By EJ Afzelius
Not by a long shot. You’re on the net, so you’re most likely on Facebook, which means you’ve played or heard of a host of Zynga’s pretty children. Well, due to those little rugrats doing so well the company decided to open itself to the public at $10 a share. We also know that that share ended at 9.5 the first day, and at a little over 9 on the 2nd. So it’s a little safe to say people got more than a little worried their beloved social game dealer was tanking in Wall Street. But is it really?
10% in two days is a somewhat huge drop for what’s supposed to be an exciting investment venture, yes. But no, it’s not as bad as Wall Street’s been letting on. Analysts were trumpeting the value of Zynga exorbitantly (whew, that’s a big word for me), and when it performed just a tad below expectations, the negatives started piling on. Way to cover your tracks boys. The ville factory still earned a billion dollars after opening up (ONLY the 2nd biggest internet IPO after Google), and proper research analysis shows the company’s stock situation is merely temporary. How does $12.50 per share sometime next year sound to you?
Just remember what we’re talking about here. Zynga has the largest market share of all social game developers with the most insight into the mind of the social gamer. Every new game that’s released is instantly marketed to a loyally solid niche customer base. Let’s put it this way, when a grown man pays real money for a pixelated harvest rather than a real vegetable, you’ve got fans (or people 
just hate broccoli). Zynga’s current value does not reflect what it could possibly earn next year with its most recently released titles such as Castleville and Adventure World. The company’s new titles are already picking up steam with users, making 2012 look very promising (provided the world doesn’t end).
The phone gaming market is also turning into a humongous juggernaut and Zynga is no small part of that due to the highly addictive Words with Friends among other games. Smartphone users are expected to increase exponentially in the next few years and you can also expect a decent percentage of those users to play a round of fake scrabble or two. With the announced Farmville Express which is pretty much Farmville on the go, in a few years we’ll all be Zynga’s drones, staring wide eyed at tiny screens and tripping over other drones that tripped over potholes first.
And there’s Project Z. Some skeptics say Zynga is too dependent on Facebook and if anything happens, and they say something will (naysayers!), Zynga will suffer. Well just hold on there missy. Zynga has it’s on direct to consumer social platform in the works optimized for its games. People that only go to Facebook for their daily snort will have another option in the unlikelyhood that the Zuckermachine goes down. And skeptics? It’s a new economy. Entertainment, especially in gaming and the internet, is the only business that’s got a structure to last. Zynga’s IPO may have gone down in the first few days, but it’s a situation that’s far from permanent. It’s only the beginning. When aliens finally come down one day and command us, “take us to your leader!” we may have to bring them to Zynga in their Wall Street throne… or Activision, whichever is more evil.
[Tukkolabs]
Should Zynga Cry Mayday?
By EJ Afzelius
10% in two days is a somewhat huge drop for what’s supposed to be an exciting investment venture, yes. But no, it’s not as bad as Wall Street’s been letting on. Analysts were trumpeting the value of Zynga exorbitantly (whew, that’s a big word for me), and when it performed just a tad below expectations, the negatives started piling on. Way to cover your tracks boys. The ville factory still earned a billion dollars after opening up (ONLY the 2nd biggest internet IPO after Google), and proper research analysis shows the company’s stock situation is merely temporary. How does $12.50 per share sometime next year sound to you?
Just remember what we’re talking about here. Zynga has the largest market share of all social game developers with the most insight into the mind of the social gamer. Every new game that’s released is instantly marketed to a loyally solid niche customer base. Let’s put it this way, when a grown man pays real money for a pixelated harvest rather than a real vegetable, you’ve got fans (or people
just hate broccoli). Zynga’s current value does not reflect what it could possibly earn next year with its most recently released titles such as Castleville and Adventure World. The company’s new titles are already picking up steam with users, making 2012 look very promising (provided the world doesn’t end).
The phone gaming market is also turning into a humongous juggernaut and Zynga is no small part of that due to the highly addictive Words with Friends among other games. Smartphone users are expected to increase exponentially in the next few years and you can also expect a decent percentage of those users to play a round of fake scrabble or two. With the announced Farmville Express which is pretty much Farmville on the go, in a few years we’ll all be Zynga’s drones, staring wide eyed at tiny screens and tripping over other drones that tripped over potholes first.
And there’s Project Z. Some skeptics say Zynga is too dependent on Facebook and if anything happens, and they say something will (naysayers!), Zynga will suffer. Well just hold on there missy. Zynga has it’s on direct to consumer social platform in the works optimized for its games. People that only go to Facebook for their daily snort will have another option in the unlikelyhood that the Zuckermachine goes down. And skeptics? It’s a new economy. Entertainment, especially in gaming and the internet, is the only business that’s got a structure to last. Zynga’s IPO may have gone down in the first few days, but it’s a situation that’s far from permanent. It’s only the beginning. When aliens finally come down one day and command us, “take us to your leader!” we may have to bring them to Zynga in their Wall Street throne… or Activision, whichever is more evil.
[Tukkolabs]