Zynga, the online gaming juggernaut, is expected to file for a public offering soon. And to keep potential investors hungry, it must continue to crank out one hit game after another.
That’s because in any hits-driven business — music, movies, games — popular products can fade fast. Consider that FarmVille, Zynga’s best-known sensation, has dropped to 44 million monthly users, from nearly twice as many in March 2010, according to AppData, a measuring service.
So, Zynga said it would release its latest game, Empire and Allies, on Wednesday. While the game will be familiar to those who have built cartoonish virtual worlds in FarmVille and FrontierVille, it will also include strategy. Players will build idyllic island nations and be encouraged to team up with friends to fend off attacks from intruders.
So far, Zynga’s strategy has worked. While millions of players tired of FarmVille, many more signed up for CityVille, which was released in December and has nearly 90 million monthly users. That’s more than FarmVille ever had, and more than enough to keep Zynga at the top of the online gaming business.
Zynga will not comment on its plans for an offering. People briefed on them said the company had been talking with investment banks and might file for an offering soon, perhaps as early as June. That would place Zynga on a track to follow LinkedIn, the first big social media company to go public.
LinkedIn had a stellar debut less than two weeks ago, but its shares have tumbled in the last few days.
©2011 The New York
Times News Service
