The last time we spoke to Zynga executive vice president Yaron Leyvand, the firm had just launched Match Factory – a certified hit. The puzzler is on course to be Zynga’s second biggest title after Toon Blast, Leyvand told us over email.
Unfortunately it has been a different story for Zynga-owned NaturalMotion’s Star Wars Hunters, launched in June 2024. Appmagic estimates that it earned under $100k in IAP last month, and just $2.6m in total to date. So it’s worth noting for transparency that Zynga declined to answer our question about the reported staff cuts at NaturalMotion, and if the layoffs were anything to do with Star Wars Hunters’ performance.
But Zynga’s EVP for mobile games Yaron Leyvand did answer the below questions, while also explaining how his studio empire is split, clarifying that yes, as we’ve reported previously, Zynga India now runs Farmville, among many other games, and is also developing new titles including Boggle: Arcade Edition.
In Helsinki, Small Giant operates Empires & Puzzles and is working on a new concept. In Istanbul Peak runs Toon Blast, Toy Blast and Match Factory and Rollic has a wealth of existing titles and new hybrid games in production. Nordeus in Belgrade runs Top Eleven and is developing new soft launch game Top Goal.
Last time we spoke was around the launch of Match Factory – has that game exceeded expectations? At the time there was a lot of chat about how hard it is to launch new games…
Match Factory has been a major hit for Zynga and we are really proud of the progress the team at Peak has made in the last year scaling and enhancing the game. It is quickly growing and on track to become the second-biggest title by net bookings at Zynga by the end of the year.
The team has added really fun features and in-game events to the title, to keep the gameplay fresh for our players, and we are seeing strong engagement as these roll out. It’s been exciting to see how this original IP title has captivated such a broad audience and shows that players will continue to connect deeply over time when the core gaming experience is both fun and expertly executed.
There was mention of your direct-to-consumer efforts in your financials, what sort of proportion of IAPs are now going through your webshop?
We continue to broaden our offerings within our direct-to-consumer business. Giving our players more options in how they interact with our games is a core tenant of our business and meeting them where they are to expand their experience is important to us. We are continuing to test across many titles and I can share that we are happy with the results thus far.
Which of your titles are performing best in terms of D2C revenue? Do they lean more mid-core, like Top Eleven for example?
When it comes to DTC business, we’re looking into adding components that complement and enhance the in-game experience. Each game and player base is different so we’re evaluating which titles are best suited for this model.
You also mentioned hybridcasual growth in the financials – what’s happening in this part of your business? Are you tweaking existing hypercasual games to add more IAP integration or is it new hybrid casual games driving the growth?
The teams at Rollic are constantly testing and experimenting with new ways of game development, and are seeing positive results with their latest titles. Screw Jam, for example, is the first hybrid game to reach the top 50-grossing list in the U.S. App Store and is continuing to perform. Our players’ preferences are forever evolving and to keep up with what they are looking for, we need to evolve how we create our games as well.
We also spoke about making mobile editions of Take-Two IP – any progress here? Are any games like this actively in production and when might we see some?
Nothing new to share here at this time, but we are excited about the possibilities that come with being part of the Take-Two family of labels. The IP across the company is legendary and has fan bases that would expect nothing but the best. Any mobile expansion of a favorite Take-Two IP would need to be an experience that is authentic to the original and we would want to make sure we are doing it right.
