IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

Zynga Gets Serious

Posted February 11, 2010 by James Brightman

Zynga's momentum is incredible; it seems the company's in the news everyday. Having already recently opened up an L.A. studio and landed a deal to bring its games to MSN, today the company announced it's acquiring Serious Business, a social games developer that created one of the first ever Facebook games, Friends For Sale. 

Financial terms were not disclosed. The San Francisco-based developer was formed in 2008 and has seen $4 million in funding thanks to Lightspeed Venture Partners. Zynga said this deal "will enhance Zynga’s mission to build world-class games that connect people to one another." Under the terms of the agreement, employees of Serious Business will join Zynga at the company’s headquarters in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill.

“We’re very excited to gain an experienced team that is committed to building social games,” said Vish Makhijani, chief operating officer at Zynga. “We are impressed with Serious Business’ entrepreneurial attitude, speed, and innovation in developing social games and welcome them to our team.”

James Brightman has been covering the games industry since 2003 and has been an avid gamer ever since the days of Atari and Intellivision. He was previously the EIC of GameDaily Biz.