Zynga tosses more games overboard as it tries to remain afloat.
At Zynga’s recent financial call, the beleaguered company gave a very predictable announcement: it lost lots of money. To atone for this, half of the six titles it released last quarter are being killed in their infancy. If any of this sounds familiar, that’s because Zynga already performed one culling not but a month ago. When the red gushes onto the budget sheets like this, the only solution is to swing the axe hard and fast.
On the Facebook side, Cityville 2 and The Friend Game are not making the cut, while Party Place is getting shut down on the mobile side. Meanwhile, Bubble Safari Ocean, CoasterVille, and Ayakashi will be allowed to live for another quarter.
Remarkably, Zynga might actually be plugging the hole in its casual boat. Last year, the company lost $209.4 million, roughly half of the $404.3 million loss it posted the previous year. Yet, the other side of the budget only shows that things might simply be less bad instead of actually better. Zynga posted $311.1 million in Q4 revenue, virtually unchanged from the $311.2 million the same time last year. However, its year-end revenue is up 12%. Accounting can be odd like that.
Since Zynga seems to be trying to dig themselves out of a one-company bubble, it makes sense to cut their losses on titles now instead of later. However, with a tagline like “Fight or Make-Out with your Friends”, it’s hard to imagine how Party Place failed to find an audience.
Source: Eurogamer
