Zynga has a forgotten group of players within it’s games. These players are Very un-Important (VuIP) to Zynga and yet they could hold the secrets to making Zynga’s problems disappear.
These ‘cut priced’ players of Zynga’s games may not have the financial capacity to be considered Zynga’s preferred source of revenue. They most certainly are not ‘Whales’. The players I am referring to includes ALL the players who have to live on a budget.
These players either work for their living or they are on a fixed income and yet these games of Zynga’s appeal to them. These players relate to many of Zynga’s games. These games of Zynga’s may fulfill a fantasy for many of these players. These games may be an escape from everyday ‘real life’ struggles for these players. These players are also the largest group of users who play Zynga’s games.
This was evidenced about a year ago in the following article on businessweek.com;
Zynga’s Quest for Big-Spending Whales
By Douglas MacMillan and Brad Stone on July 06, 2011
one former Zynga employee, who did not want to be named, suggested that less than 10 percent of Zynga’s players spend money and less than 1 percent are responsible for between a quarter and a half of the company’s revenue.
This means that the ‘cut priced’ players account for (or make up) about 90-99% of Zynga’s player base which currently is in excess of 313 million monthly users according to appdata.com. This equates to an estimated 297 million ‘Free Players’ who are enjoying Zynga’s games. This also means that an estimated 3.1 million players of Zynga’s games are responsible for ‘between a quarter and a half of Zynga’s revenue.’
There are clearly untapped, uncaught, unhooked, fish in the sea for Zynga to entice to spend a little money.
One needs to know the fish he seeks to catch, and patience. The fish will bite if you use the right baits. You won’t catch many fish if you continue with this kind of inflexibility contained within your business philosophy;
'FarmVille' gamemaker Zynga sees dollar signs
By Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter October 26, 2009
Once hooked, Pincus says, players spend real money on virtual goods to help them advance to higher levels -- thereby enriching Zynga. And although playing requires only short spurts of time, the game never ends, as Zynga's designers keep adding levels so that players come back for more.
Have you ever heard of ‘OVERKILL’? The reason many of us who currently play Zynga’s games without the use nor help of spending money is that there are too many missions and events and features for us to keep up with in ALL your games! In fact, it is a primary deterrent for many of us who ‘might’ spend some money in your games.
If you look at Zynga’s top 3-4 games you should see that it is those games that one can play for those ‘short spurts of time’ that are generating the most revenue in addition to the highest user bases.
Zynga
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The company's top three games – FarmVille, FrontierVille and CityVille – accounted for 57 percent of online game revenue. Total revenue was $329 million for the quarter ending March 31, 2012.
Zynga reported revenue of $332 million during their Q2 of 2012, which was up 19% year over year however a net income loss of $22.8 million was reported due to a $95.5 million stock-based expense.
Farmville generates about $95,410,000 per quarter and has a 40.7 million monthly average users. That’s an average of $2.34 per monthly player.
Mafia Wars, on the other hand, generates about $16,000,000 and has 1.3 million monthly average users which average to $12.31 per monthly player.
Although the average money per player spent in Mafia Wars is higher you still make your bread and butter from Farmville, CityVille, FrontierVille, and Zynga Poker.
Mafia Wars
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
On Facebook, as of August 2010, Mafia Wars had up to 45.5 million monthly accounts created. As of April, 2011, Appdata.com reports that Mafia Wars players have shrunk down to 10.7 million monthly active accounts, with approximately 1.7 million daily active users. According to this same source, monthly active accounts dropped to 6.7 million by August 3, 2011; and to 5.7 million by September 2, 2011. Daily active users was at 1.2 million by August 3, 2011; dropping to 1 million by September 2, 2011. By February 2012, daily users were down to 540,000 and Mafia Wars had sunk to the 15th most popular Zynga game, only slightly lower than its sequal Mafia wars 2 which placed 13th.
Zynga, you can continue to try to feed the whales but you WILL drive the fish away…much like you are doing in Mafia Wars. Or you could go back to what worked and made Mafia Wars great.
