Will We Have to Imagine an iOS World Without Zynga?

It would be a challenge to find an iPhone that doesn’t contain at least one Zynga game, so it seems a little difficult to believe that the company is losing money instead of swimming in it. Late Thursday, the well-known company indicated that they will be reporting a third-quarter loss due in large part to its purchase of mobile game maker OMGPop.

Following the announcement, after-hours trading of Zynga shares fell nearly 20% to $2.28 –representing a 70% decline for investors this year. Once thought to be the kings of social gaming, the popularity of their signature ‘Ville’ games seems to be equally on the decline.

Additional details provided by Zynga CEO, Mark Pincus, indicate that the company has a plan. Rather than relying on the income generated from in-app purchases from their Ville-style games, the company will put a greater focus on the casino genre and mid-core titles; logic that may suggest they have thoughts on which user-base has more purchasing power and interest.

For those experiencing a touch of addiction to the With Friends series produced by Zynga, the good news is that the company is pleased with the performance of that franchise so you won’t have to give up your games any time soon. With any luck this news also means Zynga will be paying more attention to quality over quantity and worrying less about adding new titles and more about enhancing their existing apps.