Bummer: According to Forbes, Zynga's founder is no longer a billionaire

Now, he's only a multi-millionaire. Them's the digs. Forbes has issued its annual list of billionaires, and Zynga founder and CEO Mark Pincus is nowhere to be found. San Francisco Business Times pegs a plummeting stock price as the likely culprit behind the unfortunate change, which currently sits at $3.52 in after hours trading. It's 52-week high on the NASDAQ was $14.48.

So, what caused that drop? Well, a number of factors are likely responsible, namely an ongoing exodus of high-level executive talent from all areas of expertise and numerous game closures. However, it could also be due to the fact that social gaming on the whole isn't producing the returns it did even a year ago, financially speaking.

This little factoid doesn't mean much for Zynga immediately, but rather stand as just another sign pointing toward the decline of social games, at the very least in their current model. Simply put, it takes immense scale to make bank on free-to-play games, something that isn't sustainable given the current model of microtransactions. It's time to think of a new approach--and fast.

Are you surprised by the news? How can social games stay afloat? Add Comment.