Zynga Money Machine Leaves EA Behind

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
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Zynga Money Machine Leaves EA Behind


Electronic Arts [http://www.zynga.com/].

Like it or not, kids, casual, social gaming is where it's at, and in case there was any doubt, here are some numbers that'll make your hair curl: According to FrontierVille [http://www.sharespost.com/companies/zynga] is now worth an estimated $5.51 billion, putting it well ahead of EA's $5.16 billion valuation on the Nasdaq.

The figure is even more astonishing when you consider that on March 1, SharesPost pegged Zynga's value at $2.61 billion. It is one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the world and has cornered roughly one-third of the $1.6 billion market in virtual goods. SharesPost figures are estimates based on "data from trades of private shares, research estimates and venture-financing valuations," but ThinkEquity LLC analyst Atul Bagga doesn't think it's an unreasonable amount.

"The valuation is not that crazy, given what's going on in the market," he said, noting that the virtual goods market could hit $3.6 billion in three years. "It's not that terribly expensive seeing the growth prospects."

Zynga has tens of millions of players on Facebook and is branching out even further, putting games on MSN and Yahoo! as well as launching its own standalone sites. EA, on the other hand, is continuing to struggle with profit losses, layoffs and declining markets, and has shed more than seven percent of its share value in the same time frame.

Source: BusinessWeek [http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-10-26/zynga-s-value-tops-electronic-arts-on-virtual-goods.html]


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Xan Krieger

Completely insane
Feb 11, 2009
2,918
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Firstly let me change my pants.

*five minutes pass*

As much as I hate to admit this, I guess Zynga really does belong in March Madness. Even if they are a bunch of scammers we let Activision in and we know that's headed by Bobby Kotick.
 

archvile93

New member
Sep 2, 2009
2,564
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I'm sensing an inevitable horrible crash and burn. These fast growth companies can never grow their bases quick enough to support their overall growth. Shady business practices also always seem to come back and bite the offending company in the ass.
 

Lord_Panzer

Impractically practical
Feb 6, 2009
1,107
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[HEADING=1]IT WHAT?!![/HEADING]

Jesus fuck. I have nothing intelligent to say right now.
 

Summerstorm

Elite Member
Sep 19, 2008
1,475
117
68
This disgusts me...

I can't stand the idea of companies churning out crap, hundreds of games and pray on the bored to pump themselves up to unreasonable amounts of wealth.
 

skitskat

New member
Apr 14, 2009
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so i'm thinking that zydengigiagoijaigjg (farmville company of death) will soon be taking over EA, then Activision Blizzard, the THE WORLD?

yeah...good luck with that folks :p

*runs away*
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
17,032
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I still just feel like they're going to sink one day...And not too far into the future, either.
 

Brotherofwill

New member
Jan 25, 2009
2,566
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Wow, how times change.

Just a few years ago EA was the monolith that everyone hated; now it's become a Rocky type underdog fighting for survival against the evil powers of Zynga an Activision. Can EA do it? Can it last the distance?

*du-duh-duuuuuuunhhn, du-duh-duuuuuuuhn, Gonna fly now!, du-duuuhn!*
 

Wieke

Quite Dutch.
Mar 30, 2009
391
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Well, that's a shame. (Phew, successfully resisted the urge to make a "that's a sham" joke.)
 

fanklok

Legendary Table User
Jul 17, 2009
2,355
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Activision buys zynga, announces Modern Call of Gunville at war 4 for the facebooks.
 

rembrandtqeinstein

New member
Sep 4, 2009
2,173
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Which just goes to show the best way to get rich is to have no ethics, produce the cheapest product you can without regard to quality, and market heavily, preferably using other people's resources.
 

Ben Gepfrey

New member
Aug 6, 2010
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I have been playing Mafia wars for two years and Zanga does this because their games are constantly changing. They get you hooked and keep you there. I play lots of games but there are none that I play daily except the Zanga facebook games.
 

Mistermixmaster

New member
Aug 4, 2009
1,058
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What is this I don't even...

*sigh* I guess the day had to come eventually, especially with the people I know that have multiple facebook accounts so they can have multiple of Zyngas abonimations going on at once...
 

tomvw

New member
Feb 5, 2009
285
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Onyx Oblivion said:
I still just feel like they're going to sink one day...And not too far into the future, either.
The bigger they are...
This kind of explosive grow can't last forever, one day they'll have to crash down to earth.
 

Dragunai

New member
Feb 5, 2007
534
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To be fair, both companies make broken games that barely work but at least Zynga patch theirs to a "almost" working standard. That and if it breaks you just hit F5 haha.
 

Demodeus

New member
Sep 20, 2010
125
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Before Zynga can buy Activision/Blizzard, Blizz will just redirect a few months of their WoW suscriptions into the project "buy Zynga" and everything will be squared away.

Maybe then there will be a Warcraftville with monthly fees.