Zynga CEO: Most People Play Games at Work During 'Boring Conference Calls'
Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. - Zynga, maker of such popular social games as Words With Friends and Farmville, has seen lots of growth with its mobile games, but the CEO of the company, Mark Pincus, isn't worried about the disappearance of the PC.
"I think Facebook will be important on the Web and the PC, and it has the potential to be important for us on mobile," Pincus said at the All Things D conference here. "But let's not forget the opportunity on PCs. A lot of the traffic happens when people are at work on boring conference calls." Most of Zynga's traffic, Pincus said, occurs during work hours while players are on their computers and logged into Facebook.
Still, Pincus and Zynga remain focused on mobile; it just hasn't become the main revenue driver yet.
"Mobile lets you put play in your cab or on the train. And it's growing very quickly. But in mobile we're still at an early stage where we're building audience," Pincus said on stage. "Our games are monetizing well in that space, but the audience is still small and growing. It's going to take a while for the aggregate revenues to get where we want them." Zynga makes the most of its money with sales of virtual goods - those poker chips or farm animals you can purchase while playing its games.
Pincus spoke about the recent acquisition of Draw Something and said it was too early to tell it if was a successful purchase.
He did make one thing clear: The company doesn't plan to get into the hardware business. When asked by interviewer Kara Swisher if the company would get into gaming consoles, Pincus answered in one word: "no."