In 2021, Zynga earned a record $2.8 billion, but still did not avoid losses

Zynga has published a financial report for 2021. Revenue and receipts turned out to be record, but we are still not talking about profit. The company also shared its blockchain plans for 2022.

Empires & PuzzlesMain figures

• Last year, Zynga earned $2.8 billion, which is 42% more compared to 2020.
• Receipts (bookings) amounted to $2.82 billion. Growth by 24% in annual terms.
• The company received 97% of its revenue ($2.72 billion) thanks to mobile. Note that the share of this segment in Zynga’s revenue is relatively constant. In 2020, it provided 96% of revenue or $1.89 billion.
• This time, Zynga did not specify which specific games brought it the most revenue. However, it usually receives about two—thirds of its income from the so-called “eternal franchises” – titles like Toon Blast, Toy Blast, Merge Dragons that have been popular for several years! and Empires & Puzzles.
• Advertising revenue accounted for 19.7% of the company’s revenue — $551.3 million, which is 79% more in annual terms. According to Zynga, she has never earned so much on advertising.
• The company ended 2021 with a loss of $104 million. For comparison, a year ago its losses were four times more — $429 million.
• The DAU of Zynga mobile games grew by 41% over the year and reached 39 million people. And the number of active users per month jumped immediately by 107% to a record 184 million.
• At the same time, the average receipts from one active user (ABPU) decreased by 12% — they amounted to $0.194.

Usually, at the end of a financial report, Zynga shares a forecast for the next quarter or for the whole of next year. But not this time. The company referred to the deal announced in January and still pending with Take-Two for $12.7 billion.

Nevertheless, Matthew Wolf, vice president of Zynga’s blockchain business, revealed the company’s NFT plans in an interview with Axios portal. According to him, in 2022, Zynga is going to work hard on blockchain. In particular, she intends to increase the number of employees in the division from 15 to 70-100 people and open a full-fledged studio. Already, the company is looking for managers for the studio, including a creative director and a “tokenomics designer”. Zynga is also considering buying new studios.

Wolf also stated that the company plans to release its first game with NFT this year. He denied rumors that NFT could appear in games like Farmville or Words with Friends, and explained that the project would be made “completely from scratch.” It is assumed that the first Zynga blockchain projects will be focused on players who are already familiar with the genre and are not looking for deep gameplay, but rather an opportunity to earn.