14 DAY TRIAL // The Zynga-made social video games continue to be important for the success of social platform Facebook, accounting for about 15 percent of the company’s revenue.
The figure is linked to both virtual goods that are sold by Zynga, of which Facebook gets a cut, and to the advertising that the company pays for to attract potential players to its products.
11 percent of the total revenue for Facebook during the fiscal quarter ending on March 31, 2012, was linked to the payment processing fees for Zynga virtual goods, with another 4 percent drawn from advertising payments.
During the same quarter of 2011, the figure stood at 19 percent, which means that some social gaming revenue is no longer linked to Facebook.
The SEC filling from Facebook states, “Zynga has recently launched games on its own website and on non-Facebook platforms, and Zynga may choose to try to migrate users from existing Facebook-integrated games to other websites or platforms.”
It adds, “We may fail to maintain good relations with Zynga or Zynga may decide to reduce or cease its investments in games on the Facebook Platform. If the use of Zynga games on our Platform declines for these or other reasons, our financial results may be adversely affected.”
For the fiscal quarter that ended on March 31 Facebook has reported revenue of 1.1 billion dollars (834 million Euro) an increase over the same period of 2011, while profits were down slightly.
Zynga-made video games have been criticized for their lack of substance and for the constant pressure they put on the player to pay real-world cash for in-game advantages, but they still manage to draw in a huge number of gamers.
The company has recently suggested that it might release its games on platforms other than Facebook in the near future.