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Zynga’s MAUs fall to 66 million year-on-year as casino games drive revenues

CSR Racing 2 performs better than expected

Zynga’s MAUs fall to 66 million year-on-year as casino games drive revenues

Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA) has released its financial results for Q3 FY16 for the three months ending September 30th 2016.

The publisher reported better than expected revenues of $182.4 million, but this was down 7% year-on-year.

Despite better revenues, Zynga still posted a net loss of $41.7 million, below the low end of its forecasts.

Despite a tough few years for the mobile games publisher, Zynga still holds some $870.8 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities.

Fall in MAUs

Zynga’s mobile revenues and number of users are on the up. Mobile revenue of $145.9 million now accounts for 80% of the company’s total revenue, up 16% year-on-year.

Mobile bookings of $162.3 million meanwhile were up 34% year-on-year and up 19% on the previous quarter. DAUS rose 1% year-on-year to 16 million, while monthly active users were down 13% from 75 million to 66 million year-on-year.

The publisher said one of its recent releases, CSR Racing 2, had performed better than expected.

Zynga’s once hugely successful web business now has just two million DAUs and 10 million MAUs, the latter a fall of 29% year-on-year.

Casino games on top

Zynga continues to rely on its casino games to bring in the cash. It said Zynga Poker accounted for 19% of online game revenues, while Wizard of Oz Slots accounted for 12%, Hit It Rich! Slots 12% and FarmVille 2: Country Escape 11%.

That's 54% of revenues, with the rest of its portfolio picking up the rest.

Losses are expected to slow in the next quarter to between $25 million and $27 million, with revenues forecasted at $180 million to $190 million.

Zynga said it finally plans to launch the long-awaited Dawn of Titans in Q4, but said it is likely to have minimal impact due to its holiday release.

The publisher also announced a share repurchase programto buy up to $200 million of outstanding Class A common stock.


Head of Content

Craig Chapple is a freelance analyst, consultant and writer with specialist knowledge of the games industry. He has previously served as Senior Editor at PocketGamer.biz, as well as holding roles at Sensor Tower, Nintendo and Develop.