This is a big week for Zynga, as the gaming giant readies for its debut on the public markets at the end of the week. The company’s offering is expected to price this week and will raise around $1 billion in the IPO. Interestingly, Zynga passed a pretty major milestone this week, according to Inside Network’s AppData.
Currently, Zynga has the top five games on Facebook using daily active user numbers, with Words With Friends edging out EA’s Sims Social. CityVille took the top spot with 10.1 million DAU, followed by CastleVille (8.1 million DAU); FarmVille (7.2 million DAU); Texas HoldEm Poker (6.3 million DAU) and Words With Friends (5.7 million DAU).
Of course, Words With Friends got a big push last week after actor Alec Baldwin was kicked off an American Airlines flight for playing the game. Baldwin Tweeted about the incident, mentioning Words With Friends, and even mocked the altercation on Saturday Night Live over the weekend.
This extra publicity could have definitely given Words With Friends the boost it needed to move past EA’s Sims, which has been ahead of Zynga’s Scrabble-like game for some time now (Sims is still ahead of the game when it comes to monthly active users).
The company has seen some games flattening in growth, and others declining in traffic, so this slight surge in usage comes at an opportune time. Considering the importance of Facebook as a platform for Zynga’s games, having the top five games on the social network the week prior to the company’s much awaited IPO certainly helps the company put a nice growth spin on its dominance in the social gaming market. We’ll see if investors agree.