游戏邦在:
杂志专栏:
gamerboom.com订阅到鲜果订阅到抓虾google reader订阅到有道订阅到QQ邮箱订阅到帮看

Matt Bromberg:依靠内部游戏增长的Zynga还未迎来巅峰

发布时间:2019-12-27 09:06:41 Tags:,

Matt Bromberg:依靠内部游戏增长的Zynga还未迎来巅峰

原作者:Jon Jordan 译者:Willow Wu

谈到衡量成功,收入是最重要的参考指标之一。而对于Zynga这样在美国纳斯达克上市的公司来说,金钱或许可以说是最佳的衡量标准。Zynga的股东们显然也是这么想的(其实我也是其中之一,不过我只出了微薄之力)。

不过,财务方面的成功实际上只是一个公司的最终结果表现,他们经历了确定目标、思考如何为客户提供价值、然后实施计划这几个主要过程。

因此,当Zynga的首席主管们在公司季度数据公布后参加例行采访活动时,他们有很多话题要谈,而不仅仅是那些令人兴奋的数字。

当COO Matt Bromberg被问到在他工作的这段时间里,Zynga发生了什么样的变化(2016年Frank Gibeau成为CEO之后高层就大换血了)时,Bromberg回答说“我们的员工能够开开心心地工作了”。

在之前很长一段时间里,Zynga的情况并非如此,他们多年来忍受着Facebook销售额下滑和季度亏损的问题,同时运营也过于松散。

“营收只是团队工作的副产品,”Bromberg解释说。“我们现在有了明确的目标和更高效的工作流程。”

Zynga将运营划分成三大主块。首先是公司已经发行的游戏,例如Zynga Poker和Words With Friends,尽管它们已经是十几年前的游戏了,但还是会继续更新。

Zynga Poker最近和世界扑克巡回赛联动,让游戏中的活动关联现实世界的比赛、选手。

Zynga在2017年11月发行了新版本的Words With Friends,这个版本可以依靠内购获得更多收益。之前的版本很大程度上是依赖广告收益。Zynga还邀请了Alec Baldwin出演新的游戏广告,在美国市场吸引新一批用户。2011年的时候,Alec Baldwin因为拒绝关手机而被赶下飞机,这就是他对Words With Friends的热衷程度。

FarmVille(from kern-photo)

FarmVille(from kern-photo)

Zynga维系成功的第二个支柱是并购活动。从2016年开始,Zynga累积花了10多亿美元收购像芬兰的Small Giants(部分股权)、土耳其的Gram Games以及Peak Games这样的公司。这意味着《帝国与谜题》、Merge Dragons等游戏都要归入到Zynga业绩的统计范围内。这些游戏的年收益都能超过1亿美元,并购交易无疑对Zynga近期的股市表现起到了非常大的积极作用。

事实上,这些公司表现得如此之好,以致于让Zynga的利润受到了打击——由于收购还包括一份盈利能力支付计划,所以Zynga必须按照被收购公司的业绩再分更多钱给他们。

Broomberg承认说这是个难题。

“我们在并购方面有一套独特的策略,”他解释道。

“我们会非常认真地分析考虑收购对象是否与我们的文化契合,有真正的合作精神——正是这种精神才能给我们带来回报。”

Zynga还有14亿的资金可用于未来的收购,相信这种策略还会在接下来的数月里让他们登上头条。

自Gibeau上任CEO以来,Zynga的股价上涨了180%,这也不足为奇了。

随着并购策略开展近三年,事情也开始变得严肃起来——Zynga开始发行公司内部开发的游戏,首先是Game of Thrones Slots。在疯狂收购之前,Zynga的大部分收入其实都来自社交博彩游戏,人们经常会忘记这一事实。

当Gibeau上任CEO后,有些行业评论人士就提出Zynga应该分成两个部分,分别负责博彩和非博彩产品,以实现股东价值最大化。

Game of Thrones Slots是Zynga多年后推出的首款重磅博彩游戏。他们在前段时间宣布了几个知名IP的游戏改编项目,Game of Thrones Slots也是这其中打头阵的游戏。其它IP还包括《哈利·波特》《星球大战》。

“我们对游戏的发行感到很高兴,”Bromberg说。“社交博彩是一个很难开拓的市场,但是我们强化了社交的部分,鼓励人们一起玩游戏。”

然而,这更大程度上还是得益于Zynga之前自主开发的游戏。至于NaturalMotion的《哈利·波特》三消游戏和《星球大战》动作游戏,现在讨论还为时过早。

FarmVille的重启版已经进入到测试发行阶段了。

“是的,这是一个引人注目的游戏,”Bromberg说。

“我们在为移动平台重新打造这款游戏,现在有更多的角色扮演和繁殖元素。”

这款游戏的暂定名是FarmVille 3 – Animals:繁殖元素来源于动物,角色扮演元素来自雇佣的农场工人。

然而Bromberg很清楚FarmVille 3所面临的挑战。毕竟,初代游戏是在2009年推出的,当时社交媒体正处于爆炸式发展时期,游戏在Facebook上大受欢迎。

“现在的环境肯定跟十年前大不相同了,”他承认道。

“游戏必须找回过去吸引人的魔力,但这一切需要时间。”

继续这个话题,这个世界和Zynga 2007年成立、2011年末上市的时候也有很大不同。

首先,得益于并购活动,Zynga的季度、年度销售成绩将继续增长,同时盈利能力也呈上升趋势。

结构上来说,同样重要的是,这家曾经以北美市场为中心的公司如今有三分之一(而且还在增长)的销售是来自其它地区。因此,他们从iOS和安卓用户那里获得的收入也更加均衡。

Bromberg说“我们已经从一个美国公司转变成国际化公司。”

2020年,我们将会见证这一转变的成果。

把Zynga比作是猎人,倘若某些内部开发产品能够成为他们招募来的一流助手,帮他们抵御周遭的竞争威胁,那么无论是对员工、股东还是玩家来说,好戏都还在后头。

本文由游戏邦编译,转载请注明来源,或咨询微信zhengjintiao

When it comes to measuring success, money is a decent indicator.

For a publicly-owned company like Zynga, which is floated on the US Nasdaq stock exchange, perhaps it’s even the best measurement.

Certainly that’s what most Zynga shareholders think.

(Disclosure: I am one such, albeit a tiny one.)

Yet financial success is really just the end result of any company working out what its goals are, what value it can provide to its customers, and then implementing the plan.

In that context, it’s significant when Zynga C-level executives do their regular round of interviews following the company’s quarterly figures, they have a lot more to talk about than just the numbers, exciting as they are.

Indeed, when asked about how Zynga has changed during the time he’s been working at the company – there was a big management shake up when Frank Gibeau became CEO in early 2016 – COO Matt Bromberg comments ‘our people love to come to work’.

For the longest time, that wasn’t the case at Zynga, which endured years of declining Facebook sales and quarterly losses, combined with an alarming lack of operational rigor.

“Winning is a byproduct of teamwork,” Bromberg explains.

“We now have clarity of purpose and much better processes in place.”

The magic number

When Zynga breaks down its operations it does so into three main areas.

First up are the company’s existing games, such as Zynga Poker and Words With Friends, which despite each being a decade old (and more), continue to be renewed.

Zynga Poker recently teamed up with the World Poker Tour, enabling it to hook in-game events into real world championships and players.

Meanwhile Words With Friends was rebooted with a new app in late 2018, which enabled stronger IAP monetisation. Previously, the game was highly dependent on ad revenues.

It’s also receiving a new US marketing push with US celebrity player Alec Baldwin starring in a new ad.

Famously Baldwin was kicked off a plane back in 2011 for refusing to switch off his phone, such was his passion for Words With Friends.
The second pillar of Zynga’s ongoing success has been its M&A activity.

Since 2016, Zynga has spent well over $1 billion acquiring the likes of Finnish developer Small Giants, and Turkish companies Gram Games and Peak Games (parts of).

This means games such as Empires & Puzzles and Merge Dragons are now part of Zynga’s financial numbers. As each of these games generates over $100 million a year, such deals have played a big part of Zynga’s recent performance on the stock market.

Indeed, these companies are performing so well Zynga’s profits have been hit due to the additional earn-out payments it’s having to make as part of its acquisitions.

Broomberg says that’s a great problem to have.

“We have a unique approach to M&A,” he explains.

“We look really hard for a cultural fit with the companies we’re considering buying: a true spirit of partnership, and that’s paying off for us.”

And with $1.4 billion still available for future acquisitions, it’s a strategy that will continue to generate headlines in the coming months.

No wonder Zynga’s shares are up 180 per cent since Gibeau become CEO.

Bringing it all back home

But as the turnaround approaches its third year, things are going to get serious, as Zynga starts to release the internally-developed games it’s been working for.

The first is the just-launched Game of Thrones Slots.

Oft forgotten, but until its acquisition spree, the majority of Zynga’s revenues came from social casino games.

Indeed, when Gibeau took over as CEO, some commentators – including this one – argued the company should be split into casino and non-casino parts to maximise shareholder value.

Game of Thrones Slots is Zynga first big new slots games for a couple of years; also the first game to use one of the big external IPs it’s licensed. The others include Harry Potter and Star Wars.

“We’ve been pleased with the launch,” says Bromberg. “Social casino is a difficult market, but we’ve made the experience more social so people can play together.”

More, however, is riding on the success of Zynga’s other self-developed games. The Harry Potter match-3 game and the Star Wars action game from NaturalMotion are still too early to be discussed.

Zynga’s reboot of FarmVille is already in soft launch however.

“Yes, it’s a high profile game,” Bromberg says.

“We’re reimagining it for mobile, with more role-playing and breeding elements.”

Indeed, the working title for the game is FarmVille 3 – Animals: the animals provide the breeding and the farmhands you can hire provide the role-playing elements.

Bromberg is well aware of the challenge that faces FarmVille 3, though. After all, the original game launched in 2009, proving to be a smash hit on Facebook, when the social network itself was exploding.

“The world is certainly different from when the original launched,” he admits.

“A memory of that magic has to be recaptured but the game will get the time it needs.”

All the world’s a stage

But continuing that theme, the world is also very different from when Zynga itself launched in 2007 and floated in late 2011.

For one thing, thanks to its M&A activity, the company is going to continue to drive its annual and quarterly sales, while profitability is also on an upwards tick.

Structurally, what’s also significant is this once North American-centric company now generates a third (and growing) of its sales elsewhere. For that reason, it’s also much more balanced in terms of revenue from iOS and Android users.

Bromberg says “We’ve transformed from a US company into a global one.”

And in 2020, we’ll finally see just how deep that transformation goes.

Certainly if Zynga can turn some of its internally-developed games into the world beaters it’s acquired, then the best is yet to come, for staff, shareholders and players.

(source: pocket gamer

 


上一篇:

下一篇: