Even Zynga isn't the next Zynga

The inherent weakness of Zynga's micro-transaction based revenue model, that I reported on when they went public, is showing its ugly head in ways even the blindest MT advocates can't ignore:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/business/zynga-to-report-a-loss-for-the-third-quarter.html?_r=0

As a recap, I explained the inherent fallacy in Zynga's "squeeze blood from a  stone" model here:

http://worldwizards.blogspot.com/2012/09/why-microtransactions-arent-razorblades.html

And noted their inherent financial weakness way back when they released pre-IPO numbers here and here:

http://worldwizards.blogspot.com/2011/07/real-zynga-numbers.html
http://worldwizards.blogspot.com/2011/07/more-zynga-analysis-profit-margin.html

You can expect to hear a lot of sudden back-peddling among the MT faithful who, for a long time, held Zynga up as the shining example of how the model could be successful.