Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), said the company will focus on making gambling games social rather than cashing on existing real gambling market with its entry into online gambling in the U.K.
“It makes it more exciting than when you’re by yourself in an anonymous poker room,” Pincus said during a Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) conference in San Francisco. There is, however, no word about when the company will launch real money gambling, but earlier the company has indicated that it could be in the first half of this year.
Pincus is definitely not targeting serious gamblers, instead he wants to introduce it for the masses much the same way it launched social gaming for general public.
“We’re not the company to win the hardcore real-money gamers,” he said. “But we think we are for the mass market audience.”
Last year, Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) made it clear that it is all set to launch real money gambling after striking a deal with the UK based poker company, Bwin Party Digital Entertainment, to present online poker and casino games for real money in the U.K.
Also, the game maker tried to apply for a gambling operator’s license in Nevada, which stirred everyone. Nevada gave legal status to online gambling, which is a positive news to Zynga as it opens the new stream of revenues for the social gaming giant.
The shares of Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) surged 7.5 percent after the Nevada decision which clearing online gambling. The company’s share increased to $3.43 at the close in New York Yesterday, after Zynga announced to slash 1 percent of its workforce.
Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA), after noticing the decline in the game player’s number in some of its most popular games, started making sequels rather than launching new games, but that can be successful only if the creators remain loyal to the original themes of the game, said Pincus.
Pincus also talked about two of its most popular franchisee FarmVille and City Ville, he said that while CityVille 2 failed to woo the online players and the company had to pull it down, FarmVille 2 is a success because it was based on the main theme of the game, planting and harvesting crops. What was new in Farmville2 was the added new technology that let for a 3D experience and crafting. However, CityVille 2 did not stuck to the main theme and had a new storyline and feature
“The lesson to us is we can invest more confidently in our franchises, but only when we stay true to the original formula,” he said.
