Zynga to Take Japan by Storm

Zynga is flying high these days. One of the hottest companies of the previous year, it is striking deals left and right and each one looks better than the other. The latest is with Japan internet and communications giant Softbank. The two companies have entered a joint venture, dubbed Zynga Japan, which will see Zynga develop and distribute games for the local market. The new venture will be set up in Tokyo. The announcement comes along with the confirmation of a $150 million investment from Softbank.

“We share the same vision as Zynga in social games and look forward to working together to create a social game powerhouse,” Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of Softbank, said in a statement.

“We’re excited to partner with Softbank to bring Zynga’s social games to Japan and gain insights from the Japanese market,” Mark Pincus, CEO and founder of Zynga, said. “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.”

Softbank is one of the biggest players in the Japanese mobile market. It is also one of the largest ISPs in the country and the company has investments in plenty of other smaller markets as well. The distribution network it provides could be huge for Zynga. Gaming is already big in the country and Softbank recognized the opportunity to create a market for social gaming as well. With Zynga emerging as the leader in social gaming, the company was an obvious choice.

For Zynga, it marks the culmination of a string of partnerships which would help it become a lot more independent from Facebook. Currently most of its revenue comes from games on Facebook. Zynga has signed a partnership with Yahoo which will distribute the games through its vast network of sites. The company is also said to have signed on with Google with a deal bringing Zynga games to the rumored ‘Facebook-killer’ the search giant is building. However, Zynga also signed a five-year agreement with Facebook.