s been a long week
RinceDAmasterdebata
July 26, 2013 at 12:51
Oh it has boet. It has. I think tonight is going to be a bottle of red, and some movies.
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
July 26, 2013 at 12:52
Tonight it’s me, whiskey and loud music
RinceDAmasterdebata
July 26, 2013 at 13:01
What is loud iyo?
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
July 26, 2013 at 13:46
Club level loud
RinceDAmasterdebata
July 26, 2013 at 14:41
I like. Think I’ll start my evening with some Metallica, work my way to DJ Tiesto, then to Dark City, Director’s cut. Probably finish pissed and trying to work out how to create a private match in ME3.
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
July 26, 2013 at 14:42
LOL
RinceDAmasterdebata
July 26, 2013 at 14:43
yeup #alwaysalone hahahah
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
July 26, 2013 at 14:46
Aw there there *bro Hug*