After Disappointing Reports, Zynga Bets on Draw Something 2

The company continues to lose money, employees and gamers, who no longer want to play its games. Analysts soberly warn that Zynga desperately needs a series of new mobile hits to improve its profitability and restore some of the luster of its earlier years. Earnings reports in recent quarters have been dismal.

This quarter was no exception. The company reported that its revenue was down 18 percent from the year-ago quarter, results that prompted shares to slip in after-hours trading. Zynga’s number of daily active users, or people who logged into its games once a day, dropped 21 percent. However, it did report a small profit.

But the company hopes that a new game, which it is releasing Wednesday evening, will be the beginning of a new chapter — one flush with profits and praise from users — that will help it regain some of the footing in the gaming industry that it helped shape.

The new game is a sequel to Draw Something, the popular, turn-based drawing game that has entertained millions of players who sketched images for their friends in a modified, touch-screen version of Pictionary. Last March, Zynga paid $180 million to buy Draw Something, which was created by a New York start-up, Omgpop. Then it watched as players lost interest in the once popular game and took their time elsewhere.

Although the company says the game still has millions of users worldwide, it is betting that the new version will bring back former fans who had become bored.

The success of Draw Something 2 is more about salvaging the remains of an expensive acquisition. It is a crucial test to see whether Zynga can spin any of its former traction on the Web to mobile — essential if the company wants to remain relevant and continue as a competitive gaming company in the future.

Richard Greenfield, an analyst at BTIG, a global trading firm, said it is normal for players to lose interest, especially when there is no shortage of games across an assortment of consoles, phones, tablets and hand-held devices. None of the top games currently charting in the iTunes App Store are games developed by Zynga, he said, but rather by relatively unknown upstarts.

“Why aren’t those Zynga games?” he said. “Why can’t they make great hits on mobile? They are saying they are a mobile-first company and, yet, they haven’t been able to launch a hit mobile game.”

For the new game, Zynga added new drawing tools and accessories as well as features that make Draw Something 2 more closely resemble a social network, with buttons to allow them to share their creation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In addition, users can find and follow other people who are playing the game, browse their shared drawings and “like” and comment on them.

Zynga has also enlisted celebrities on this version of the game, including the pop performers Will.i.am and Carly Rae Jespen, so that their fans can see their drawings through the application as well.

“We want to reactivate people who played and loved Draw Something 1 but lapsed,” Travis Boatman, a senior vice president of mobile at Zynga, said in an interview at the company’s New York headquarters.

Zynga is going all out for the release of the new game, with a partnership with Universal Pictures around the coming animated film “Despicable Me 2” to show related advertisements in the game as well as base drawing challenges around the movie.

Caitlin Turosky, a marketing manager at Zynga, said advertising deals like that one had great potential. Zynga currently makes money by showing ads in the free versions of its games, by selling premium versions of its games and by allowing players to make in-app purchases. But eventually, Ms. Turosky said, the company could even show players advertisements based around the topics and objects they are sketching.

Zynga is also experimenting with games using real money , but those efforts are largely located in the United Kingdom.

In the company’s earnings report, it said it earned just a penny a share, or $263.6 million in revenue. During the same quarter of last year, the company reported revenue of $321 million. Even so, the company beat analysts’ expectations, who estimated that the social gaming giant would report revenue of $203 million and a loss of 4 cents a share. But Wall Street was unimpressed; the stock fell slightly in after-hours trading. The company also posted a modest profit of $4.1 million, compared with a loss of $85 million in the year-ago quarter.

“They’ve been going through a rough couple of quarters,” said Brian Blau, an analyst with Gartner Research who follows the company.

Zynga Reports Fewer Players of Its Online Games and Shares Drop

Shares fell 10 percent to $2.99 in extended trading.

The San Francisco-based publisher behind games like "FarmVille" and "Words With Friends" said its number of monthly players continued its decline to 253 million, the lowest figure since the number peaked at 331 million at the end of the third quarter of 2012.

On an adjusted basis, Zynga reported earnings of 1 cent per share, beating analyst expectations of a loss of 4 cents per share. But the company also projected that its second-quarter loss would be between 3 to 5 cents per share, exceeding the 1 cent per share loss analysts had expected.

"The second quarter guidance is light," said Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia. "We continue to think that any hope for real growth for this nebulous company really depends on what it can do in real-money gaming."

Zynga has struggled to keep users, who once flocked to its games on Facebook Inc's website. In recent months, Zynga and Facebook have revised their business partnership, as Zynga has sought to establish itself as a more independent gaming network at the risk of receiving less visitor traffic from Facebook.

Zynga has promised investors that it could tap into a potentially lucrative new revenue stream by launching real-money casino games around the world.

The company reported revenues of $263.6 million, down 18 percent from the year-ago quarter but above Wall Street's depressed expectations as the online game maker wrung more sales than expected out of its shrinking user base.

Zynga's quarterly bookings of $229.8 million also topped estimates but represented a 30 percent decline from a year ago.

(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)

Zynga Reports Fewer Players of Its Online Games and Shares Drop

Shares fell 10 percent to $2.99 in extended trading.

The San Francisco-based publisher behind games like "FarmVille" and "Words With Friends" said its number of monthly players continued its decline to 253 million, the lowest figure since the number peaked at 331 million at the end of the third quarter of 2012.

On an adjusted basis, Zynga reported earnings of 1 cent per share, beating analyst expectations of a loss of 4 cents per share. But the company also projected that its second-quarter loss would be between 3 to 5 cents per share, exceeding the 1 cent per share loss analysts had expected.

"The second quarter guidance is light," said Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia. "We continue to think that any hope for real growth for this nebulous company really depends on what it can do in real-money gaming."

Zynga has struggled to keep users, who once flocked to its games on Facebook Inc's website. In recent months, Zynga and Facebook have revised their business partnership, as Zynga has sought to establish itself as a more independent gaming network at the risk of receiving less visitor traffic from Facebook.

Zynga has promised investors that it could tap into a potentially lucrative new revenue stream by launching real-money casino games around the world.

The company reported revenues of $263.6 million, down 18 percent from the year-ago quarter but above Wall Street's depressed expectations as the online game maker wrung more sales than expected out of its shrinking user base.

Zynga's quarterly bookings of $229.8 million also topped estimates but represented a 30 percent decline from a year ago.

(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)

After Disappointing Reports, Zynga Bets on Draw Something 2

The company continues to lose money, employees and gamers, who no longer want to play its games. Analysts soberly warn that Zynga desperately needs a series of new mobile hits to improve its profitability and restore some of the luster of its earlier years. Earnings reports in recent quarters have been dismal.

This quarter was no exception. The company reported that its revenue was down 18 percent from the year-ago quarter, results that prompted shares to slip in after-hours trading. Zynga’s number of daily active users, or people who logged into its games once a day, dropped 21 percent. However, it did report a small profit.

But the company hopes that a new game, which it is releasing Wednesday evening, will be the beginning of a new chapter — one flush with profits and praise from users — that will help it regain some of the footing in the gaming industry that it helped shape.

The new game is a sequel to Draw Something, the popular, turn-based drawing game that has entertained millions of players who sketched images for their friends in a modified, touch-screen version of Pictionary. Last March, Zynga paid $180 million to buy Draw Something, which was created by a New York start-up, Omgpop. Then it watched as players lost interest in the once popular game and took their time elsewhere.

Although the company says the game still has millions of users worldwide, it is betting that the new version will bring back former fans who had become bored.

The success of Draw Something 2 is more about salvaging the remains of an expensive acquisition. It is a crucial test to see whether Zynga can spin any of its former traction on the Web to mobile — essential if the company wants to remain relevant and continue as a competitive gaming company in the future.

Richard Greenfield, an analyst at BTIG, a global trading firm, said it is normal for players to lose interest, especially when there is no shortage of games across an assortment of consoles, phones, tablets and hand-held devices. None of the top games currently charting in the iTunes App Store are games developed by Zynga, he said, but rather by relatively unknown upstarts.

“Why aren’t those Zynga games?” he said. “Why can’t they make great hits on mobile? They are saying they are a mobile-first company and, yet, they haven’t been able to launch a hit mobile game.”

For the new game, Zynga added new drawing tools and accessories as well as features that make Draw Something 2 more closely resemble a social network, with buttons to allow them to share their creation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In addition, users can find and follow other people who are playing the game, browse their shared drawings and “like” and comment on them.

Zynga has also enlisted celebrities on this version of the game, including the pop performers Will.i.am and Carly Rae Jespen, so that their fans can see their drawings through the application as well.

“We want to reactivate people who played and loved Draw Something 1 but lapsed,” Travis Boatman, a senior vice president of mobile at Zynga, said in an interview at the company’s New York headquarters.

Zynga is going all out for the release of the new game, with a partnership with Universal Pictures around the coming animated film “Despicable Me 2” to show related advertisements in the game as well as base drawing challenges around the movie.

Caitlin Turosky, a marketing manager at Zynga, said advertising deals like that one had great potential. Zynga currently makes money by showing ads in the free versions of its games, by selling premium versions of its games and by allowing players to make in-app purchases. But eventually, Ms. Turosky said, the company could even show players advertisements based around the topics and objects they are sketching.

Zynga is also experimenting with games using real money , but those efforts are largely located in the United Kingdom.

In the company’s earnings report, it said it earned just a penny a share, or $263.6 million in revenue. During the same quarter of last year, the company reported revenue of $321 million. Even so, the company beat analysts’ expectations, who estimated that the social gaming giant would report revenue of $203 million and a loss of 4 cents a share. But Wall Street was unimpressed; the stock fell slightly in after-hours trading. The company also posted a modest profit of $4.1 million, compared with a loss of $85 million in the year-ago quarter.

“They’ve been going through a rough couple of quarters,” said Brian Blau, an analyst with Gartner Research who follows the company.