Zynga sees a future in mobile games

Zynga, the once-titan of social and mobile games, has been suffering from recent internal turmoil and consumer fallout. Last year, the company saw the exodus of several executives and the shockingly poor performance of its latest games. This poor performance came with feedback from consumers that suggested that the company was blatantly copying other popular games in order to attract more players. Zynga has survived several episodes of shedding employees over the past year and has managed to refocus itself on mobile games, hoping to reclaim its throne in the industry.

Tablets may be Zynga’s ideal platform

Zynga made its name with social games through its tight partnership with Facebook. In 2012, that partnership dissolved. Since then, Zynga has been working to take a new approach to its games in order to win favor with consumers once again. The company has set its sights on mobile games, noting the rising popularity of mobile devices and the willingness of mobile consumers to play such games. Zynga President Steve Chiang believes that tablets, in particular, is where Zynga will reclaim its success.

Tablets considered to be ultimate game platform for Steve Chiang

Zynga suggests that tablets are the ultimate game platform. Tablets are typically equipped with better hardware than smartphones, allowing for better performance in mobile games. Larger, more responsive screens also mean more detail in these games and better controls. Chiang suggests that FarmVille 2, the second rendition of the game that made Zynga a phenomenon, offers a better experience on a tablet device. The game, as well as other titles from Zynga, will make its way to tablet devices as Zynga focuses more on the mobile space.

Mobile games expected to become flagship brand for Zynga

Mobile games currently account for 30% of Zynga’s revenue. Much of the company’s resources are still devoted to social games, as many of its titles are still very popular on social networks like Facebook. By the end of 2013, however, mobile games are expected to become the prominent focus for the company and will begin to overshadow the social games that the developer has been created for several years.

The two companies are working together to use a simple QR code based program to pay for purchases.

LevelUp and Nokia have just announced a partnership together that could help to expand the use of mobile payments by consumers, regardless of whether or not they have NFC technology embedded in their devices, as this system is based on the use of QR codes.

This new partnership has had the two companies working together to introduce the service to various cities.

Consumers and businesses in certain American cities are being targeted by Nokia and LevelUp to help to encourage them to use mobile payments for some of the more routine transactions that are being made. The service works when a consumer signs up for the service and links a debit or credit card to the account. Then, when he or she makes a purchase at a participating merchant’s store (where the terminals are available) the app is loaded on the smartphone and a QR code is generated. This is scanned by the terminal and the associated card is billed.

This mobile payments system can also be used to allow consumers to collect loyalty rewards.

According to Matt Kiernan from LevelUp, the mobile payments service is very quick and easy to use. He stated that the average transaction through the service takes about 9 seconds to complete. Comparatively, the average traditional credit card transaction will usually take up to 15 seconds, while a cash transaction averages around 20 seconds.

The two companies in the partnership are hoping to point out that both consumers and businesses can benefit through the use of the service. This is especially true for the combination of the loyalty campaign option into the mobile payments so that the points or rewards can automatically be recorded into the appropriate account.

According to LevelUp, its processing fee has a flat rate of 2 percent, which is lower than the average fee for traditional credit card processing. It also stated that it allows companies to monitor the success of their mobile payments campaigns so that they can see the data related to their spending and activity of their customers. This can help companies to run future campaigns that are better designed to promote specific behaviors among their customers based on past successes.