Zynga founder and CEO Mark Pincus
While social games developer Zynga reaped quarterly revenues of US$311.2m, it also made a net loss of $435m for the quarter. The performance took full-year revenue to $1.1bn with a loss of $404m.
Zynga, the provider of popular games such as CityVille to social network Facebook, also reported increases in the number of people playing its games.
Daily active users (DAUs) increased from 48m in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 54m in the fourth quarter of 2011, up 13pc.
Monthly active users rose from 195m in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 240m in the fourth quarter of 2011, an increase of 23pc.
Monthly unique users increased from 111m in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 153m in the fourth quarter of 2011, up 38pc.
Zynga launched 12 games during 2011, including four titles on web-based platforms and eight titles on mobile platforms.
As of 31 December 2011, Zynga had the top 5 most-played games on Facebook, based on DAUs, including CastleVille, which launched in the fourth quarter of 2011 and reached 7m DAUs in two weeks.
Zynga saw strong growth from mobile games in Q4, primarily from the titles Dream Zoo, Words with Friends and Zynga Poker. These three games were among the top 10 grossing games on the iOS platform during the quarter.
“(The year) 2011 was another milestone year for Zynga’s mission of connecting the world through games,” said founder and CEO Mark Pincus. “We are seeing social games and more broadly play become one of the most popular pastimes on web and mobile.
“Zynga set new records in the year in terms of audience size, revenues and bookings. We saw great momentum in mobile and advertising and ended the year with a strong pipeline of new games. We are excited about the opportunities in front of us to continue delighting our current players and to bring play to millions of new people,” said Pincus.
