By Zaheer Kachwala

(Reuters) -Take-Two Interactive Software shares rose 5.6% on Friday as the Zynga owner’s strong forecast signaled a rebound in the mobile gaming industry following a years-long post-pandemic slump.

Once seen as the video-gaming industry’s next big growth driver, the mobile market sputtered over the past few years as people spent more time outdoors after lockdowns and high inflation deterred non-essential spending by consumers.

That left investors waiting for payoffs from mobile gaming deals such as Take-Two’s 2022 buyout of Zynga for $12.7 billion.

But Take-Two’s raised annual forecast and better-than-expected results for the April-June period offered the clearest sign yet that the U.S. mobile-gaming market was bouncing back.

“We’ve seen so much momentum in a lot of

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