Zynga Inc. stock shreap. 5% in extended trading on Wednesday after the gaming company reported an increase in revenue and tickets.
Zynga ZNGA,
said revenue skyrocketed 52% to $ 616 million, while analysts surveyed by FactSet expected $ 679 million. Equally important, Zynga recorded quarterly tickets of $ 699 million, up 61% year-over-year.
“We continue to see benefits from customers playing games from home,” Zynga CEO Frank Gibeau told MarketWatch in a phone interview. “In an unprecedented year, we delivered the highest quarterly revenue and ticketing revenue in Zynga’s history.”
Average daily active users rose 77% to 36 million as home buyers looked for entertainment options at a time of a deadly pandemic – a lasting move that has benefited other videogaming companies such as Electronic Arts Inc. EA,
Take-Two Inc. Interactive Software. TTWO,
and Activision Blizzard Inc. ATVI,
The San Francisco-based company has benefited from strength in mobile live services and, in particular, the popularity of five titles – “CSR Racing 2,” “Words With Friends,” “Zynga Poker,” “ Empires & Puzzles ”and“ Merge Dragons! ”
In addition, donations from the Rollic hyper-casual games package and the release of “Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells” helped expand Zynga’s play package and support its international audience.
Zynga shares are up 65% over the past 12 months, and the S&P 500 SPX index is broader,
up 16% on last year.