1）据insidesocialgames报道，Zynga最近预计第三季度（截止9月30日）收益介于3亿-3.05亿美元，净亏损达9000万-10.5亿美元，基于非GAAP的净亏损则是200万-500万美元，基于EBITDA的利润则是1000万-1500万美元。

Zynga称该季度财报结果主要归咎于“某些游戏表现欠佳”，以及与三月份收购OMGPOP有关的8500万-9500万美元损失（游戏邦注：据The Next Web报道，Zynga自3月21日收购该公司以来平均每天亏损50万美元）。Zynga降低了2012财年预期，预计这一财年收入介于10.85亿-11亿美元，基于EBITDA的利润为1.47亿-1.62亿美元（游戏邦注：原先预期收益为11.5亿-12.25亿美，EBITDA利润为1.8亿-2.5亿美元）。

zynga falls(from penny-arcade.com)

2）据gamasutra报道，Baird Equity Research分析师Colin Sebastian最近预测Zynga今年难以抵挡社交游戏业务的逆境，该公司进军移动游戏市场的前景也并不乐观，其平台转型期可能延长到2013年。

Sebastian原先预计Zynga股票售价为每股6美元，但现在预计其股价将降至3美元。

Macquarie Securities分析师Ben Schacter也指出，Zynga将丧失远超其他开发商的优势，而随着越来越多用户从Facebook游戏涌向手机游戏，Zynga业务运营仍将面临困境。另一名分析师Michael Pachter也降低对Zynga股价的预期，从原先的每股7美元降至4美元，并预计该公司全年收益将从预期的14亿美元降至12亿，但仍将Zynga股票评级定为“跑赢大盘”，认为其股票仍有绝地大反弹的可能。

3）据venturebeat报道，《Words With Friends》开发者Paul及David Bettner兄弟最近也离开Zynga，但并未公开宣布离职原因。

bettners(from venturebeat.com)

Bettner兄弟于2010年11月份Zynga收购该游戏开发商Newtoy（创始人是Bettners兄弟，该工作室收购价为4430万美元现金外加价值890万美元的全额法定权益股）时加入Zynga，Newtoy随后更名为Zynga With Friends工作室，并推出了《Gems With Friends》、《Matching With Friends》以及《Hanging With Friends》。

据AppData数据显示，《Words With Friends》目前是Zynga第十大热门Facebook游戏，拥有1350万MAU，在iOS是位列第58名的热门付费应用，以及第73名热销应用，是Zynga最具盈利性的手机游戏。

4）据pocketgamer报道，CrowdStar联合创始人及投资者Peter Relan最近恢复原先的执行主席职位，不再担任CrowdStar首席执行官一职。接任CrowdStar首席执行官的是该公司产品总经理及联合创始人Jeff Tseng。

jeffrey_tseng(from allthingsd.com)

Tseng原先是世嘉旗下掌机游戏团队Secret Level主管，现已在CrowdStar任职4年，主要负责领导公司多种游戏的制作、用户获取及商业智能平台业务。

5）据insidesocialgames报道，有一名前Kixeye外包人员最近发贴称有4名Kixeye员工存在种族歧视行为，该消息迅速在网络传播之后，Kixeye首席执行官Will Harbin立即回应称公司将介入调查此事，并让涉事团队的1名经理以及3名员工停职。

6）社交游戏公司Playsino日前收购社交博彩游戏开发商Popover Games以及Foghorn Games，但并未公布具体成交金额等详情。

7）Epic Games官方博客日前宣布《战争机器》设计总监Cliff Bleszinski已离职，但并未透露具体原因。

Cliff Bleszinski(from gamingsquid.com)

Bleszinski在90年代时就已加入Epic，已在该任职20余年，是与Mark Rein及Mike Capps等高管并列的Epic Games标志性人物之一；他曾带领开发了《战争机器》系列前三款游戏，协助开发了90年代的PC平台游戏《Jazz Jackrabbit》，并参与了《虚幻竞技场》、《无尽之剑》等多款Epic游戏。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

1）Zynga lowers 2012 outlook with preliminary earnings report

Mike Thompson

Zynga today released its preliminary earnings report for its fiscal third quarter which ended on Sept. 30.

The developer says it expects to report third quarter revenue somewhere in the range of $300 million to $305 million, with bookings between $250 million and $255 million. Meanwhile, Zynga says it expects to report a net loss between $90 million to $105 million; the non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principals) net loss is between $2 million and $5 million and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) in the range of $10 million to $15 million.

Zynga also says it expects to report diluted earnings per share between ($0.12) and (0.14), with non-GAAP EPS between $0.00 and ($0.01). According to Zynga, the third quarter results come from “weakness of certain games in our web ‘invest and express’ category,” as well as an impairment charge (the new term for writing off worthless goodwill) between $85 to $90 million that’s tied to all the intangible assets acquired in Zynga’s purchase of OMGPOP back in March. Zynga also noted it had reduced expectations for some of its games — including The Ville.

“The third quarter of 2012 continued to be challenging and, while many of our games performed to plan, as a whole we did not execute to our satisfaction,” said Zynga CEO and Founder Mark Pincus in a statement.

All these factors caused Zynga to revise its outlook for the 2012 fiscal year, which was originally expected to bring in $1.15 billion to $1.225 billion in revenue and an EBITDA of $180 million to $250 million. The new projection expects bookings to be somewhere between $1.085 billion to $1.1 billion with EBITDA now in the range of $147 million to $162 million.（source:insidesocialgames）

2）Analysts warn that Zynga may not find a path back to profitability

By Mike Rose

Following another disappointing financial quarter for social game behemoth Zynga, analysts have chimed in on the company’s prospects, noting that Zynga’s transition to mobile games has been “more painful than expected.”

Colin Sebastian at Baird Equity Research has downgraded Zynga to “Neutral”, stating that “it is clear that Zynga will not be able to counterbalance social gaming headwinds this year with its success in mobile and its broader network buildout.”

He believes that Zynga’s platform transition will now extend into 2013, meaning that ongoing realignment of resources, along with alterations to the company’s products in development, is very necessary.

Sebastian had previously stated that his target price for Zynga shares was $6 — he has now lowered that to $3, noting that while there is “limited downside from here” for the company, there are still far too many risks involved, including Zynga’s reliance on Facebook.

Macquarie Securities analyst Ben Schacter isn’t so positive. He notes, “we don’t see a floor on the horizon. Our concern has been and remains that while Zynga executed against its first mover advantage on the Facebook platform, off of the platform they are just one of many.”

Zynga no longer has an advantage over any other developer, he says, and as more and more users continue to move from Facebook gaming to mobile gaming, Zynga will continue to struggle.

He warned investors against “bottom fishing” until there is actually proof that Zynga has a way back to profitability — although he added that Macquarie is continuing to reiterate its Neutral rating for Zynga.

Michael Pachter, meanwhile, has lowered his target price estimate from $7 a share to $4, and his full year estimates for the company from $1.4 billion to $1.2 billion — however, he is maintaining an Outperform rating regardless.

“While we would normally be inclined to downgrade the company’s shares due to a more difficult outlook,” he adds, “we believe there is significant upside, so we concluded that only a price target revision is warranted.” （source：gamasutra）

3）Words With Friends creators leave Zynga

Emanuel Maiberg

VentureBeat is reporting the creators of one of Zynga’s highest earning games, Words With Friends, Paul and David Bettner are leaving the social gaming giant. The brothers did not publicly explain their reason for leaving or their future plans.

The Bettner brothers joined Zynga back in November 2010 when the company acquired game developer Newtoy (co-founded by the Bettners) for $44.3 million in cash with 1.4 million fully vested shares worth $8.9 million. Words With Friends was already a hit app when Newtoy was acquired, marking a big push for Zynga into the mobile space at the time.

Following the acquisition Newtoy was renamed the Zynga With Friends Studio, which went on to develops games like Gems With Friends, Matching With Friends and Hanging With Friends.

According to our traffic-tracking service AppData, Words With Friends is currently Zynga’s No. 10 most popular Facebook game with 13.5 million monthly active users. On iOS it’s the No. 58 top paid and the No. 73 top grossing app, making it Zynga’s biggest earner on mobile.

The news about the Bettner’s follows a long series of high profile departures from Zynga in the past few weeks including former COO John Schappert, CCO Mike Verdu and CMO Jeff Karp.

Yesterday Zynga also released a preliminary earnings report for its fiscal third quarter which clearly intended to lower expectations. Zynga said it expects to report a net loss between $90 million to $105 million and diluted earnings per share between ($0.12) and ($0.14).（source:insidesocialgames）
4）Product GM Jeff Tseng steps up to CrowdStar CEO role

by Jon Jordan

Social mobile publisher CrowdStar has rejigged its executive line up.

Co-founder and investor Peter Relan has stepped down from the role of CEO, returning to his previous position of executive chairman.

In his place comes general manager of products and company co-founder Jeff Tseng.

Tseng previously headed Sega-bought console development start up Secret Level. He’s been with CrowdStar four years; leading the production of multiple games, and the company’s user acquisition efforts and business intelligence platform.

On the up

“I’m excited to lead CrowdStar into the next phase of growth on both domestic and global mobile platforms,” he said.

“I have an excellent management team and very supportive investors. We will be growing aggressively yet strategically in terms of capital raising and partnering.”

CrowdStar raised $11.5 million in May 2012 to switch from Facebook social games to iOS and Android.

It’s since expanded its global footprint with deals in Korea and China with Gamevil and Tencent respectively, and more generally with GREE. （source：pocketgamer）

5）Four fired from Kixeye following racism allegations — When a former Kixeye contractor wrote a blog post stating his former co-workers engaged in racist behavior went viral this week, CEO Will Harbin was quick to publicly respond, claiming he was looking into the allegations. In a personal follow-up post, Harbin wrote  he interviewed members of the development team and discovered “examples of embarrassing behavior that I find inappropriate for KIXEYE … as a result, I immediately terminated the manager of the team in question and then three other employees who violated company standards as well.”（source：insidesocialgames）

6）Playsino doubles down on social gaming, acquires more devs — This week, Playsino acquired social casino game developers Popover Games and Foghorn Games. Details of the acquisition weren’t made public.（source：insidesocialgames）

7）Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski leaves Epic

By Tom Curtis

Cliff Bleszinski, the Epic Games design director behind the blockbuster Gears of War franchise, has stepped down from his position after 20 years at the company.

While Epic did not reveal exactly why Bleszinski has stepped down, the company announced on its official blog that he is moving on to begin the “next stage of his career.”

While working at Epic, Bleszinski led development on the first three Gears of War titles, helped create the 1990s PC platformer Jazz Jackrabbit, and contributed to many other Epic franchises such as Unreal Tournament, Infinity Blade, and more.

“I’ve been doing this since I was a teenager, and outside of my sabbatical last year, I have been going non-stop. I literally grew up in this business, as [Epic Games president Mike Capps] likes to say. And now that I’m grown up, it’s time for a much needed break,” Bleszinski wrote in a letter to his colleagues.

“I have been fortunate enough to collaborate with a variety of disciplines, from code to art to marketing and PR — it’s been one big, rewarding learning experience.”

Bleszinski first joined Epic (then known as Epic MegaGames) in the early 1990s, and worked on PC games like The Palace of Deceit: Dragon’s Plight and Dare to Dream before moving on to create the cult classic Jazz Jackrabbit titles.

When Bleszinski later stepped forward to helm the Gears of War series, he took a much more prominent role at Epic Games, and often served as one of the faces of the company alongside executives Mark Rein and Mike Capps. （source：gamasutra）