Take-Two's Zelnick thinks Zynga metrics are 'sketchy'

Wednesday 30 November

185 lbs of Ba-Zynga bashing awesomeness.

Food consumed today: Nothing. I'm being fueled by music. Specifically, one song: "Eye of the Tiger." It's on repeat and nothing is gonna get in my way.

Afternoon. It's brisk in NYC and I'm bringing the heat to Zynga. If that bubble won't pop on its own, I might as well start passing around a bottle of wake-up juice!

Cry havoc Diary,

I couldn't hold back about Zynga anymore. At yesterday's Reuters Global Media Summit I had to let my soul sing through my $10,000 suit. With Zynga prepping for its delayed IPO and it being no secret that management isn't exactly the most respected over there, it was time to say something.

"Zynga is a direct marketing company, 97 percent of which don't pay them anything, 3 percent who do," I said at the summit about Zynga customers. "They churn quite quickly and they get new customers. That is their model."

And then I totally called Zynga's metrics "sketchy." BOOM! That's the business equivalent of getting smacked with a tightly rolled copy of the Financial Times filled with yo momma digs.

I just had to say, "I think they have disclosure issues, I think you are seeing their acquisition costs go up, marketing costs go up and they have very high churn." It's not like I don't know about these things, since I ran one of the largest direct marketing companies in America for a German media giant. I'm just curious to see how Zynga fares once it's public and has to disclose customer retention.

Whatever, Di. Not gonna stress about it. Take-Two is currently hiring and we've got a great line-up for next year, including BioShock Infinite, Max Payne 3 and, maybe, Borderlands 2. Plus, incoming money-baby: Grand Theft Auto 5. I love it so.

XO,
Strauss-ville