Facebook and Zynga get cozy

Biggest social network enters five-year relationship with its biggest third-party gaming developer

In a sign that Facebook has conceded to Zynga, the world's biggest social network and the world's biggest social gaming site have struck a deal.

Facebook and Zynga on Tuesday announced that they have entered a five-year partnership that somehow involves the expansion of Facebook Credits in Zynga games.

With 230 million monthly active users playing hit games like FarmVille, Mafia Wars, and, most recently, Treasure Isle, Zynga is without a doubt the most prominent third-party developer of social games on Facebook.

Since Facebook has registered at least 400 million users, we can safely assume that half of those users are playing Zynga games.

Naturally then, both companies have been in talks for months to decide on an appropriate relationship between the two that could benefit users, which ultimately culminated in today's announcement.

It's been known that Facebook and Zynga have had a shaky relationship over the past few months, as Zynga has not been satisfied with the 30% cut that Facebook takes from Credits used to purchase in-game virtual goods. Already a profitable company in 2009, Zynga raked in more than $100 million in revenue last year. According to Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Venture Partners, estimates of the social gaming company's annual revenue now range between $240 million and $600 million. Taking into account a 30% cut on these revenues that goes directly to Facebook, we can see how Zynga would want to stir things up a bit.

Not only that, but if Facebook is pulling in such a large fraction of Zynga's millions, then the social network must necessarily concede to some of Zynga's wishes. Zynga definitely had some weight to throw around in these discussions. 

Unfortunately, official details on the deal are incredibly scanty. Neither company would comment on this story. 

The press release amounts to little more than the announcement of an official relationship and quotations from both parties saying how happy they are about the deal.

Like all other third-party developers, Zynga will not, for the time being at least, be immune from the 30% fee on Facebook Credits. In fact, the press release states that the deal "expands use of Facebook Credits in Zynga’s games."

Therefore, we should probably expect changes in the coming months that will reveal just how Facebook will morph Credits to better suit both the company providing the platform and the third-party company developing the applications.

Here's the release: