Zynga looks to solidify newfound profitability
Developer building a portfolio of card games to keep players engaged for “a very long period of time"
Zynga has laid out its plans for continued growth in the future, following a strong performance in the last quarter.
In August, the company posted its first profitable quarter in quite some time, and now looks to solidify its position.
Speaking with investors, Zynga CEO Frank Gibeau outlined the company's plans to drive growth in the coming years.
The recent acquisition of Peak Games card studio to the tune of $100 million is emblematic of Zynga's strategy going forward.
The Turkish mobile developer has a portfolio of card games such as Spades and Gin Rummy. This is important because, according to Gibeau, there is a lot of crossover with Zynga's existing catalogue of casual and card games.
"It's very hard to take a really distant RTS action strategy game and put it in front of a casual card player," he said. "So you find very low percentages of cross-promotion in those cases. But if you put [Zynga] Poker and Solitaire together with a Words With Friends or Slots player, you do see... that there is the ability to get them to move over, especially if the offer and incentives and social dynamics are strong and positive. So that's what's driving the decision-making and the strategy there."
While Gibeau has not detailed plans for future mergers and acquisitions, he did say that "if opportunities present themselves, we will be aggressive about them."
Behind this, there is an optimism driving acquisitions in the card and social casino market. Zynga has been investing in Poker over the last year and a half, seeing positive results. The global appeal of traditional card also games works immensely in the developer's favour.
Additionally, by building a portfolio across multiple types of card games, Gibeau hopes to keep players engaged for "a very long period of time."
"We can give them the right offering at the right time as they're looking for something new to do or in addition to what they're doing," he said.
However the longer-term strategy is also focused around investing in talent.
"You're going to see that, from the standpoint of the types of assets that we're looking for, first and foremost, we're really interested in talent," said Gibeau. "We're looking for talented teams that have been together.
"We're looking at teams that have franchises that we can bring into our portfolio that are in the same kind of direction that we're going strategically as a company."