Zynga Branches Out into Bingo and Plans Independent Zynga Direct Service

As avid fans of social gaming we were particularly intrigued to learn that Zynga, the boffins behind games such as FarmVille, CastleVille and DreamZoo had branched out into bingo.

Since it’s announcement the game has amassed a huge pre-launch following, a factor that the company plans to capitalize on when they launch their new venture which will be independent of Facebook.

The company announced the new titles this week and showcased a first glimpse of what they are calling Zynga Direct. This online service will house their entire lineup of games, allowing users to play live on their site without the need of Facebook. But will this mean shunning the worlds largest social network? Well, not entirely.

They plan to integrate logins, social sharing, chat and every other useful Facebook feature into their new site. Allowing players to carry on as usual, with the same details that they use to login to Facebook. The service will introduced an Xbox style ‘tag’ system that Zynga are calling zTags, which can be preregistered now ahead of the official launch.

The new service will allow Zynga to keep and use all profits garnered from their games, presently they receive 70% of all revenues with the remaining 30% going directly to Facebook.

The company is also exploring other avenues for releasing their games with recent news that Mafia Wars 2 would be available on the new Google +1 network.