Google secretly invests in Zynga

Forum Moderators: goodroi

Message Too Old, No Replies

Google secretly invests in Zynga

Sgt_Kickaxe

1:20 am on Jul 11, 2010 (gmt 0)

[techcrunch.com...]

My concern is privacy, with Google now owning a piece of Zynga and Zynga being in nearly everyone's Facebook it seems the long tentacle of Google is extending into everything that can yield user data.

The investment was made by Google itself, not Google Ventures, say our sources, and it's a highly strategic deal. Zynga will be the cornerstone of a new Google Games to launch later this year, say multiple sources. Not only will Zynga's games give Google Games a solid base of social games to build on, but it will also give Google the beginning of a true social graph as users log into Google to play the games. And I wouldn't be surprised to see PayPal being replaced with Google Checkout as the primary payment option.

[edited by: tedster at 3:58 am (utc) on Jul 11, 2010]
[edit reason] moved from another location [/edit]

mack

4:16 am on Jul 11, 2010 (gmt 0)

This could be very related to the speculations regarding Google setting up its own social networking site to compete with Facebook. Zynga is at the very least partly responsible for Facebook's sucess.

Mack.

WebPixie

4:24 am on Jul 11, 2010 (gmt 0)

You could make the argument that Zynga is the second biggest social network on the planet. This is a huge move for G-.

J_RaD

2:10 pm on Jul 11, 2010 (gmt 0)

goog getting its data one way or another, even if it has to sneek in the back door.

I really do ask myself, at what point does knowing more and more about you does nothing to benefit anything goog does anymore.

I think there is a limit to useful data collection and after that its just data collection for the sake of data collection (privacy invasion)

Eurydice

2:38 pm on Jul 11, 2010 (gmt 0)

Google could end up buying Zynga and then removing it from Facebook in order to kill Facebook.

Sgt_Kickaxe

8:58 pm on Jul 11, 2010 (gmt 0)

Moving the 'ville and card games to a comparable Google platform would indeed cause some people to move. How much sway over Zynga does 100 million give? It looks like Facebook missed an opportunity to be the 100 million investor to solidify their games appeal.

For whatever reason people love to play these games and get passionately addicted to them, coming back day after day. That�s helped Facebook become what it is today. Google, Yahoo and others want some of that magic to rub off on them, too.

J_RaD

11:17 pm on Jul 11, 2010 (gmt 0)

coming soon, goog ads in zynga games.

fauxsoup

3:29 pm on Jul 12, 2010 (gmt 0)

goog getting its data one way or another, even if it has to sneek in the back door

I think it's important to note that while Google does indeed collect data, it also provides a range of useful services, and provides them with reliable security. I don't think this move is about data collection, I think it's about providing people with another service (and competing with Facebook); it doesn't seem likely to me that the data collected from 100 million people playing farmville would have Google drooling, but I could certainly be wrong.

J_RaD

4:40 pm on Jul 12, 2010 (gmt 0)

goog could provide the same services without getting knee deep in your backside.

StoutFiles

12:24 pm on Jul 13, 2010 (gmt 0)

This could be very related to the speculations regarding Google setting up its own social networking site to compete with Facebook. Zynga is at the very least partly responsible for Facebook's sucess.

Imagine if Google's social netowrk has a btter social gaming platform than Facebook. Then imagine if Google gets games like Farmville pulled from Facebook and are only offered on Google's site instead. Think Facebook would be feeling the heat then?

Normally I laugh at Google's investments but this one could turn out to be the turning point in the social war. I didn't give Google much of a chance but it will have Facebook beat both in bandwidth and now possible games. If the site looks good, functions well, and gives users the illusion of privacy there's a chance Google could win this.

fauxsoup

4:17 pm on Jul 13, 2010 (gmt 0)

goog could provide the same services without getting knee deep in your backside

To what end? For fun? Google is in the business for profit. The way they make a profit is by advertising on their services. The reason they've been so successful at this is the fact that they can target their ads very well, which is what the data they collect is used to improve.

Without that data you might as well be running a flashing banner ad.

What is everyone so worried Google will do wen get teh datas?