Zynga Expands Offering, Looks at Xbox

After buying out OMGPOP (developer of Draw Something) for US$180 (SG$266) million, Zynga plans to develop a back-end system for games that can be played on multiple platforms — where you can start a Zynga game on your PC, save it and continue playing on your mobile device or on Xbox Live. Expect plenty more games out of Zynga — not just the ones they buy, because development partner Konami already has several successful titles for Xbox, including Metal Gear Solid and Castlevania.

Zynga founder and CEO Mark Pincus wants to expand the reach of his company’s games after weaning it slowly from social networking leader Facebook. Zynga.com is the new site for Draw Something, Words With Friends, CityVille, CastleVille,Texas HoldEm Poker, FarmVille and Empires & Allies. The Website and its cloud collaboration arm zCloud will be a gaming and development hub for the six games developers who partnered with Zynga this month.

Facebook still hosts Zynga games, but their partnership will be re-evaluated in 2015, when the agreement to use Facebook Credits in Zynga games will expire. Facebook has more pressing matters on its plate right now, with tech companies taking potshots at its IPO plans for this year.

Zynga went public in December and recently announced a redistribution of shares among holders and investors, selling up to 42,969,153 shares worth US$ 590 million at the current stock price. Pincus will sell 15 percent of his shares, whittling his voting power from 36.5 to 35.9 percent. Zynga plans to distribute the stocks more evenly among the current shareholders and to avoid stock dumping once the “lockout” period ends on May 28. Zynga will not make any profit from this secondary offering.

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