Google Secretly Invested $100+ Million In Zynga, Preparing To Launch Google Games

[Spectrum]

there was a game where someone bought virtual land, for a couple grand possibly in the hundreds.. it had mines for mining, land for raising live stock etc...

dude cultivated that virtual land and sold it for a million dollars i think it was in europe somewhere

Im telling you man... I respect the hustle but I get like like..fuck..why didnt I think of this idea....

 

[thismybgolname]

Im telling you man... I respect the hustle but I get like like..fuck..why didnt I think of this idea....

Just a reminder that any idea can make it and that you've got to keep pushing yours.

 

[Jagi]

Google invested $100+ million in Zynga as "cornerstone" for upcoming Google Games?



Google has reportedly invested more than $100 million in Zynga, a popular social gaming company, and is quietly preparing to launch a new product, Google Games, later this year.

According to TechCrunch and their "multiple sources", Google (and not Google Ventures - the search giant's venture capital division) has secretly pumped between $100 and $200 million into Zynga, the company responsible for many of the major social networking games that have become extremely popular including Mafia Wars, Farmville and Cafe World.

But that's not all. TechCrunch says the two companies are working on a "strategic partnership" which will see Zynga become the "cornerstone" of a new Google games platform to possibly debuted later this year.

Although as TechCrunch points out, there's a job opening for a "Product Management Leader, Games" at Google's Mountain View campus, it's not yet clear what exactly Google Games will be. It is however, thought to be a platform which would require users to sign-in to play games, essentially giving Google what it's been striving so very hard for recently -- the makings of its own very own social graph.

And while Google and Zygna are yet to comment on the news, Google Games could also potentially become another major selling point for the Google's upcoming cloud-based operating system, Chrome OS, which will only let users run web-based applications and not install traditional desktop software.

These latest rumors come just weeks after reports surfaced suggesting Google is hard at work developing a brand new social network, to be dubbed "Google Me". After failed attempts with Orkut and the more recently launched Google Buzz to compete against the likes of Twitter and Facebook, it seems Google is working extremely hard to launch new platforms that will finally vault the search giant into the social networking arena.

 

[MadWun]

there was a game where someone bought virtual land, for a couple grand possibly in the hundreds.. it had mines for mining, land for raising live stock etc...

dude cultivated that virtual land and sold it for a million dollars i think it was in europe somewhere

I know Second Life was crazy like that

 

[Jagi]

Google getting into games

We’ve reported here about Google’s heavy investment in social game maker Zynga. Today Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google re-iterated a point he’s made before, that Google are not interested in going against Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo in the gaming market.

“We’re going into sort of casual things. Our Pac-Man logo game was one step into that. I would doubt that we’ll get into significant gaming – but you never know,” said Schmidt.

Clearly a play into the world of the app store and Facebook is due according to recent rumours around Chrome OS and the Chrome browser having an online app store akin to the Apple iOS app store, and the talk of Google Me, a Facebook-esque social network space which will have games as a feature, including some from Zynga. It’s also interesting that he didn’t shoot down the idea of a more serious push into gaming, but that’s only likely to happen if the gaming platforms they develop for the web take off in a big way. Schmidt was also keen to point out their core business is search, and everything currently happening is just a way of funneling people back into search.

 

[Spectrum]

Google just spent 182 Million on Slide as well...so they are definitely serious about getting into social gaming Jagi.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/04/go...lion-getting-more-serious-about-social-games/

We’ve just learned that Google has agreed to buy Slide for $182 million, in a deal to be announced Friday. And sources also tell us that this is not the last move Google is going to be making to cobble together a serious social gaming and apps strategy to counter Facebook.

As we previously reported, Google invested in Zynga to form the cornerstone of Google Games, which Eric Schmidt somewhat confirmed will launch later this year.

No word on whether Slide founder Max Levchin will be joining Google or what his continuing role will be. $182 million is a nice exit no doubt, but it’s a come down from Slide’s $500 million valuation in 2008. And Levchin has said many times that success to him was Slide becoming bigger than PayPal.

Looks like it hasn’t. But it’s still possible that Levchin—who was the first investor in Slide too—is making a comparable or bigger amount personally from this sale.

 

[Jagi]

Google just spent 182 Million on Slide as well...so they are definitely serious about getting into social gaming Jagi.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/04/go...lion-getting-more-serious-about-social-games/

We’ve just learned that Google has agreed to buy Slide for $182 million, in a deal to be announced Friday. And sources also tell us that this is not the last move Google is going to be making to cobble together a serious social gaming and apps strategy to counter Facebook.

As we previously reported, Google invested in Zynga to form the cornerstone of Google Games, which Eric Schmidt somewhat confirmed will launch later this year.

No word on whether Slide founder Max Levchin will be joining Google or what his continuing role will be. $182 million is a nice exit no doubt, but it’s a come down from Slide’s $500 million valuation in 2008. And Levchin has said many times that success to him was Slide becoming bigger than PayPal.

Looks like it hasn’t. But it’s still possible that Levchin—who was the first investor in Slide too—is making a comparable or bigger amount personally from this sale.

it's getting quite interesting... i'm keeping an eye on this...

 

[Jagi]

Zynga runs MSN out of FarmVille


Zynga has reportedly pulled social gaming phenomenon FarmVille from MSN Games after just six months.

The deal with Microsoft's gaming portal commenced in February, but FarmVille has now disappeared from the site.

Zynga had apparently been seeking to establish greater success outside of Facebook, having suffered now-resolved altercations with the social network concerning virtual currency and user notifications.

But Inside Social Games has asserted that the brief dalliance with MSN as an alternative was curtailed due to lower than hoped audiences.

MSN Games is, in theory, on a par with Facebook in terms of gamers - claiming approximately half a billion across the portal and its Messenger application. This would seem to make it a sound platform for social games seeking a new environment.

If it has indeed proven unsuitable, then social game developers may be left to choose between Facebook or Google's much-rumoured gaming-centric rival.

Alternatively, MSN's loss of FarmVille may be related to Google's $100 million investment in and a rumoured future partnership with Zynga.

Zynga also provides its games to Yahoo! and MySpace.

 

[T_R_O_N_I_X]

All this social networking, and social gaming is cool and all, but can be sooooooooo much more profitable. If anybody is on the right track, its Zynga.

Currently, I'm trying to secure funding to launch a social shopping concept that will absolutely blow all these social leviathans out the water as far as revenues generated per user. Its almost deplorable how much Facebook is actually NOT making relative to the number of users they have.

If anyone is serious about getting into the social commerce industry, and has at least $150k to get the social platform built, shoot me an PM. Maybe we can do some business.