Google about to launch Google games?
It is all over the media that Google has invested a lot of money in Zynga (some say $100 million to $200 million) in preparation for it's own Google Games launch later this year. It is interesting to follow this development because of two things; 1. Zynga is a totally new gaming company and has in a very short time managed to become one of the biggest gaming operators in the world, counting it players and 2. this investment on Google's behalf has been very secretive. 
Some of the more traditional gaming providers are becoming a little weary about this development in the gaming world. Firstly because of Zynga's massive growth over the past year. Zynga has managed to dominate the casual gaming world in a very short time becoming one of the largest gaming companies in the world counting the number of online players, over 5 million daily active users. Any gaming provider in the world would like to see this kind of traffic. 
Secondly, what is of a great concern to the gaming world is the social media aspect. Zynga dominates facebook gaming and it leaves a very little space for other to operate in. Gaming providers have not been able to benefit from Social media, the way Zynga has and this is a major concern. The regular player base of gaming providers today is getting older and the need to find new players has drive the gaming world to the Internet. But not everybody has been so successful on the Internet as Zynga has and that is major concern.
To top it all, Google is investing in Zynga and that in it self sends an earthquaking signal to everybody in this business. Knowing that Google is interested in gaming tell existing game providers that competition has a new kid on the block - and this is a tough one. All except perhaps the national lotteries since they have such a social responsibility supporting the community they operate in by giving half of their sales back to the community - hard to compete against that!
