Zynga, once the darling of the tech-IPO world and an early adopter of the social media gaming world, is now left to rethink its strategy. It's most popular initial games including Mafia Wars, Farmville and Chefville will still be available to Facebook users. However, it will no longer be offering "Petville," "Mafia Wars 2" "Vampire Wars" or "FishVille."
In four short years, Zynga has gone from Silicon-valley darling to embattled tech company. Its strategy was aimed at the non-gamer, providing options that were easy to use. In addition, Zynga was an early proprietor of Facebook ads, once making up to 10% of Facebook's ad revenue when ads were $.27/click. But, other companies started to take note of Facebook ads and the rates have since gone up to $.88/ click. Furthermore, Facebook curtailed Zynga spam, which once accounted for a large percentage of new Zynga gamers. Zynga also seems to have missed the boat on the mobile-gaming industry, choosing to focus instead on the Facebook platform. According to Statspotting "More than 4 in 10 (44 percent) of adults surveyed had played at least one mobile game in the past month – an increase of 29 percent compared to just a year ago."
The bulk of Zynga's profits come from declining revenue makers such as "Farmville." In its heyday, Zynga created dozens of games made popular by free virality. Zynga’s share price is down to $2.36 from its $10 IPO price a year ago. CEO Mark Pincus announced, in November, other cost-cutting moves such as laying off 100 employees and shutting down offices.
Zynga hopes to re-energize its company with partnerships to design real-money gambling applications, and it plans to capture more growth within the mobile market.
In four short years, Zynga has gone from Silicon-valley darling to embattled tech company. Its strategy was aimed at the non-gamer, providing options that were easy to use. In addition, Zynga was an early proprietor of Facebook ads, once making up to 10% of Facebook's ad revenue when ads were $.27/click. But, other companies started to take note of Facebook ads and the rates have since gone up to $.88/ click. Furthermore, Facebook curtailed Zynga spam, which once accounted for a large percentage of new Zynga gamers. Zynga also seems to have missed the boat on the mobile-gaming industry, choosing to focus instead on the Facebook platform. According to Statspotting "More than 4 in 10 (44 percent) of adults surveyed had played at least one mobile game in the past month – an increase of 29 percent compared to just a year ago."
The bulk of Zynga's profits come from declining revenue makers such as "Farmville." In its heyday, Zynga created dozens of games made popular by free virality. Zynga’s share price is down to $2.36 from its $10 IPO price a year ago. CEO Mark Pincus announced, in November, other cost-cutting moves such as laying off 100 employees and shutting down offices.Zynga hopes to re-energize its company with partnerships to design real-money gambling applications, and it plans to capture more growth within the mobile market.
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