Google Games will soon be here, with some help from Zynga, the social gaming giant of Facebook fame. This news comes after TechCrunch’s reports that Google has pumped in between $100m to $200m into Zynga. This strategic investment was made by Google itself, rather than the venture capital division, Google Ventures.
Zynga has been doing especially well, and has ridden the ever-growing wave of Facebook users for a while now, with such popular games as Farmville and Mafia Wars. Everybody is enamoured by the company’s potential, and it has received funding from many sources in the recent past. Current estimates (which suddenly seem conservative) peg Zynga’s 2011 revenue at $1 billion.
Google’s interest in Zynga is obvious, for Google Games with Zynga’s expertise will give them a hold on the social gaming sphere, and open up another battle front with the social networking behemoth – Facebook. All users will have to do is to log in Google with their Google ID, and start gaming with friends across the world.
It’s also speculated that the move will give Google Checkout a big usage boost, if Zynga’s replaces it’s current payment solution provider, PayPal, with it.