Zynga Still in Trouble After Second Straight Quarter of Missed Projections - The UpStream

It's possible that former Xbox exec and current Zynga CEO Don Mattrick might not be able to turn the company around. Even after huge executive changes a few months ago, the game studio is still rolling down hill and both stock and morale are dropping fast.

After not reaching sales predictions for the second consecutive quarter, Mattrick was quick to point out that Zynga's best days are still ahead.

We aspire to do better and improve execution across our business. We are in the midst of a multiyear transformation, and we are building Zynga and NaturalMotion against a growing market opportunity.

What worked for Zynga this past quarter? Words with Friends is apparently still popular and reached its sales target, and the casino and farm games also did quite well. Zynga Poker's delayed launch didn't help sales though, as the game is still undergoing testing and development even though it was supposed to launch a month ago. On top of that, Mattrick mentioned that a handful of other games that were supposed to launch by holiday wouldn't come out until 2015. The good news is that mobile games continued to be a success for the company. Zynga's mobile sales surpassed those of its Web games for the first time in company history.

Zynga is also banking on its first sports game, NFL Showdown, which is currently in testing in select markets. In fact, many of Zynga's games currently reside in limited market testing, as the company believes in gaining tons of feedback from its current customer base before launching a title full-scale. Additionally, Zynga will be trying out other licensing projects too, with something possibly coming out of the Tiger Woods camp, as well as the Looney Toons franchise.

Can these games get Zynga past what Mattrick is calling "that awkward transition period" and keep its 2,000 employees working at the studio? Do you even still play Zynga games? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.