iPhone News Updated

‘FarmVille’ maker to take games to Japan

Zynga: ‘FarmVille’ maker to take games to Japan; Softbank invests $150M

Zynga, the San Francisco maker of social games for Facebook and other platforms, will team up with Japanese wireless carrier Softbank to distribute games in that country, the two companies announced today.

Softbank also confirmed it has invested $150 million in Zynga, which was reported last month by blogs such as TechCrunch and VentureBeat. Along with a rumored $150 million investment by Mountain View Internet giant Google, that would bring total funding for Zynga to $519 million, according to TechCrunch.

Zynga is known for games such as “FarmVille” and “Mafia Wars.” Its titles are available on Facebook, MySpace and Apple’s iPhone.

“Zynga is a leader in social games and I am delighted to partner with them to introduce their social games to Japan,” Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son said in a statement. “We share the same vision as Zynga in social games and look forward to working together to create a social game powerhouse.”

Softbank, the exclusive carrier in Japan for the iPhone, pulled in 700.8 billion yen ($8.06 billion) in revenue in its most recent quarter, according to an Associated Press report today. Softbank’s profit in the April-June period was 19.4 billion yen ($223 million).

The Tokyo company has investments in numerous Internet companies, including a 40 percent stake in Yahoo Japan.

“We’re excited to partner with Softbank to bring Zynga’s social games to Japan and gain insights from the Japanese market,” Zynga founder and CEO Mark Pincus said in a statement. “As one of the most innovative technology companies in the world, Softbank is bringing the mobile Internet to consumers making the social Web more accessible to people everywhere.”According to a post by Dean Takahashi on VentureBeat, the Zynga Japan joint venture will help the game maker “diversify away from Facebook, which accounts for the lion’s share of Zynga’s revenue.”

[Thanks: http://www.mercurynews.com]

Comments are closed.