Google wants people to spend time on their social network playing games, with a new Games button. Users will only see game notifications if they want to, a hard lesson learned by Facebook.
Games for the social network will include Angry Birds, Diamond Dash by Wooga and Bejeweled by PopCap. Zynga has helped Facebook (and vice versa) and they’re preparing to launch titles on Google+, probably in the hopes of reducing their dependance on Facebook.
“Facebook is the primary distribution, marketing, promotion and payment platform for our games,” Zynga wrote in its most recent S-1 filing. “Any deterioration in our relationship with Facebook would harm our business.”
Zynga is looking to diversify away from virtual goods, and will work with advertisers like Coca-Cola, Amazon, HBO, Discover Financial Services, General Mills, Kraft Foods, McDonald’s, Target and Walmart. They recently amended a revenue report, saying they booked $597.5 million in revenue in 2010, up from $121.5 million in 2009.
“There’s likely some hesitation on the part of the markets, so Zynga probably wants to be extra transparent,” said Paul Verna, an eMarketer senior analyst who focuses on social gaming, on the revision.
Zynga’s IPO will be managed by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group, Bank of America. Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Allen & Co. The social game maker is backed by venture firms Foundry Group, Union Square Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Institutional Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz. Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies and Google are also stakeholders.
Source: AdAge
