Despite the fact that social game giant Zynga's shares have declined 37.6 percent since the beginning of 2012, analyst firm Baird Equity Research still believes that the company's stock will bounce back thanks to upcoming game releases and its relationship with Facebook.
After Zynga went public back in December and subsequently saw its shares selling for under the $10 initial share price, Baird's Colin Sebastian originally said that Zynga's proven ability to attract millions of users meant that it would eventually get back on track.
Now, even after the company saw its stock hit an all time low earlier this month following Facebook's public offering, Sebastian says that summer releases from Zynga will see it rise again and reach a share price target of $13. Zynga shares currently stand at just below $6 each.
"This summer, we believe that Zynga will announce a new game slate, including 'mid-core' titles that should appeal to a broader audience of gamers, as well as sequels to existing franchises, such as Farmville," said Sebastian.
He also noted that Facebook's recent focus on mobile platforms can only be a good thing for Zynga, allowing the studio to gain traction on smartphones and tablets. Zynga is showing its "biggest incremental growth" in the mobile sector, the analyst noted.
Where Facebook is concerned, Sebastian said that some game developers are shifting away from Facebook given Zynga's standing as "most favored nation" on the social network, hence Zynga will have more opportunities for user acquisition.
Wasn't Adventure World technically a "mid-core" title? That game was Indiana Jones-branded, and it still did rather poorly compared to their biggest titles.
sounds like Zynga are going after the mid-core console games segment without the need for a console. So while OnLive and GaiKai focus on getting the hard core FPS games audience on their services, a hard feat as those are the most critical of users, Zynga swoops right in and takes mid core without the need for all of that infrastructure as those games game already be played on many PC's and even smartphones / tablets. Should be interesting.
Let's see what happens when Zynga rips off ideas and art from someone that's not a starving indie developer surviving out of innovation and ramen noodles.
I am curious to see if they can innovate, and if their business model even tolerates innovation. One of the best things Zynga did was target products at the under-served female market. As those new customers become more sophisticated and demand mid-core offerings, what is that going to look like? What is Zynga going to copy to fill that niche? I don't think anyone is making mid-core titles for women yet. If Zynga can be the first they will easily make that $13 stock value. I just have seen no evidence that Zynga could make such a game anytime soon, they need someone else to come up with such a product so that they can reskin it properly.
