Zynga Casino strategy clearer as company registers game domains

Steven Stradbrooke
October 15, 2011
5 Comments

zynga-casino-strategySocial games developer Zynga intends to be known by the ticker symbol ZNGA when it finally makes its debut on the NASDAQ exchange. The revelation came in a new S-1 filing the company submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. Zynga originally filed SEC papers in July to pave the way for its initial public offering, but recent market turmoil seems to have made the company’s trigger finger a little less itchy. While the recent Zynga Unleashed event revealed all sorts of hopes and dreams for the future, the company has yet to set a date for its IPO.

The new Zynga filings do shed a little more light on just how the company makes its bones. For the six-month period ending June 30, 2010, Zynga’s top-three revenue generating games were Mafia Wars, Farmville and Zynga Poker. Those same three games were also Zynga’s top moneymakers for the six-month period ending June 30, 2011, although their share of Zynga’s total revenue dropped from 84% in 2010 to 59% this year.

The Zynga Unleashed event also brought us the announcement of a new Zynga Bingo game and hints of future games under the Zynga Casino umbrella. Further hints as to Zynga’s casino strategy can be found in the list of 150 domain names it recently registered through its brand protection company MarkMonitor. Some of these domains seem solely designed to head off cheeky cybersquatters (fuckzyngabingo.com, fuckzyngacasino.com, zyngacasinosucks.com, etc.). Others are far more practical (zyngabaccarat.com, zyngacraps.com, zyngadice.com, zyngakeno.com, zyngapaigowpoker.com, zyngaroulette.com and zyngaslots.us). What? Not zyngaslots.com? Was Zynga CEO Mark Pincus worried about an intellectual property challenge from the owners of slots.com?

If you have any further information related to this story that you would like to share with us privately please click here.

Can't get enough CalvinAyre.com? Follow us on Twitter and Facebook, then you'll never miss out on the latest gaming industry news.

Share
Tags: Article, slots.com, Zynga
Views and opinions expressed are those of the Author and do not necessarily reflect those of CalvinAyre.com
  • http://www.facebook.com/calvinayre Calvin Ayre

    They have two negatives….they are US based and are going to be public.  This is good as they would be in a good position to be a power if they were not doing this.  

  • http://www.facebook.com/calvinayre Calvin Ayre

    I am pretty sure they are hungrily eyeing the casino space.  But they don’t really understand it like they think they do.  its not about technology only…its significantly about corporate structure and they have this all wrong.  

  • http://calvinayre.com/2011/10/16/business/gaming-industry-news-weekly-recap-october-15/ Weekly Gaming Industry News Recap Oct. 15 | Gambling News

    [...] developer Zynga announced a new Bingo product as part of its Zynga Casino offering. If the list of domains they’ve registered is any indication, baccarat, roulette and craps (not to mention, a good deal of fucking) are in the [...]

  • http://calvinayre.com/2011/10/24/marketing/gambling-ads-and-facebook/ Gambling ads and Facebook | Marketing news

    [...] also no doubt that there’s a target market on Facebook for iGaming companies. For one, Zynga Poker has 33 million active users and has used this success to build non-gambling social games. But [...]

  • http://calvinayre.com/2011/12/16/business/zynga-ipo-reaps-1b-amaya-to-buy-cryptologic/ Zynga IPO Reaps $1b; Amaya Bids For Cryptologic | Online Gaming News

    [...] games haven’t had the impact of its early successes. Then again, it is planning a whole suite of casino games and not everyone is buying the company line that they’re not interested in crossing over [...]