Play CityVille in Google+

Zynga is bringing its most popular game, CityVille, to Google’s Google+.

 

The two companies have been partners from the beginning of Google+ Games. Google is an investor in Zynga, and when the gaming platform launched in August, one of its first 16 game titles was Zynga Poker.

CityVille has drawn a lot more traffic to Facebook than Zynga’s poker game. The former has more than 70 million unique players every month, while the latter has about 30 million, according to AppData.

Zynga is hoping for a similar effect on Google+. Why? Because right now Zynga is largely dependent on Facebook. 

Facebook takes 30% of Zynga’s massive revenues, the same percentage that Apple charges for inclusion in the App Store. According to reports, Google+ is offering better terms for developers. Diversification would help the company grow faster and make its revenues less vulnerable to the whims of one platform.

“It’s no secret we’re big fans of Google+ here at Zynga,” reads a blog post announcing the addition of CityVille to the Google+ repertoire.

The latest estimates suggest that Google+ has around 50 million users. Facebook has 800 million. Clearly Google’s network has a long way to go before it’s comparable to Facebook. But letting its users build virtual cities could help build Google+’s user base.

Posted by Azziet Singh follow me on twitter

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