Take-Two CEO: Zynga metrics "are sketchy"
Strauss Zelnick attacks Zynga model, citing metrics and "disclosure issues"
Take-Two's CEO, Strauss Zelnick, has cast doubt on the Zynga business model, and accused the social gaming giant of having "disclosure issues."
"I would argue being the No. 1 player in (social gaming) is complicated, which is why Zynga hasn't gone public yet because their metrics are sketchy," said Zelnick at the Reuters Global Media Summit on yesterday.
"Zynga is a direct marketing company, 97 per cent of which don't pay them anything, 3 per cent who do," he said of Zynga users. "They churn quite quickly and they get new customers. That is their model."
Zynga has failed to respond to the comments. The company was in the spotlight earlier this week over claims that it had a "messy and ruthless" company culture.
"I think they have disclosure issues," added Zelnick, suggesting that investors needed to know if Zynga was losing users, and how quickly.
"I think you are seeing their acquisition costs go up, marketing costs go up and they have very high churn."
Zelnick also revealed that Take-Two is currently in the process of recruiting development staff globally.