Social gaming giant Zynga on Thursday reported earnings for the three-month period ended June 30, revealing an overall loss--but there were a few notable bright spots and new developments. For the quarter, Zynga posted a loss of $7.6 million, compared to a profit of $2.8 million during the same quarter last year. The company also lost money last quarter. Bookings for the quarter stood at $174 million, down slightly from $175 million, but above the the high end of the company's projections. Total revenue, meanwhile, was $200 million for the quarter, which represents an increase of 30 percent compared to last year. Zynga's mobile business was a bright spot for the quarter, jumping 30 percent year-over-year to $115 million, led by the company's Slots franchise, and the launches of Empires & Allies and FarmVille: Harvest Swap. In all, Zynga had $1.1 billion in cash and securities on hand at the end of the quarter. Daily active users for Zynga games overall fell 23 percent year-over-year to 21 million, while monthly active users fell by an even bigger 32 percent to 83 million for the latest quarter. Zynga made more money per average user during the quarter, however, as average daily bookings per average user rose 29 percent. Another big piece of Zynga news today was that the company has brought on former Electronic Arts executive Frank Gibeau to join its board of directors. "Zynga has the products, the people, and the powerful plan needed to make its mission to connect the world through games a reality," Gibeau said in a statement. Gibeau, who left EA in May after more than two decades with the company, becomes the second person with ties to EA on Zynga's board, as EA's former chief creative officer, Bing Gordon, is also a member. Earlier this year, Zynga implemented a $100 million cost reduction plan that resulted in more than 350 layoffs worldwide. "We believe that social gaming has the opportunity to be as important a medium in people's lives as social networking and social media," Zynga CEO Mark Pincus said in a statement. "We're excited to deliver on that promise by getting back to our entrepreneurial roots, innovating on game mechanics and leveraging world class data and analytics to accelerate our path. Finally, I want to thank our employees for their deep commitment and focus. Our teams have worked hard to lay the mobile-first foundation necessary to lead in social gaming. We look forward to building on that progress for the remainder of 2015 and beyond."
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