Zynga gets bigger

In its first partnership with a mobile provider, Zynga has teamed up with AT&T to provide services for their android

Zynga Poker just keeps going from strength to strength as they sign a new contract with AT&T to provide a multitude of games to their wireless customers. Zynga started out as the Facebook application that allowed users to play poker without breaking the anti-online gaming laws enacted by the United States. The fact that Zynga managed to establish a way for their customers to gamble ensured that they were able to grow and branch out into other forms of gaming leading them to the position that they are now in. The fact that players were unable to win any real money prizes by playing on the application didn’t stop them from signing up and catapulting Zynga to success.
The deal between Zynga and AT&T represents the first of its kind between a wireless operator and the games company though many argue that it simply makes good sense. With android phones and the iphone becoming the most common phones in the market place providing games to customers as part of the network provides a massive enticement to customers to stay with AT&T as well as a great way to attract new ones to the AT&T android phone. The products provided by Zynga will include the same kinds of products that the firm currently provides online but on the AT&T android that is to be released later in 2011.
The specifics of the deal are that by buying an AT&T phone the customer will be provided with free credits in order to play Zynga Poker as well as receiving content that has been specially styled for them. In this way AT&T together with Zynga hope to be able to provide an interactive experience that can’t be matched by other phone companies. According market research conducted in the United States, one in five Americans has played a mobile, social game in the last 3 months. Zynga and AT&T are looking to take a massive chunk out of an already huge market in order to deliver greater value for money and therefore a new option to US cell phone customers.
It is likely that this deal merely marks the beginning of the synthesis between social media applications and mobile phone products. With customers being able to stay online constantly we should expect to see a whole range of new partnerships between games companies and mobile phone providers in the near future.