zynga

Last updated: 2:40 PM PT

Zynga's second-quarter financial results came in far below analysts' expectations, and the stock nose-dived more than 40 percent in early after hours trading.

The social-gaming company, which raised $1 billion in its December 2011 IPO, reported revenue of $332 million for the quarter ending June 30, up 19 percent year-over-year. The company reported a net loss of more than $22.8 million, a loss of 3 cents per share. For its prior quarter, Zynga reported $321 million in revenue and recorded a net loss of $85.4 million, primarily owing to stock-based … Read more

Zynga co-founder and CEO Mark Pincus just revealed something about his company's relationship with Facebook that may come as a shock to many. Zynga and Facebook were considering a break up back in 2010.

That should surprise you because the companies are very, very close partners. When Facebook was getting ready to go public, it disclosed that 12 percent of the social networking giant's 2011 revenue came from Zynga. More recently, in Q1 2012, that number was 15 percent (down from 19 percent in Q1 2011), including both payments revenue and advertising displayed alongside Zynga games. Oh, and … Read more

Former Yahoo executive Ellen Siminoff has been appointed to Zynga's board of directors, the first woman to sit on the social-game publisher's board.

Siminoff, who is the CEO of educational publishing company Shmoop University, will also join Zynga's audit committee, the San Francisco-based publisher said today.

"Ellen has great experience and insights operating Web businesses at scale and brings a passion for consumer Internet products," Zynga CEO Mark Pincus said in a statement. "Ellen has also been a longtime Words With Friends player with her family and shares our mission to connect the world … Read more

Facebook has reached agreements with game developers Electronic Arts, Kixeye, and Zynga to test a new "Start Now" option that allows users to start playing games without having to go through an app permissions dialog.

Games that have the new feature include Backyard Monsters, Battle Pirates, Indiana Jones Adventure World, and Zynga Slingo, among others. They can access a user's basic profile information and friend list without having to request doing so.

"We're beginning a limited rollout of a feature that enables people to start playing a select number of games on Facebook.com in … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- Mobile is disruptive, but the most obvious disruptions can be the best opportunities -- at least for online social gaming, according to Zynga founder and CEO Mark Pincus.

During the morning keynote fireside chat at MobileBeat 2012 on Tuesday, Pincus explained his vision of the future of mobile games to GamesBeat lead writer Dean Takahashi.

Essentially, Pincus argued that the industry needs to be more interconnected and there need to be more open channels so that many more games can be discovered -- not just the ones that for whatever reason can get into the Top 10. … Read more

Facebook said today that it has expanded the availability of its App Center store to several more countries.

The App Center will appear as a bookmark on users' Facebook home page and mobile apps in the U.S., Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K.

The App Center is Facebook's attempt to drive its ecosystem of applications of games and other services on the social network, keeping users glued to its site even longer. The company is also increasingly reliant on these apps for revenue, taking a cut of any money these apps generate. … Read more

Mark Pincus has spent nearly a decade gambling on social networking. His bets have clearly paid off. With Zynga, which he founded in 2007, Pincus rode Facebook's social network to bring social gaming to the masses. Zynga's first game was, appropriately, Texas hold 'em poker. The company went public in December 2011, making Pincus a billionaire. Prior to Zynga, Pincus co-founded tribe.net, a "friend" network that faded unevenly into history as Facebook began its rise to social-network dominance.

He was also an investor in Friendster, an early social network focused on dating, and along with … Read more

Matching with Friends (2.99, full version - Free, ad-supported version) is another in a long line of Zynga apps that let you play turn-based games with a friend on mobile devices. But instead of playing word games loosely based on Hangman, Scrabble, or Boggle, this time you'll be strategically placing matching colored blocks on a gameboard, then sending your move to a friend.

Like other Zynga games, Matching with Friends makes getting connected with your friends easy. Upon launch you'll be asked to sign in through either your Facebook or Twitter account. Once logged in, you can search for other players from your friends list or get automatically matched with a random player.… Read more

In a first for a Zynga casual game, users can now have virtual sex in the company's new title, The Ville. It will be available tomorrow.

The Ville, which appears to be heavily inspired (to put it kindly) by the popular game The Sims, is the most realistic game yet in the Ville series of games that includes FarmVille, CityVille, and CastleVille. The concept is that you build your dream house in the app and then invite your friends over to hang out.

Or more.

According to Zynga executive producer David Gray, when someone is in your house and … Read more