‘FarmVille’ Creator Posts Record Quarterly Revenue

Mobile gaming company Zynga reported record quarterly revenue of $705 million in Q3 2021, a 40% increase compared to the same period last year. 

The results were driven by Rollic, an Istanbul-based game developer and publisher the company acquired in October 2020 for $180 million. 

Rollic’s portfolio of gaming titles helped Zynga’s online game business generate $571 million in Q3, a 31% increase year-over-year. 

During the quarter, Rollic saw the releases of “Arrow Fest” and “Text or Die” both rank as the top free downloaded game in the U.S. App Store. Mobile is the fastest-growing gaming category, making up more than half of the $175 billion global games business, per Newzoo.

Zynga has made more acquisitions in just the last few months. 

• In August, it acquired Chartboost, a mobile monetization platform, for $250 million. 
• Purchased “Golf Rival” developer StarLark in October for $525 million.

Earlier this month, Zynga launched “FarmVille 3” for iOS, Android, and Mac M1 devices. In June, CEO Frank Gibeau told Bloomberg the video game company could add more than $1 billion in revenue by making games for traditional consoles.

Gibeau also wants to focus on international markets and developing “easier-to-play” games. He believes Zynga can make an additional $2 billion from those initiatives combined.

Zynga expects full-year revenue to reach $2.78 billion, a 41% uptick compared to FY2020.