Zynga Poker, CSR 2, and Words With Friends 2 Help Zynga Turnaround

Casual gaming giant Zynga is charting a comeback thanks to Word With Friends 2 and Zynga Poker. The company announced that Words With Friends 2 had its best mobile revenue and bookings since its inception. Furthermore, Zynga Poker's mobile revenue increased by 44 percent from a year ago. Plus, CSR 2 mobile revenue was up 90 percent in the same time frame. Fourth quarter revenue is at $233.3 million which it states is 22 percent up from the same quarter a year ago.

With $95 million in cash flow, the company could pursue acquisitions, CEO Frank Gibeau said in conversation with Venturebeat. Coupled with this, with be investments in AR, VR, chat games, and 5G networks.

“I’m bullish about mobile in general, when you look at all of the technologies that are coming to the mobile platform,” Gibeau said. “It will be a dynamic platform for a long time to come. Mobile chat has been where we have invested the most time and talent. It’s pre-monetization. But Words With Friends has reached a big audience on chat. It’s younger, and more male, and so we see it as incremental growth.”

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