Zynga’s made $329 million in bookings and $321 million in revenue for the first quarter of 2012, an increase of 15 percent and 32 percent year-on-year, respectively. The developer reported a net loss at $85.4 million, compared to a net income of $16.8 million for Q1 2011.

Daily active users are up 6 percent year-on-year from 62 million to 65 million. Monthly unique users are up 25 percent to 182 million from 146 million in Q1 2011. Zynga also says it increased monthly unique paying users from 2.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 3.5 million. Zynga released six games during Q1 2012, four of them mobile: Hidden Chronicles, Zynga Slingo, Scramble with Friends, Dream PetHouse, Dream Heights and Draw Something (which Zynga acquired just before the end of the quarter). Last year, Zynga only had CityVille to rely on for Q1 bookings and revenue, which launched in late Q4 2010. That game is still top dog among games on Facebook in terms of MAU at 41.6 million today. Words With Friends holds the top spot for DAU at 7.6 million.

For 2012, Zynga is projecting bookings in a range of $1.425 billion to $1.5 billion with most of the growth coming in the second half of the year. That’s up from its previous bookings guidance of $1.35 billion to $1.45 billion on account of the OMGPOP acquisition. The company is budgeting stock-based expenses somewhere between $420 million to $445 million, excluding any equity awards it might grant in future acquisitions. Capital expenditures fall somewhere between $390 million and $410 million, which includes the price of Zynga’s San Francisco corporate headquarters building, purchased at the beginning of the month.

More to come.

Facebook’s latest amendment to its S-1 filing reveals Zynga accounted for 4 percent less of the social network’s revenue, showing that both Zynga and Facebook are becoming less financially dependent on one another.

Although Zynga makes up a smaller percentage of revenue during Q1 2012 than it did during the same period in 2011, this quarter saw the developer generate over $20 million more for Facebook. In Q1 2011, Zynga directly contributed about $95.03 million to the social network, while this quarter saw Zynga provide about $116.38 million, not including revenue from ads displayed on app pages.

As to why Zynga makes up slightly less than what it used to of Facebook revenues, there are some obvious explanations. For starters, Zynga doesn’t have a CityVille-sized blockbuster release lined up for the quarter compared to the start of 2011. Another factor may be that the developer is spacing out game releases by quarter. Recall that Zynga didn’t release any new games after CityVille until the summer and despite releasing several games between Q2 and Q3, daily active users sagged.

Another obvious explanation is that Zynga is relying less on Facebook now than it did a year ago to drive revenue. Mobile games in particular are an area where Zynga continues to expand, starting 2012 with 15 million DAU and the recent OMGPOP acquisition likely boosting that number. The developer is also pursuing new platforms like Google+, Tencent and its own Zynga.com, although the latter is deeply integrated with Facebook. Despite using Facebook Credits as the sole means of transactions on Zynga.com, it is possible for the platform to cut into Facebook’s advertising revenue from ads viewed on Zynga app pages — assuming Zynga is able to lure users away from the social network to its own platform.

Facebook estimates that about 4 percent of its first quarter revenue can be attributed to ads displayed on Zynga app pages, according to an updated regulatory filing. An additional 11 percent of Q1 revenue came from direct payments from Zynga.

Although Zynga accounted for 15 percent of Facebook’s $1.058 billion in revenue from Jan. 1 to March 31, that’s a lower percentage than the 19 percent it was responsible for in 2011. However, in terms of absolute revenue, Zynga directly contributed about $95.03 million to the social network in Q1 2011, while this quarter saw Zynga provide about $116.38 million, not including revenue from ads displayed on app pages.

When the social network first filed for an initial public offering in February, it revealed that the social game company accounted for 12 percent of its 2011 revenue as a result of virtual goods payments and advertising, but it did not include revenue it generated indirectly from users visiting Zynga app pages that include third-party advertisements. Facebook says 7 percent of its total 2011 revenue was generated this way, compared to 4 percent in the first quarter of this year.

Continue reading on our sister site, Inside Facebook.

A week out from its Q1 earnings call, Zynga is talking about making more multi-million dollar acquisitions on the order of OMGPOP’s $180-million buy last month. Who could Zynga buy and where can they be found?

If Zynga really has a $1.8-billion war chest, then it can afford to shop strategically for studios that will provide games with long shelf lives or services it can integrate with its own games platform in the long term. While the OMGPOP buy was all about doubling its mobile footprint and cross-promotion network, we think the next acquisition will be more about compensating for Zynga’s weaknesses.

One place where Zynga is not weak is Facebook; its games have had a death grip on at least five out of the top 10 games on our AppData rankings charts for almost two years. Off-Facebook, however, Zynga is still figuring out mobile — particularly Android — and its Zynga.com games platform is young and fragile. It seems like the next major buys will be aimed at shoring up these parts of the business.

Editor’s Note: Some obvious choices in social and mobile are left off this list because we’ve heard that these studios already received and rejected acquisition offers from Zynga. They could always come back to the table in the future, but as far as we know, they’re not in M&A talks at this time.

Mobile

Zynga has made it clear it’s looking to mobile for expansion. But why invest in another iOS developer when it could get an Android expert? Google Play may not monetize as well as iOS, but Amazon’s Appstore is an Android variant that is doing extremely well — which tells us it’s not the platform itself that has issues.

In the long term, investing in established Android developers is a good idea for Zynga because the platform not only has a size advantage in the U.S., it’s also more popular in emerging markets like China and Korea. An Android developer with international appeal will help Zynga expand its userbase out from its North American hub. An Asian developer could also help Zynga’s Japan and China studios gain better footing in the lucrative South Korean and Japanese mobile markets.

Finally, while Zynga does casual well, it might also look to pick up a more core-focused developer to help it expand its established user-base beyond casual-social players.

Using that line of thinking, here are the mobile developers Zynga might consider:

Gamevil — The South Korean company currently has two games in the top 50 of the Android top grossing charts, plus a larger catalog of popular games. It also has a market cap of US$326 million, which makes it seem expensive, but that’s far less than what Zynga was reportedly willing to pay for Rovio.

DroidHen — This is the Sequoia Capital-backed company behind Android’s current top-grossing title, Defender II. For the past few months it’s been rare not to see a DroidHen game somewhere on the top of the Android charts.

Creative Mobile — This Estonian developer’s sports-themed Drag Racing games have been a hit. It’s currently the No. 4 top grossing Android app. Given the small size of the studio, Zynga could likely make the purchase at a fairly low price.

Social

For social game studio acquisitions, Zynga is likely looking in two different directions: Asia and the West. While an experienced studio like Hoolai Games or Happy Elements would help Zynga break into or amplify its presence on Asian games networks like Tencent or Mixi, a Western acquisition would be more about finding talent than anything else.

As for what kind of talent, we’re thinking developers that can offer a service as opposed to a game — much like how DNA’s testing methods attracted an acquisition last year. This could help Zynga grow its games platform out of its too-similar-to-Facebook nascent stage. We’re also thinking of developers with experience in transmedia properties — like the studios that know how to make a TV show into a game or the ones that have experience in converting a non-social video game franchise into a social game. Zynga Slingo proves that there’s room for growth there with the right IP.

Zynga could also shop around on Facebook for developers to pad out its platform with games that it doesn’t already make itself. Hardcore combat games or classic casual titles, for example, are the kinds of things Zynga hasn’t made in the past that still perform well on Facebook and on other games portals. We’ve heard some developers speculate that if a third-party game performs well on Zynga.com, it could fast track its developer to an acquisition; if true, Playdemic, MobScience and Row Sham Bow are first in line.

Aside from those developers, here are a few that could be interesting prospects for Zynga:

3 Blokes (What’s left of it) — Though publisher RockYou acquired and then shut down the Australian developer, the key people at the studio are reportedly soldiering on in the core strategy genre. Assuming larger studios with expertise in these kinds of games are off the table, this might be an easy way to get into the core strategy market and to improve combat game mechanics in Empires & Allies.

A Bit Lucky — This Nexon-backed niche game studio has some smart ex-MMO developers behind it. Its last Facebook title, Lucky Space, never saw the traction of its predecessor, Lucky Train. Even so, both games had a lot more going on under the hood than the average social game from UI design and art to layered gameplay mechanics. At the very least, this team could help Zynga resolve its mapping issues in the various ‘Ville games.

GameVentures — We get the impression that this sports-centric developer has more of a presence on open web than on Facebook. Its baseball and cricket games, however, attract a more male audience than what Zynga’s is perceived to be and could the titles could tap into the fantasy sports league types. EA and Disney Playdom have already proven the appeal of the genre and Zynga currently doesn’t have anything in the sports category.

If you’ve heard anything you think we haven’t about Zynga’s current M&A prospects, drop us a line: mail (at) insidesocialgames (dot) com. If you’re somebody looking to get bought, check out Inside Mobile Apps’ article, Secrets of the acquisition process.

In another high profile poach, Zynga brings on RockYou SVP/General Manager Julie Shumaker as head of North American sales, reporting to chief marketing and revenue officer Jeff Karp.

Shumaker’s presence bolsters Zynga’s ad network aspirations. According to her LinkedIn profile, Shumaker primarily focused on building up media sales at RockYou for the past year. To hear RockYou CEO Lisa Marino tell it, those efforts seem to be successful — during RockYou’s dramatic pivot early last November, she claimed that the publisher would enjoy a profitable Q4 FY2011 thanks to the strength of its ad platform, which is incorporated into all RockYou games. At our Inside Social Apps conference earlier this year, Marino said 40 percent of its largest game’s revenue came from ad units.

As far as ad platforms go, it doesn’t get much bigger in social games than Zynga. Besides its Facebook and mobile games, the developer also has its Zynga.com games platform to offer as a target for advertisers seeking immersed audiences. Shumaker said in a statement included with Zynga’s press release that joining Zynga “is my leap into utilizing the best game network as an ad platform, one that has both unmatched scale and reach.”

Nearly half of all the shares sold in Zynga’s secondary stock offering will becoming from Zynga’s executives and directors, according to the written prospectus regarding yesterday’s share pricing.

The secondary offering will see holders selling almost 43 million shares of Zynga. Aside from the Class A common stock, which was priced yesterday at $12 a share, the developer’s executives and directors are unloading 20,254,631 shares of Class B stock, which carries 70.3 percent of total shareholder voting power. This is the first time these executives have been able to sell their Class B stock.

Pincus is selling 16.5 million Class B shares, approximately 15 percent of his stake in the company. COO John Schappert is selling 322,350 shares, about 45 percent of his holdings. CFO David Wehner is cashing in on 386,865 shares, almost 55 percent of his stock. Directors Reid Hoffman and Owen Van Natta are also cashing in — Hoffman is selling  687,626 shares, just under 15 percent of his stock and Van Natta is selling  505,267  shares, nearly 19 percent of his holdings.

The secondary offering’s timing is geared towards counteracting the approaching end of Zynga’s lock-up period —  when all outstanding shares other than those sold during the IPO can’t be traded — which is set to expire on May 28. Both the lock-up period’s end and Facebook’s own expected IPO in May could influence Zynga’s stock prices dramatically, so putting this many shares on the market will theoretically minimize any potential volatility.

It’s only been four months since Zynga’s IPO, which was a mixed success. Although the developer raised the $1 billion it was hoping for, the stock fell below its initial $10-per-share and didn’t recover for a month. The stock has performed erratically since then and seen substantial gains and drops, though the revelation that Zynga accounted for 12 percent of Facebook’s 2011 profits helped buoy prices.

Zynga’s stock opened this morning at $12.26 a share, continuing a week-long price slip since the company announced its acquisition of Draw Something developer OMGPOP for $180 million.

Zynga Slingo topped this week’s list of fastest-growing Facebook games by daily active users, with 1.7 million new players joining for a gain of 74 percent.

Only one game on the list this week saw a gain greater than 100 percent: Ludia’s The Price Is Right Slots, which made an impressive debut with a 2,500 percent gain.

Ten other games had double-digit percentage DAU gains. Playrix’s Township and Super Ferme’s eponymous Super Ferme saw significant gains of 75 and 57 percent, respectively. Halfquest’s Happy Land grew by 50 percent, Peak Games’ City of the Pyramids saw a 33 percent gain and King.com’s Hoop De Loop Saga was up by 30 percent.  German farm sim Dorfleben went up 20 percent, Redspell’s Astro Garden hung onto the No. 20 spot with an 18 percent gain and Game OS’s Slots Farm – Slot Machines spun up 12 percent. Two of EA Popcap’s titles made the list as well, with Lucky Gem Casino gaining 36 percent and Solitaire Blitz increasing by 33 percent.

It’s interesting to note Township and Astro Garden’s recent traffic improvements seem to largely due to publisher 6L. Renewed marketing efforts from 6L have brought the games back into public view, and as such, their numbers have been significantly rising over the past week.

	Name	DAU	Gain	Gain,%
1.	Zynga Slingo	4,000,000	+1,700,000	+ 74%
2.	Bubble Witch Saga	6,200,000	+300,000	+ 5%
3.	The Price Is Right Slots	260,000	+250,000	+ 2,500%
4.	Texas HoldEm Poker	7,000,000	+200,000	+ 4%
5.	Hoop De Loop Saga	960,000	+170,000	+ 30%
6.	Solitaire Blitz	640,000	+160,000	+ 33%
7.	Super Ferme	360,000	+130,000	+ 57%
8.	Happy Land	300,000	+100,000	+ 50%
9.	Tetris Battle	3,900,000	+100,000	+ 3%
10.	مدينة الأهرامات	240,000	+60,000	+ 33%
11.	Lucky Gem Casino	150,000	+40,000	+ 36%
12.	Zuma Blitz	600,000	+40,000	+ 7%
13.	Bizim Çiftlik	390,000	+30,000	+ 8%
14.	Dorfleben	180,000	+30,000	+ 20%
15.	Galaxy Life	350,000	+30,000	+ 3%
16.	JackpotJoy Slot Machines	420,000	+30,000	+ 5%
17.	Slots Farm – Slot Machines	280,000	+30,000	+ 12%
18.	Township	70,000	+30,000	+ 75%
19.	แฮปปี้คนเลี้ยงหม	620,000	+30,000	+ 5%
20.	Astro Garden	130,000	+20,000	+ 18%

Social game developer Mob Science landed $1 million in seed funding from angel investors, including Joyent CEO David Young and GameSpy Industries founder Mark Surfa.

Mob Science plans to use the money for product development and to hire at least four more staff members — a full list of positions is available on the company’s website. The ten-person company is also moving to a new office in the city of Carlsbad, CA.

The funding probably couldn’t come at a better time for Mob Science. Its earlier games inFamous Anarchy, Coffee Bar and Snowball Fight all had solid traffic numbers when they first launched, but none of them are presently drawing more than 1,000 daily active users according to our AppData traffic tracking service.

CEO Michael Witz tells Inside Social Games Mob Science stopped supporting its live games so the company could work on its next project — a fantasy role-playing game targeted at the mid-core market, tentatively titled “KingWorld.” The game will be one of the first third party titles to debut on Zynga’s social games platform, Zynga.com. Witz also explains how the developer stayed on its feet, even though it’s located nowhere near Silicon Valley and its games aren’t monetizing right now.

“We’ve had our ups and downs as a company,” he says. “In December 2009, we had 27 million monthly users and we were only four people. We’ve been good stewards of the capital we’ve been able to earn … when times are tight we’re able to cut back and keep overhead low. Now that this financing has come through, we’re able to scale up and make a bet on our next game.”

Witz previously told us Zynga’s platform saves the developer the trouble of staffing a marketing arm, allowing his team to instead focus on creating quality games. In the case of mid-core fantasy RPGs, “KingWorld” just might fit the bill for Zynga.com, which currently doesn’t offer a mid-core strategy title. The only title in Zynga’s Facebook wheelhouse that fits that description is the modern war-themed Empires & Allies, which currently boasts over 14 million MAU and 2.1 million DAU. Witz says KingWorld’s appeal will come from its depth, which rests between something like Kabam’s Kingdoms of Camelot and a Zynga’s traditional “Ville” titles.

A new SEC filing has revealed Wednesday’s acquisition of Draw Something developer OMGPOP cost Zynga $180 million, confirming it as the most expensive deal in Zynga’s history.

According to the filing:

In March 2012, we acquired OMGPOP, Inc. for  purchase consideration of approximately $180 million. We believe that our existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, together with cash generated from operations, will be sufficient to fund our operations and capital expenditures for at least the next 12 months.

While it was speculated that OMGPOP’s acquisition would include a $30 million earnout, but the SEC filing doesn’t include any references to any payments above the $180 million already noted. Zynga’s most expensive acquisition prior to OMGPOP was Words With Friends developer Newtoy, for which it paid $53 million.

The filing also revealed that Zynga shareholders are planning to sell almost 43 million shares. Zynga confirmed this secondary offering last week, and it revealed that the stock will be split into three tiers. Class A stock will have the lowest voting power, while Class B and C stocks will hold 96.9 percent of shareholder voting power.

With today’s OMGPOP acquisition, Zynga New York is split firmly into two studios: Zynga New York Social and Zynga New York Mobile. OMGPOP CEO Dan Porter now heads up the latter as vice president and general manager.

The Zynga New York Mobile studio is made up of both OMGPOP and Astro Ape, which Zynga acquired late last year to work on Dream PetHouse. The OMGPOP team will continue to work on Draw Something for mobile and other future projects — one of which Business Insider confirms as crime-themed game The Street. Draw Something will also officially arrive on Facebook as a playable game sometime “soon,” though it’s clear the developer is waiting for fan feedback before making the complete cross-platform jump.

“Aren’t you going to ask me if it’s going to be Draw SomethingWithFriendsVille?” Porter demanded during a 10-minute follow-up call scheduled after today’s media briefing. “I’m going to answer you anyway — if you don’t like the direction of the game as a player, then hit me up on Twitter and tell me what you think. I read every single thing people write about the game. We want to make games people want to play.”

OMGPOP has a history of trying various game types on different platforms to see what gets traction. On Facebook, its games have ranged from restaurant sim Cupcake Corner to the more arcade-y Pool World Champ. On mobile, it’s been pet sim Puppy World, puzzle game Boom Friends and now, most recently, Draw Something. The developer even has a true cross-platform HTML5 game, Gem Rush. Though each of these titles may have achieved traction in their respective markets at one time or another, only Draw Something stands out as a real hit.

Read the rest on our sister site, Inside Mobile Apps.