Wednesday 30 November
185 lbs of Ba-Zynga bashing awesomeness.
Food consumed today: Nothing. I'm being fueled by music. Specifically, one song: "Eye of the Tiger." It's on repeat and nothing is gonna get in my way.
Afternoon. It's brisk in NYC and I'm bringing the heat to Zynga. If that bubble won't pop on its own, I might as well start passing around a bottle of wake-up juice!
Cry havoc Diary,
I couldn't hold back about Zynga anymore. At yesterday's Reuters Global Media Summit I had to let my soul sing through my $10,000 suit. With Zynga prepping for its delayed IPO and it being no secret that management isn't exactly the most respected over there, it was time to say something.
"Zynga is a direct marketing company, 97 percent of which don't pay them anything, 3 percent who do," I said at the summit about Zynga customers. "They churn quite quickly and they get new customers. That is their model."
And then I totally called Zynga's metrics "sketchy." BOOM! That's the business equivalent of getting smacked with a tightly rolled copy of the Financial Times filled with yo momma digs.
I just had to say, "I think they have disclosure issues, I think you are seeing their acquisition costs go up, marketing costs go up and they have very high churn." It's not like I don't know about these things, since I ran one of the largest direct marketing companies in America for a German media giant. I'm just curious to see how Zynga fares once it's public and has to disclose customer retention.
Whatever, Di. Not gonna stress about it. Take-Two is currently hiring and we've got a great line-up for next year, including BioShock Infinite, Max Payne 3 and, maybe, Borderlands 2. Plus, incoming money-baby: Grand Theft Auto 5. I love it so.
XO,
Strauss-ville
Reader Comments (15)
Posted: Nov 30th 2011 3:41PM Mrguy you know that guy said
"BOOM! That's the business equivalent of getting smacked with a tightly rolled copy of the Financial Times filled with yo momma digs."
Had me in stitches. Don't ever change, joystiq.
Also, shit just got real.
Had me in stitches. Don't ever change, joystiq.
Also, shit just got real.
Posted: Nov 30th 2011 3:47PM psnkillstrike said
Ah how I love the diary entries.
Posted: Nov 30th 2011 3:47PM Chyld989 said
This type of article is why I choose Joystiq instead of another site. Thank you for being awesome, Joystiq.
Posted: Nov 30th 2011 3:48PM radioactivez0r said
I still like Fork Parker better, but this is pretty good.
Posted: Nov 30th 2011 3:51PM Ruinkind said
While I understand that going public is all the rage, if Zynga wants to rock out with their stock out, I won't be touching it with Kilik's ten-foot pole.
Posted: Nov 30th 2011 4:07PM Mrguy you know that guy said
@Ruinkind
Wait, Kilik has a 10 foot pole?
Reply
Wait, Kilik has a 10 foot pole?
Posted: Nov 30th 2011 4:09PM ThatGuyFromTV said
"Take-Two's Zelnick thinks Zynga metrics are 'sketchy'."
As does EA, Rovio, pretty much every other major game corporation, and most of their own employees.
As does EA, Rovio, pretty much every other major game corporation, and most of their own employees.
Posted: Nov 30th 2011 4:13PM Nook said
I think he's doing a bit of spin, a bit of truth. I do feel like this is the "in" thing to do - and hence opens up the moral hazard argument. Are we making a new IT bubble of sorts, based soley on the addictive nature of the kinds of games zynga clones?? I wonder, but do not know the answer.
I would be interested to see their customer retention data too.
and don't EVER stop the entries.
I would be interested to see their customer retention data too.
and don't EVER stop the entries.
Posted: Nov 30th 2011 5:39PM GuardianLegend2 said
Reuters said that zynga's revenue per year is close to 1 billion..but their net income was only like 30 million. This makes no sense to me. Where does the 0.997 billion go?
Posted: Dec 1st 2011 2:06PM sirroc said
@GuardianLegend2 Customer retention and churn. Zynga is in a horrible place (thank god). If they go public, the truth about their company comes out. If they fail to go public, it will be a huge loss of business credibility; as well as a potential blow to their valuation (Imaginary number based on their phony metrics).
Either way, Zynga dies or gets absorbed into a more reputable company. Gets their "top" talent gutted to other studios and dies a slow death.
Reply
Either way, Zynga dies or gets absorbed into a more reputable company. Gets their "top" talent gutted to other studios and dies a slow death.
Posted: Nov 30th 2011 5:46PM BlazeKing said
All Zynga has is ___ville, nuff said.
(At this point, you can fill in the blank with anything. That's how much zynga clones the same game with minor differences. It's 'Ville clone saturation)
(At this point, you can fill in the blank with anything. That's how much zynga clones the same game with minor differences. It's 'Ville clone saturation)
Posted: Dec 1st 2011 3:23AM antelope said
Everything about Zynga is sketchy.





