• GamesBeat, Tuesday, November 16, 2010 1:44 PM

Further separating its services from Facebook, gamemaker Zynga has launched two games on Yahoo's network of sites. Marking "the first major move by Zynga in some time," GamesBeat says it's all part of "Zynga's plan to generate more revenue from its popular social games by taking them beyond Facebook to web sites where it can find new audiences." Yahoo is clearly in favor of Zynga's strategy.

Indeed, the two games -- Mafia Wars and FishVille -- have the potential to generate new interest and social activity on its various properties, including Yahoo Messenger, My Yahoo, Yahoo Toolbar, Yahoo Pulse and Yahoo Games. According to GamesBeat, "The launch of the two games is just the first phase of a larger Zynga-Yahoo integration." Presently, Mafia Wars has more than 23 million monthly active users, while FishVille has a more modest 6 million. In the name of diversification, Zynga also created the FarmVille.com web site, and took FarmVille to MSN Games -- only to withdraw the offering for undisclosed reasons.

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