Reprinted from International Business Times AU
Fans of "Farmville" and "Mafia Wars" will soon have physical merchandise from their favorite online games. Hasbro Inc. and Zynga Inc. announced Thursday a deal where the toy company will create games and toys based on Zynga's popular online games including "Farmville" and "Mafia Wars".
The deal gives Hasbro the right to license and distribute wide ranging product lines based on Zynga's rosters of games like Farmville, Cityville and Frontierville.
"It's exciting to partner with Hasbro as we share a common vision for play and a mission to connect the world through games," Zynga CEO Mark Pincus said in a statement. "This partnership is so special because it represents an exciting leap forward in enabling people to connect their virtual and real worlds. Hasbro has inspired play through their famous toys, games, and action figures and we look forward to working with a company that continually creates meaningful and fun brands."
Hasbro Chief Executive Brian Goldner said that the deal reflected the toymaker's decision to expand its brand on different platforms. The deal is certainly beneficial for both parties. Hasbro's game and puzzles sales dropped 7% in the fourth quarter last year after a 22% drop in 2010. A deal with Zynga which boasts 227 million active users in its online games will certainly push Hasbro in the smartphone and casual media market where it has not been strong in.
"Hasbro is thrilled to have the opportunity to bring Zynga's immensely popular social games to life in a variety of creative and new expressions that reflect consumers' growing desire to surround themselves with gaming brands they love anytime, anywhere together with their friends and family, " said Brian Goldner, President and CEO of Hasbro. "Zynga is bringing more games to mainstream culture and is redefining how people play. At Hasbro, we're proud to help bring their games to even more people around the world. This strategic alliance plays off of both Hasbro's and Zynga's proven strengths and is emblematic of the new innovations and new platforms we are creating across our entire gaming portfolio."
The partnership will not see Zynga making new videogame versions of Hasbro's classic board-games. Electronic Arts Inc. still has the digital rights to Hasbro's board games. Zynga could theoretically get the rights in the future but for now Zynga is sitting pretty with their knock-off of Hasbro's Scrabble. "Words with Friends" has 13 million active users compared to just 1 million active Scrabble users.
This is just the latest partnership between a toymaker and a game developer. Rovio developer of the popular Angry Birds teamed up with Mattel for its "Angry Birds: Knock On Wood" board game, which sold a lot of units on Amazon.com. Zynga's games could translate well into a board game.
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