Incline Massive Incline: "The News Isn’t Good for Zynga, Maker of FarmVille"

[DragoFireheart]

BURN MOTHER FUCKERS BURN

 

[Metro]

Most of these guys moved on to Blizzard -- see, e.g., Warlords of Draenor garrison shit.

 

[Jick Magger]

WE DON'T NEED NO WATER LET THE MOTHER FUCKER BURN

BURN MOTHERFUCKER, BURN

 

[pippin]

 

[Infinitron]

Heeeey, look who's on the job market again: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-04-08-don-mattrick-leaves-zynga_6

Don Mattrick leaves Zynga
Mark Pincus resumes his old role as CEO.

Zynga's CEO Don Mattrick has left the Farmville publisher less than two years after he stepped down from his role as president of Microsoft's gaming division to join the company.

Left to right: Mark Pincus and Don Mattrick.

Zynga's founder and chairman of the board of directors, Mark Pincus, will resume the role of CEO that he occupied before he put Mattrick in charge.

"I want to thank Don for his incredible efforts and leadership. He has laid groundwork that will benefit our players and company into the future," said Pincus in his announcement of the change.

"This hard work for our mobile players has resulted in bookings growing from 27 per cent mobile when Don joined to 60 per cent by the end of last year," he added. "Further, to deliver unique and differentiated value to our mobile players, Don and the team acquired NaturalMotion. NaturalMotion has surprised and delighted the world with Clumsy Ninja and CSR Racing resulting in more than 160m installs."

"Now that we are a mobile first company, it's time to renew our focus on our founding mission to connect the world through games and our vision to make play and social games a mass market activity," Pincus continued. "I am returning to the company that I love in order to accelerate innovation in the most popular categories like Action Strategy and strengthen our focus on our core areas like Invest and Express. I look forward to partnering with our leaders to intensify our focus on social experiences for the millions of consumers who play our games."

This marks an increase in Pincus' enthusiasm as he said he was "pretty bored with all games"back in 2013.

It seems Mattrick's departure was voluntary as he left the following statement on the publisher's investor relations page:

"When I joined the company in July 2013, Mark and I shared a vision of building a meaningful company that redefines entertainment in an increasingly mobile world. I am proud of the progress we have made together. I believe the timing is now right for me to leave as CEO and let Mark lead the company into its next chapter given his passion for the founding vision and his ability to couple our mobile progress with Zynga's unique strengths.

"As a company, Zynga is in a stronger position today to serve mobile consumers and take advantage of the unprecedented growth opportunity across our industry. I am excited about the company's trajectory and wish the best for Mark, Zynga and NaturalMotion as I plan to return to Canada to pursue my next challenge."

Mattrick assumed his role at Zynga while the company was struggling. Though the publisher put a positive spin on his tenure there, Zynga made a net loss of $61m during Q1 2014, andlost roughly $226m in 2014.

Pincus is accepting an annual salary of $1m a year, which is what Mattrick had. Though the former CEO managed to make $19m in his first year due to what can only be described as aslew of income-increasing buffs.

 

[thesoup]

So how long until Zynga officially declares they're bankrupt?

 

[Perkel]

So how long until Zynga officially declares they're bankrupt?

same ballpark as Atari and Interplay

They will never die. They will become zombie soon

 

[Morgoth]

Jo Donny boy why they just keep rejecting you?

 

[Dickie]

$1M/year salary. God damn. No wonder they are losing money.

 

[Menckenstein]

Mattrick can join Kevin Bacchus at Phantom now.

 

[Mustawd]

How did these idiots ever raise $1 billion in their IPO?

Anyone who invested in this shit deserves to lose every penny they doled out.

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-05-07-zynga-to-reduce-its-work-force-by-18-per-cent-again

Zynga to reduce its work force by 18 per cent, again
Hopes to save $100m annually.

Farmville and Words with Friends publisher Zynga is laying off approximately 18 per cent of its work force, the mobile giant revealed in its latest earning report.

If that sounds familiar, it's because Zynga made the exact same announcement nearly two years ago. Back then 18 per cent meant about 520 employees, but the company has since scaled down, so now it encompasses about 364 staffers.

Zynga is hoping this downsizing will save the company approximately $100M annually.

"For our people, we need to create an empowered, entrepreneurial culture that fosters more creativity and innovation. Over the years we've seen that tighter, more nimble teams can drive faster innovation and deliver more player value," said Zynga CEO Mark Pincus. "As a result, today we announced a cost reduction program to focus, simplify and align us against our most promising opportunities. We expect these cost reductions to generate $100 million in annualised savings."

"This was a hard but necessary decision and I believe this plan puts us in the best long term position for success."

The mobile publisher launched its first mobile action-strategy game Empires & Allies yesterday and plans to release between six and eight more mobile titles by the end of the year.

Last month Zynga's former CEO Don Mattrick left the company less than two years after joining it. Previously, he was the president of Microsoft's gaming division.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Meanwhile - Mattick fleed from sinking ship with ~$50mln.

PS. I discovered that the current Zynga buiding is the same one where Sega of America was before. Would shred a tear, if I got some consoles ancestry years back, knowing that building, once full of people doing fun games for players, now infested with mobile-browser-f2p undermenrch.
Truly hauntend place.

 

[taxalot]

If it bleeds, it can be killed.

 

[Mr. Pink]

WAIT HOLD ON...

If zynga finally dies, does this mean Brian Reynolds will be free to make an Alpha Centauri game that doesn't suck?

 

[Infinitron]

WAIT HOLD ON...

If zynga finally dies, does this mean Brian Reynolds will be free to make an Alpha Centauri game that doesn't suck?

I'm afraid I have bad news for you bro http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...o-launch-dominations-a-mobile-f2p-game.95002/

 

[Mr. Pink]

WAIT HOLD ON...

If zynga finally dies, does this mean Brian Reynolds will be free to make an Alpha Centauri game that doesn't suck?

I'm afraid I have bad news for you bro http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...o-launch-dominations-a-mobile-f2p-game.95002/

Why did I even bother getting excited.

 

[Andnjord]

WAIT HOLD ON...

If zynga finally dies, does this mean Brian Reynolds will be free to make an Alpha Centauri game that doesn't suck?

I'm afraid I have bad news for you bro http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...o-launch-dominations-a-mobile-f2p-game.95002/

Spoiler

Why did I even bother getting excited.

Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment. Embrace the decline and let the Rage flow through you.

 

[TedNugent]

I am pleased twofold that Don Mattrick has failed at Zynga.

One, it means their 50 million compensation for Mattrick was totally in vain. I must praise Don for raking their hideous corpus over the coals one last time. Bravo, Don.

Also, it means that Don Mattrick's career is further in the toilet. This pairs very well with the Xbox One launch.

 

[Astral Rag]

Zynga posts $117 million full-year loss
By Brendan Sinclair

Audience numbers take a hit even as FarmVille publisher makes improvements over 2014; acquisition of Zindagi Games confirmed

Zynga today reported its fourth quarter and full-year results, showing the company's turn-around story is still turning around.

For the full year, Zynga posted revenues up 11 percent to $764.7 million, with a net loss of $117.2 million. While a loss that size isn't exactly good news, it is an improvement over the company's 2014 campaign, which saw it post a net loss of $225.9 million. On a non-GAAP basis, bookings for the year were virtually flat at $700 million, while Zynga's net loss was trimmed from $12.6 million to $10.2 million.

Much of the disparity between the GAAP and non-GAAP numbers could be attributed to $129 million in stock-based compensation expenses for the company, $82.9 million in depreciation and amortization expenses, and more than $24 million in restructuring expenses.

For the fourth quarter of 2015, Zynga revenues were down about 5 percent to $185.8 million, with a net loss of $46.9 million compared to the previous fourth quarter's net loss of $45.1 million. On a non-GAAP basis, bookings were flat at $182 million, with a net income of $375,000, improved from the prior year's net loss of almost $2.5 million.

"In terms of our financial scorecard, for 2015, we made good progress in our transition to mobile on a bookings level but, due to the lack of significant new releases, we saw an overall decline in our audience," Zynga CEO and founder Mark Pincus said, adding, "Overall for the year, we managed to support a relatively large slate of new game development and user acquisition while remaining profitable."

(In Zynga's non-GAAP numbers, it reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of $17.1 million.)

As Pincus referenced, Zynga has seen a number of key audience metrics declining. While the fourth quarter's average daily bookings per average daily user are up 31 percent year-over-year to $0.10 and payer conversion is up to 1.7 percent from 1.6 percent, all other active user metrics are down double-digit percentages from the fourth quarter of 2014. Average daily active users are down from 24 million to 18 million, monthly active users are down from 98 million to 68 million, and average monthly unique payers are down from 1 million to 800,000.

For the first quarter of 2016, Zynga is projecting revenues between $160 million and $175 million, with a net loss between $30 million and $40 million.

In addition to the financial numbers, Zynga announced that it has acquired California-based Zindagi Games. The studio's most recent efforts have been match-three puzzle games like Crazy Kitchen and Yummy Gummy, but it also has experience working with motion-controlled console games, like Sony's PlayStation Move showpieces Sports Champions (1 and 2), and Medieval Moves: Deadmund's Quest.

 

[Blaine]

I think there's a limited window in which shovelware developers can steal and re-steal the same rehashed, thinly-disguised garbage from each other before people get tired of it and either stop playing, or simply find some offline version and use that forever.

If you Google various keywords and phrases like "mobile game decline," it's clear that there's been a sharp decline within the last few years. Meanwhile, the heads of the hydra that is mobile game development are all biting each other and robbing Peter to pay Paul.

 

[Infinitron]

I think there's a limited window in which shovelware developers can steal and re-steal the same rehashed, thinly-disguised garbage from each other before people get tired of it and either stop playing, or simply find some offline version and use that forever.

If you Google various keywords and phrases like "mobile game decline," it's clear that there's been a sharp decline within the last few years. Meanwhile, the heads of the hydra that is mobile game development are all biting each other and robbing Peter to pay Paul.

While probably true, in this case we're talking about a company which is ostensibly in decline because they were late to transition from Facebook to mobile.

 

[Azalin]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/zynga-looking-to-sell-massive-hq-could-fetch-800-p/1100-6435070/

It seems Zynga is trying to sell its main building to get some cash in a time of need

 

[SwiftCrack]

I hope The Donald buys it for pennies on the dollar.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://medium.com/halting-problem/...han-zynga-the-company-47a704d48249#.m4m5zzl9u

DESIGN DISTRICT, SAN FRANCISCO  — After a long spate of difficulties with its product strategy and business model, the gaming company Zynga, once a Silicon Valley powerhouse, is now worth less than the office building in which it resides.

Multiple sources close to the matter have revealed that Zynga’s headquarters is now assessed at around $540 million dollars. As of close of market today, the company’s market value was around $2 billion. However, due to its reserves of approximately $1.5 billion of cash on hand, analysts estimate that Zynga is actually worth around $500 million. In other words, Zynga’s headquarters is now significantly more valuable than Zynga the company

Employees at neighboring tech companies can reportedly judge when layoffs are happening by the long lines of people walking out of the Zynga office with boxes of their belongings and by the unusually large number of people at local bars at 2 PM on a weekday.