MapleStory maker stumbles on first day trading, bad news for Zynga?

Well, it could certainly scare the hell out of potential investors. Bloomberg reports that Nexon, creator of hit free-to-play and social games like MapleStory and Zombie Misfits, has already seen its stock price decline after its first day of publicly trading in Tokyo. When the company went public on Tuesday, its stock was priced at 1,307 yen--by day's end it dropped 2.3 percent to 1,270 yen.

Still, Nexon managed to raise $1.17 billion in its initial public offering (IPO), just a hair shy of its $1.2 billion goal marked last week. The CityVille creator is said to go public as soon as Thursday, looking to raise $1.15 billion on the Nasdaq as "ZNGA". It's almost no doubt that Zynga will get at least close to its goal, but if the pioneer of free-to-play games in the Western world can't keep its stock price steady for a single day, investors might wonder the same for the company behind FarmVille.

Keep in mind, however, that Nexon debuted in an entirely different market. (Though, the company offered shared in the US, too.) What's most worrisome is that Nexon is far older, and you'd imagine more experienced, than Zynga, but still couldn't hang on the first day of trading.

Despite its dependence on Facebook, Zynga's CEO Mark Pincus told investors that it could double its base of paying players in 2012. And while he seems to have made no effort to explain how, CrowdStar CEO Peter Relan seems to agree. We'll whether Zynga's efforts on its IPO roadshow were enough by Friday, or so they say.

Do you think Nexon's first-day experience is indicative of what Zynga might go through with its IPO? Would you invest in Zynga at this point?

Take-Two CEO sips on the haterade, says Zynga's 'metrics are sketchy'

You'd think gunning for a sweet $1 billion and the top spot among video games' largest publishers would be fun. Well, not for FarmVille maker Zynga: Not only is the media after the 4-year-old company, but so is everyone else. The next big timer to "be hype"--as the cool kids say-- is Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive. During the Reuters Media Summit in New York, Zelnick openly questioned Zynga's business model, casting doubt over whether it can make good on investor expectations as it quickly approaches an initial public offering (IPO).

"I would argue being the No. 1 player in (social gaming) is complicated, which is why Zynga hasn't gone public yet because their metrics are sketchy," Zelnick said to Reuters during a talk. "I think they have disclosure issues, I think you are seeing their acquisition costs go up, marketing costs go up and they have very high churn."

Zelnick was likely referring to the company's frequent amendments to its S-1 filing with the US Security and Exchanges Commission since it filed for IPO early this summer. His words also seem to allude to the 14 some companies Zynga purchased in a single year, which helped it amass nearly 3,000 employees worldwide. Finally, Zelnick could have been talking about how quickly the CityVille creator has lost daily players recently. (What a loaded statement, huh?) We can't wait to see who else gets "jelly"--that's cool now too, right?

[Via IndustryGamers]

Do Zelnick's words against Zynga have merit? Will Zynga be able to pull off a successful IPO with these negative vibes floating around?