Just as in Q1, Zynga broke some of its own records in Q2, generating $179.9 million in revenue in the mobile market.
“We saw record mobile bookings up 33 percent year-over-year. Our mobile audience is also up, 28 percent year-over-year, which is terrific,” said CEO Frank Gibeau in a phone call with GamesBeat. “Usually that’s been the bugbear that’s got everybody is revenues can be growing but audience is down. We’re actually seeing more people are playing our games today than they were yesterday, which is exactly what we need to be doing.”
Gibeau calls out the racing game CSR Racing 2 as a break-out hit. It’s from NaturalMotion, which Zynga acquired in 2014, and it drove a 14 percent increase in mobile revenues this past quarter. A big factor in its success has been because of live services, which is a priority for Zynga for the remainder of 2017.
“2017 is a year that’s really focused in on live services. In 2016 there were 10 new game releases and we wanted to shift from that build mode into grow mode with the existing live services,” said Gibeau. “As we look to the second half and beyond, that’s going to be our focus in terms of how we’re growing the company.”
Zynga’s been getting a positive response from its audience. Its daily active users on mobile are up 28 percent year-over-year, reaching an average of 19 million. It also reported that in-app purchases are up as well.
“One of the KPIs that really demonstrates that the focus on live operations is paying off is the mobile user pay, the in-app purchasing, is up 45 percent year over year,” said Gibeau. “So that’s a testament to the fact that we’re putting a lot more valuable things into our games that our players are willing to pay for and are enjoying.”
