Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) has gone from hot to cold, and then from cold to frozen. The social gaming company should have maybe stayed private. The company just issued preliminary quarterly projections that are a huge disappointment.

Zynga sees revenue in the range of $300 million to $305 million and bookings in the range of $250 million to $255 million for the third quarter which ended on September 30. What is worse is that the company now expects a net loss of between $90 million and $105 million, non-GAAP net loss between $2 million and $5 million and adjusted EBITDA between $10 million and $15 million for the third quarter. Its GAAP loss is projected at -$0.12 to -$0.14 per share and non-GAAP is going to be between $0.00 and -$0.01 EPS.

Thomson Reuters had estimates of $0.00 in non-GAAP EPS and $275.9 million in revenues for the quarter.

We would note that what is bad for Zynga is also considered bad for Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB). The two are constantly tied together for revenues. Luckily, Facebook shares are down only 1.2% at $21.67 so far on the news.

The company said that these results reflect weakness of certain games in our web “invest and express” category, and include an estimated impairment charge between $85 million and $95 million (excluding any income tax impact) related to the intangible assets previously acquired in connection with the company’s purchase of OMGPOP.

As you would expect, this is now a lower 2012 annual outlook due to reduced expectations for certain web games including The Ville, and delays in launching several new games.

Bookings projected to be in the range of $1.085 billion to $1.100 billion versus a prior range of $1.150 billion to $1.225 billion. Adjusted EBITDA projected to be in the range of $147 million to $162 million versus a prior $180 million to $250 million range.

Zynga shares are halted but this is a huge disappointment for what was already becoming a lame story. Zynga shares closed at $2.81 today and its post-IPO range is $2.66 to $15.91. If you can believe it, the market cap was still about $2.14 billion as of the close.

• Update 5:05 PM: Zynga shares were originally indicated down almost 5% but now shares are looking to be down about 12% at $2.48. Let’s call that a new low since its IPO.

JON C. OGG

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