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Zynga’s troubles to adapt to a mobile-led market continue, with its 2014 fiscal results showing a net loss of $226m.
Of this, $129m was attributed to stock-based expenses, $7m to income tax benefit and $24m to the expense of its ongoing restructuring.
Revenues came in at $690m for the year – down 21 per cent compared to 2013 – while online game revenues reached $537m, down 29 per cent year-on-year. Advertising revenue offered more positive news, up 34 per cent year-on-year to $153m.
Q4 2014 was a mixed bag for the firm, with revenues reported as $193 – an increase of nine per cent over both the preceding quarter and Q4 2013. However, a net loss $45m for the three months was $20m more than the same period last year, although lower than the $57m loss sustained in the third quarter of 2014.
Zynga also announced the closure of its China studio, resulting in job losses for all 71 employees at the Beijing branch. However, the closure will result in annualised cost savings of $7m.
Despite the results, CEO Don Mattrick described 2014 as "a year of progress for Zynga".
"We came together as one team and applied more discipline and rigour to our business," he said. "In the fourth quarter, we increased mobile bookings to 60 per cent of our total bookings mix, expanded our mobile audience with monthly mobile consumers up 87 per cent year over year, and grew our core franchise bookings by 35 per cent year over year.
"In 2015, we will focus on three priorities: driving mobile growth, launching more products in more evergreen categories and building on our social legacy. We will deliver a 100 per cent mobile-first new product slate feature new game, with a goal of ending 2015 with more than 75 per cent of our fourth quarter bookings coming from mobile.
"We have a healthy balance sheet with $1.1bn in cash and marketable securities which gives us staying power and the ability to invest in our future growth."
Mattrick added that Zynga expects to launch up to 10 new games, including the firm’s first entries into the match-three and action strategy categories. New titles include match-three title FarmVille: Harvest Swap, strategy game Empire & Allies and NaturalMotion’s new title Dawn of Titans.
