Zynga pre-announced yesterday weaker than expected earnings for the third quarter, which follows a previously horrible second quarter. Zynga's new game The Ville underperformed, it had to write off $90 million from the OMGPOP Draw Something acquisition, CEO Mark Pincus may have hinted at layoffs in an internal memo, and people are leaving (the founding creators behind Words with Friends are the latest two). The stock has dropped today to $2.30 a share (far below the $10/share IPO price).
Think of some of the best mobile games this year. Horn. SQUIDS Wild West. Puzzlejuice. These are the kind of games that survive spring (or fall!) cleaning on your device; some of which stood out as our favorites of the summer. What would you pay for a chance to own their soundtracks? Twenty dollars a' piece? Nine dollars on iTunes? How does one dollar sound, for all of them? And more.
I'm working on a bit of a conspiracy theory. August is the eighth month in the year, and we're going to share the six games we liked the most from that month. If you add six and eight you get fourteen which, divided by two, equals seven. July is the seventh month of the year, and we shared six games with you that month as well. That alone is suspect, but the plot runs deeper.