{"id":25488,"date":"2015-12-02T06:41:14","date_gmt":"2015-12-02T11:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bejone03.expressions.syr.edu\/trf235\/?p=25488"},"modified":"2015-12-02T18:41:40","modified_gmt":"2015-12-02T23:41:40","slug":"zynga-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bejone03.expressions.syr.edu\/trf235\/2015\/12\/02\/zynga-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Zynga"},"content":{"rendered":"
Corinna Vong<\/pre>\n
\"[25]<\/a>
Source: Dakota Financial News, Zynga logo\u00a0[25]<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n
THE COMPANY<\/strong><\/p>\n
\"[26]<\/a>
Source: Forbes, Mark Pincus, CEO\u00a0[26]<\/a><\/p><\/div>
\"[27]<\/a>
Source: logos.wikia.com, FarmVille logo\u00a0[27]<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
Zynga<\/a>, a video game development company, has been creating and providing popular games for social network and mobile platforms since its founding in July 2007. \u00a0The company headquarters are stationed in San Francisco, California [1]<\/a>. \u00a0Co-founder Mark Pincus<\/a> is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors at the company [2]<\/a>. \u00a0Zynga\u2019s online social games can be accessed through Facebook and the Zynga game website. \u00a0Two of the company\u2019s most popular social games, FarmVille<\/a><\/em> and FarmVille 2<\/a><\/em>, have reached a total of more than 400 million users. \u00a0Another, Zynga Poker<\/a><\/em>, is played by more than 130 million people daily. \u00a0Some of the social games are also available on mobile devices, while select games are exclusively offered as mobile applications. \u00a0One well-known mobile-only video game is Draw Something!<\/a><\/em> [3]<\/a>. \u00a0The company\u2019s games are \u201cFreemium\u201d, meaning users can install and play them for free but have the option to upgrade and excel higher through in-app purchases [4]<\/a>. With offices in locations around the world, such as India, Ireland and Canada, the company\u2019s hope is to connect the world through its games [5]<\/a>.<\/p>\n
FINANCIALS<\/strong><\/p>\n
\"[28]<\/a>
Source: Gigaom Research, Zynga goes public on NASDAQ\u00a0[28]<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n
Zynga (ZNGA) began trading publicly on the NASDAQ\u00a0Stock Exchange on December 16, 2011 [6]<\/a>. The company released its third quarterly financial report for 2015 on November 3, 2015. The company reported a revenue of $196 million, a 2% decrease from the 2015 second quarter. Its profit of $3 million was unexpected due to the $27 million loss during the second quarter in 2015 [7]<\/a>. The mobile game bookings made up 69% of the $176 million in total bookings, an increase from 66% in the second quarter and an overall 26% year-over-year growth from the third quarter 2014 results. Zynga\u2019s three main mobile game franchises were the cause of this increase; these games include Words With Friends<\/a><\/em>, Zynga Poker<\/em>\u00a0and Slots<\/a><\/em> [8]<\/a>. The majority of these franchises are social casino games, showing progression in social casino revenue [9]<\/a>. As Zynga expands into the mobile game market, it competes with other top mobile game development companies, such as Electronic Arts [10]<\/a>. Two of Zynga\u2019s social casino games, Wizard of Oz Slots<\/a><\/em> and Hit It Rich! Slots<\/a><\/em>, are ranked among the top 50 grossing mobile apps of 2015 [11]<\/a>[12]<\/a>.<\/p>\n
EXPANDING INTO THE SOCIAL CASINO GAME MARKET<\/strong><\/p>\n
\"[29]<\/a>
Source: Zynga Blog, Rising Tide Games logo\u00a0[29]\u00a0<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n
Zynga previously broke into the growing social casino game market as it has developed multiple popular social casino games throughout the years [13]<\/a>. In order to expand in the thriving market, Zynga acquired Rising Tide Games, a social-casino-game development company, in September 2015. With this acquisition deal of $22 million, a number of former Zynga executives will return to the company, as they originally left to start Rising Tide Games [14]<\/a>. According to the 2015 third quarterly earnings report, Zynga\u2019s three casino games (Zynga Poker<\/em>, Hit It Rich! Slots<\/em> and Wizard of Oz Slots<\/em>) altogether made up 45% of its online game revenue, encouraging the company to move forward with more social casino game development [15]<\/a>. After success with the previously-released Wizard of Oz Slots<\/em>, themed after the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz<\/em>, Zynga realized the powerful draw of user interest to games that correspond with certain films; usually fans of the film will be drawn to the game as well. The Wizard of Oz<\/em> fans\u00a0increased\u00a0user traffic to Wizard of Oz Slots<\/em> and the company saw an increase in downloads for the social casino app [16]<\/a>. In November 2015, Zynga launched the free-to-play Princess Bride Slots<\/a><\/em> game, an addition to its Social Slots franchise. Like Wizard of Oz Slots<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Wizard of Oz<\/em> film, this new release incorporates the characters, settings and plot lines of the film, The Princess Bride<\/em> [17]<\/a>.<\/p>\n