Facebook and Zynga sign five-year strategic deal

18 May 2010

FarmVille game creator Zynga is once again friends with Facebook, and to prove it the two companies entered into a five-year strategic alliance around social gaming on Facebook and that expands the use of Facebook Credits in Zynga’s games.

The deal comes after rumours that said Facebook and Zynga were considering going separate ways over an alleged falling out over the very Facebook Credits that are part of the five-year deal.

Facebook is itching to get into the world of virtual currency and needs a strong partner like Zynga, which already has a successful financial model built around games like FarmVille, Mafia Wars and Café World.

Zynga has more than 230 million monthly active users playing its games.

According to both companies, the agreement provides a “solid foundation” to continue to work together to provide millions of people with a compelling user experience for social games.

“Facebook was a pioneer in opening their platform in 2007 and in just three years tens of millions of Facebook users play our games every day, from FarmVille and Café World to Treasure Isle and Mafia Wars,” said Mark Pincus, founder and chief executive officer at Zynga.

“We are excited about Facebook’s long-term commitment to social gaming and Zynga, and look forward to working with them and other platform providers to bring the best social gaming experience to users worldwide.”

Zynga is currently testing Facebook Credits in select games and will expand to more titles over the coming months. Terms of the agreement between Facebook and Zynga were not disclosed.

“We are pleased to enter into a new agreement with Zynga to enhance the experience for Facebook users who play Zynga games,” said Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer at Facebook.

“We look forward to continuing our work with Zynga and all of our developers to increase the opportunities on our platform.”

By John Kennedy

Farmville

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com