Zynga Wants You to Visit 'ZyngaWebsiteVille'
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"Alright, Facebook... That'll do." - Zynga.
According to company news out early Thursday, Zynga (Nasdaq: ZNGA) is starting to act like a finicky teenager: too anxious to sit at home with the 'rents, but not really able to just up and walk out. The social gaming company, which derives 93 percent of its revs from Facebook, will soon be launching games on its own website.
Expected to debut later in March, the site will make it "easier to play games more quickly with access to live chatting and message board features where players can ask for help," according to Reuters.
The site will include five of its top games, including "Words with Friends," "CityVille," and "CastleVille."
Premise of the move is obviously to drive shareholder value and diversify away from its majority revenue source in case things go belly-up, but also to allow gamers to reach out beyond their core group of friends on Facebook to meet new people.
Facebook retains about 30 percent of revs made through the sale of Facebook Credits. Buying an item on Zynga's site will still mean users are paying Facebook.
Zynga managing director Manuel Bronstein said the move isn't intended to move users away from Facebook, but simply to "keep Facebook profiles separate from their gaming habits."
Zynga will also host games from other companies, which will help the company to diversify the revenue stream and lower overall costs. One analyst from Hudson Square said Zynga spent about $500 million on developing its technology and infrastructure enough to support the hundreds of millions of monthly users playing its games.
Whether investors think this is a smart move or not is yet to be seen. Admittedly, Zynga has taken the opposite route of many companies in creating a presence with a larger company, going public, and then looking to do its own thing. It's a unique method that has worked well to date...
Shares of Zynga are flat early Friday, though the stock did ramp into the close Thursday, presumably on Yelp (NYSE: YELP) pricing its IPO above the expected range.
According to company news out early Thursday, Zynga (Nasdaq: ZNGA) is starting to act like a finicky teenager: too anxious to sit at home with the 'rents, but not really able to just up and walk out. The social gaming company, which derives 93 percent of its revs from Facebook, will soon be launching games on its own website.
Expected to debut later in March, the site will make it "easier to play games more quickly with access to live chatting and message board features where players can ask for help," according to Reuters.
The site will include five of its top games, including "Words with Friends," "CityVille," and "CastleVille."
Premise of the move is obviously to drive shareholder value and diversify away from its majority revenue source in case things go belly-up, but also to allow gamers to reach out beyond their core group of friends on Facebook to meet new people.
Facebook retains about 30 percent of revs made through the sale of Facebook Credits. Buying an item on Zynga's site will still mean users are paying Facebook.
Zynga managing director Manuel Bronstein said the move isn't intended to move users away from Facebook, but simply to "keep Facebook profiles separate from their gaming habits."
Zynga will also host games from other companies, which will help the company to diversify the revenue stream and lower overall costs. One analyst from Hudson Square said Zynga spent about $500 million on developing its technology and infrastructure enough to support the hundreds of millions of monthly users playing its games.
Whether investors think this is a smart move or not is yet to be seen. Admittedly, Zynga has taken the opposite route of many companies in creating a presence with a larger company, going public, and then looking to do its own thing. It's a unique method that has worked well to date...
Shares of Zynga are flat early Friday, though the stock did ramp into the close Thursday, presumably on Yelp (NYSE: YELP) pricing its IPO above the expected range.
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