Boston, MA 03/21/2014 (wallstreetpr) – From FarmVille to ChefVille and from CityVille to CastleVille, Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) is the king of social gaming.
Declining Fortunes
However, its fortunes have deteriorated in recent times. Gaming is a extraordinarily fickle business. Zynga was the king of Facebook gaming back in 2012. But other games have since caught gamers’ fancy: whether it is Candy Crush Saga, Hunger Games or Angry Birds. Nobody can predict what the next big hit in gaming will be.
With new wearable technologies round the corner, game designers will come up with innovative new games that use these new platforms.
No New Ideas
With Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) planning a soft launch of its new “FarmVille 2: Country Escape,” it seems Zynga wants to milk its only superhit game. Gamers will likely get tired of playing a game (or games) basically built around the same idea. After they’ve been farming for a year or two, they might be tired and may want to move on to other things such as fighting zombies or reprising the adventures of Navy SEALs.
Zynga’s plans for 2014 include taking its popular games Words With Friends and Zynga Poker to mobile platforms. The CEO’s goal of making Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) the No. 1 provider of free games may not pan out considering the crowded field of game developers and the extreme competition in the game market. Despite the gains the stock has made this year, it has suffered overall since its IPO.
Are games lined up for 2014 such as FarmVille 2: Country Escape, New Zynga Poker, and New Words With Friends going to do the trick for the company?
Financials
Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA)’s 4Q2013 revenue declined 43% YoY to $176 million and declined by 13% compared to 3Q2013. Zynga’s daily and monthly active users (DAUs and MAUs) are also declining, down by 51% and 62% respectively on a YoY basis. They’ve also continuously declined quarter-on-quarter.
While there is scope for gaming companies to make billions of dollars or tens of billions of dollars in profits one day, nobody has figured out a sure shot way of hitting the jackpot of creating hit games one after another.
