Latest news with #Zynga
Pink Villa
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
Who is Nikita Luther? Meet The Traitors contestant who was ousted in the first episode but returned as wild card
Nikita Luther is currently a contestant on The Traitors, competing alongside 19 other celebrity participants. Her journey on the show has been intriguing so far, as she was eliminated by a fellow contestant, Elnaaz Norouzi, in the very first episode, even before the game officially started. This shocking twist left the contestants reeling. While the other contestants began forming strategies, alliances, and attempting to identify the traitor, Nikita returned to the show in the third episode as a wild card contestant. But who is Nikita Luther? Who is Nikita Luther? Born in Delhi, Nikita Luther holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Delhi, where she studied finance and marketing. This academic background helped her develop a strong analytical mindset, which has proven beneficial in her poker career. Professionally, Nikita is a prominent poker player based in Delhi. Her journey into poker began as a simple curiosity when she started playing on Zynga, a U.S.-based online poker platform. Her interest took a significant turn during a friend's birthday party in 2015, when she played poker with real stakes for the first time. Nikita participated in the first season of GGPoker's Game of Gold, a poker reality competition. In February 2017, she and another poker player, Raghav Bansal, won the Macau Poker Cup team event, making her the first Indian woman to win a poker tournament on the global stage—an important milestone in her career. To date, Nikita Luther has reportedly won over $440,000 in live tournament cashes. Following her early successes, she continued to win several international tournaments, earning substantial cash prizes along the way. Nikita was also the first professional female poker player in India to be invited to deliver a TEDx talk. She has achieved significant success in poker competitions both in India and abroad. On Instagram, Nikita Luther boasts more than 34.5k followers and maintains an active social media presence. Her participation in The Traitors is more than just a spotlight for poker enthusiasts; it represents a pivotal moment of visibility that could influence how Indian audiences, particularly women, view the game of poker. The Traitors premiered on June 12, with the first three episodes released on Prime Video at 8 PM. New episodes are scheduled to release every Thursday at 8 PM.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
TTWO Q1 Earnings Call: Revenue Misses Expectations, Guidance Highlights Mobile and Franchise Momentum
Video game publisher Take Two (NASDAQ:TTWO) fell short of the market's revenue expectations in Q1 CY2025, but sales rose 13.1% year on year to $1.58 billion. Its GAAP loss of $21.08 per share decreased from -$17.02 in the same quarter last year. Is now the time to buy TTWO? Find out in our full research report (it's free). Revenue: $1.58 billion (13.1% year-on-year growth) Adjusted Operating Income: $252.8 million vs analyst estimates of $271.8 million (16% margin, 7% miss) Revenue Guidance for Q2 CY2025 is $1.38 billion at the midpoint, above analyst estimates of $1.31 billion EPS (GAAP) guidance for the upcoming financial year 2026 is $0.17 at the midpoint, missing analyst estimates by 82.3% EBITDA guidance for the upcoming financial year 2026 is $535 million at the midpoint, below analyst estimates of $1.97 billion Adjusted EBITDA Margin: 18.5% Market Capitalization: $42 billion Take-Two's first quarter results were shaped by a mix of new game launches across its core labels and ongoing strength in established franchises. Management credited the launch of Sid Meier's Civilization VII, WWE 2K25, and PGA TOUR 2K25, as well as strong engagement from NBA 2K and Grand Theft Auto titles, for driving revenue growth. CEO Strauss Zelnick highlighted that NBA 2K25 saw a 7% year-on-year increase in units sold, with engagement metrics like daily active users and average games per user up significantly. The company also noted robust performance from mobile subsidiary Zynga, especially new titles like Match Factory and Color Block Jam, both of which contributed to higher recurrent consumer spending. CFO Lainie Goldstein attributed the quarter's margin pressures to higher development costs for unreleased titles and noted a partial goodwill impairment charge tied to updated long-term expectations for one business unit. Looking forward, management emphasized a pipeline of major releases and a continued focus on operating efficiency as key to future growth. Take-Two expects NBA 2K, Grand Theft Auto, and new launches such as Mafia: The Old Country and Borderlands 4 to be the primary drivers for the year ahead. Zelnick stated, 'We expect sequential growth for both this year and next, even before Grand Theft Auto VI is released.' Goldstein pointed to a modest increase in operating expenses, mainly for marketing upcoming titles, but assured investors that expense growth is expected to lag behind revenue growth. Management also signaled that the share of direct-to-consumer revenue should expand, aided by recent court rulings, and cautioned that mobile trends may moderate due to the maturity of certain Zynga titles. Management attributed the quarter's performance to strong franchise engagement, new title launches, and stabilization in mobile, while margin headwinds stemmed from higher development costs and a goodwill impairment. NBA 2K engagement surge: NBA 2K25 outperformed internal forecasts, with unit sales up 7% over last year and significant gains in user engagement metrics; management credited improved features and a focus on core player demands. Mobile titles drive growth: Zynga's new games, including Match Factory and Color Block Jam, achieved profitability quickly and contributed to both net bookings and engagement; management cited the multi-studio approach as a competitive advantage. Recurrent spending momentum: Recurring in-game purchases across NBA 2K, Grand Theft Auto Online, and mobile titles grew 14% year-on-year, now accounting for 77% of net bookings in the quarter, with NBA 2K's in-game monetization up over 40%. Cost and margin pressures: Operating expenses rose due to higher development outlays for games not yet released, with Goldstein noting that a $3.6 billion impairment hit operating margins, partly reflecting updated expectations for Zynga. Direct-to-consumer channel expansion: The company highlighted growing direct-to-consumer sales, especially in mobile, and expects recent court decisions to further reduce third-party distribution costs and allow more direct customer relationships. Take-Two's outlook is anchored by major new title launches, franchise strength, and a focus on cost control amid moderating mobile trends. New game pipeline: Management expects Mafia: The Old Country and Borderlands 4, along with annual sports iterations, to drive sequential growth and maintain player engagement ahead of Grand Theft Auto VI's release. Operating efficiency initiatives: Cost discipline through a previously announced reduction program is intended to offset rising development and marketing costs, with management aiming for operating expense leverage as net bookings grow. Mobile market headwinds: While Zynga's recent hits support optimism, Goldstein warned that some mature mobile titles may see softer trends, potentially moderating overall mobile segment growth despite ongoing investment in new launches. In the coming quarters, the StockStory team will be watching (1) player response and engagement metrics for new releases like Mafia: The Old Country and Borderlands 4, (2) the performance and monetization trajectory of Zynga's recent and upcoming mobile launches, and (3) the ramp-up of direct-to-consumer initiatives as regulatory and legal changes unfold. Execution on operating efficiency and the lead-up to Grand Theft Auto VI remain key markers of progress. Take-Two currently trades at a forward EV/EBITDA ratio of 19.4×. In the wake of earnings, is it a buy or sell? The answer lies in our full research report (it's free). Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election sent major indices to all-time highs, but stocks have retraced as investors debate the health of the economy and the potential impact of tariffs. While this leaves much uncertainty around 2025, a few companies are poised for long-term gains regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate, like our Top 6 Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025). Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Exlservice (+354% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Airbnb's new app for ‘services' is getting shot down by critics — here's why CEO Brian Chesky should be thrilled
Brian Chesky took the stage in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday to tell a story about the future. That story went something like this: 17 years ago, when Chesky cofounded Airbnb, people were skeptical. Who would ever stay in a stranger's home, they snarled. (In 2008, seven investors rejected the company, turning down what would have been a 10% stake for $150,000.) But the startup defied the odds—it's now a verb, noun, and a publicly-traded Fortune 500 company with an $84 billion market cap. Now, Chesky explained, it was time for the company to once again blaze a new trail by redefining what it means to 'Airbnb' something. With the just-unveiled Airbnb Services and a relaunched Airbnb Experiences, Chesky painted a picture of a world where you rely on Airbnb as your hub for a singular vacation experience. Chesky talked about Airbnb as a marketplace for unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime moments. Think: making pasta with a chef in Rome, dancing with a K-pop star in Seoul, exploring Notre Dame with a restoration architect, wrestling with a luchador in Mexico City, or even spending a Sunday with Patrick Mahomes. Chesky closed with a new tagline: 'Now you can Airbnb more than an Airbnb.' The idea is that you'd 'Airbnb' a massage on vacation—and would eventually start 'Airbnb-ing' massages, makeup artists, and hair stylists not just on vacation, but when you're at home. In short, it was the launch of a superapp that was both a mild repudiation of tech—'somewhere along the way, something drifted, and we started spending more time looking at screens and less time in the real world,' Chesky told the audience—and an incredibly Silicon Valley display. This presentation, in which Chesky put his best 'founder mode' persona on display, was met with both fanfare and criticism. Zynga founder Mark Pincus hailed Chesky's performance as 'Steve Jobs-esque.' Others were skeptical that Airbnb users will turn to the app in their daily, non-vacation lives, and questioned the marketplace pricing Airbnb is using. The truth, almost definitely, lies somewhere in between. There are certain ways in which the idea makes good sense. For example, if one of the criticisms of staying in an Airbnb is that you lose the amenities of a hotel, it tracks that the company would want to fix that. Travel is a spectacularly fragmented industry and Airbnb isn't alone in seeing the level of white space open to consolidation—McKinsey has estimated that the global market for travel experiences is an opportunity that's worth north of $1 trillion, but which is scattered among a few online platforms and 'countless smaller operators.' At the same time, Airbnb's ambition of becoming a destination for experiences isn't new; the Airbnb Experiences product is, after all, a relaunch. Airbnb Finance Chief Ellie Mertz described the company's earlier effort as a victim of circumstance. 'We launched Experiences many years ago,' Mertz said in an interview. 'We started to scale it. The pandemic hit, we put it on the back burner, and haven't really done anything with it until this point.' With the benefit of a 'multi-year pause,' Airbnb reimagined Experiences, Mertz said, bringing more flexible pricing, stronger vetting to ensure top quality offerings, and a redesigned app that makes it easier for travelers to find and book experiences that fit their trip. 'The current year is about launching,' she said. 'We want to get these products and services into our consumers' hands… Our ambition is to drive these businesses such that they are on a standalone basis material contributors to our top line. What Brian and I have said in the past is the ambition is that we could build these businesses into billion dollar revenue streams over an order of magnitude, in a three-to-five-year period.' For a company that generated $11.1 billion in revenue last year, an additional billion dollars on the top line could be meaningful. But ringing up that revenue will take a lot of work, and money, as Airbnb essentially tries to create new consumer habits. To help make the case for Airbnb Experiences, the company is launching Airbnb Originals—a set of premium experiences, underpinned by starpower. For example: Megan Thee Stallion was in the room as Chesky touted the Airbnb Original that the company curated with her—a day with the star rapper in a specially-built anime house. The goal for experiences like this is that they are days you remember for the rest of your life. At the end of the day, I was taken on one such surprise experience—a listening party with Chance the Rapper in LA, where the beloved indie rapper previewed about ten new songs to a room full of influencers and, well, me. We sat in a room filled with bean bag chairs, green-glowing headphones, and screens filled with lyrics. It was an hour and a half block where the world stopped. It was intimate, surprising, and the kind of marshalling of starpower that felt pretty authentic—Chance the Rapper, whose last studio album came out in 2019, stood at the front of the room when the demo was finished, answering questions about his music that only so many people have heard. Airbnb did not share details about the financial terms involved in partnering with these celebrities, though it seems safe to guess that whatever it is (revenue share, a fee, or some other arrangement), it's not cheap. And that gets to the tricky part of what Airbnb is trying to do, as it bolts a fancy new addition onto a sharing economy, scale business. I don't think it's impossible that Airbnb's push into these new verticals works—maybe I'd want to book a makeup artist through Airbnb as a consumer—but I don't know if you can curate at scale a marketplace of singular, intimate experiences. They are often by definition limited and magic is hard to screen for quality on a global level. The idea is somewhat paradoxical and may very well not work as critics think. At the same time, you have to wonder—it may also be about as cock-eyed an idea as staying in other people's homes on vacation. This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Another live service shooter is getting shut down, this time before it even launched on Steam
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Back in June 2024, PC Gamer's Fraser Brown made a wish: He wanted the free-to-play hero shooter Star Wars: Hunters, which was then available for the Nintendo Switch and mobile devices, to come to PC. In November 2024, his wish was granted—Star Wars: Hunters was set to launch on Steam in January 2025. But today I have to be the Break-a-Wish guy, because it looks like it's not going to happen, and in fact the whole thing is going away. "After careful consideration, we want to let you know that the final content update for Star Wars: Hunters on all platforms will be on April 15th," a shutdown message states. "The game will remain playable until October 1st, 2025, when the game's online servers will be shut down. "We understand this news may be disappointing and want to assure you that this decision was not made lightly. Your passion and dedication to the game and its community have meant the world to us, and we are committed to providing visibility and updates throughout the transition process." Star Wars: Hunters in-app purchases will also be disabled on April 15, when the final update rolls out. Players who have outstanding balances of Crystals, the in-game currency, will not be offered refunds: Zynga said in an FAQ that it's providing a 30-day notice leading up to the end of in-app purchases "to give players ample time to prepare and spend the in-game currency they have purchased." The closure announcement doesn't specifically mention the Steam release of Star Wars: Hunters, which did not happen in January as planned. The most recent update to the Steam store page, posted on January 9 after a December playtest, says the planned early access launch was delayed so developers could "implement as much feedback as we can." It remains unreleased, and given the looming closure it's almost certain it will stay that way, but the Steam page is giving what you might call mixed signals and so I don't want to make any iron-clad promises. I will say, however, that even if Star Wars: Hunters did get shoved out the door onto Steam so fans could bang around in it for a few months, the looming end would surely suck any wind out of its sails: Nobody's going to commit to a game that's on a countdown timer from day one, after all. Somewhat oddly, a Zynga rep declined to confirm whether the Steam release will happen or not. I will also note that this is yet another example of a live service game getting the hook in very short order, despite coming to the table with a big-name license. Star Wars: Hunters only launched in June 2024, less than a year ago, after multiple delays from an original 2021 release target. We have no way of judging player numbers, but the Switch version wasn't especially well received, holding an unenviable 57 aggregate score on Metacritic. 2025 games: This year's upcoming releasesBest PC games: Our all-time favoritesFree PC games: Freebie festBest FPS games: Finest gunplayBest RPGs: Grand adventuresBest co-op games: Better together
