Last week Facebook IPO rumors swirled about the Internet. Few in the tech world were able to focus on anything else. Facebook’s estimated $75-$100 billion IPO had tech-meisters and analysts drooling. Finally, the world’s largest social network decided to put a price on everyones’ personal data.
But there was an official announcement that dropped just days before the IPO: Games would start appearing in the main news feed.
Only one month before, Facebook began including games in the mobile news feed. If you’re already feeling annoyed, remind yourself that this is nothing new. Remember when sponsored stories began appearing in the news feed?
In Zynga’sIPO filing, it noted overreliance on Facebook. But it’s not a one-way street here. Facebook & Zynga are intertwined, and at times it’s nearly impossible to tell them apart.
In the risks section of Facebook’s S-1, it explained that Zynga is responsible for about 12% of Facebook’s revenue, and is also important in terms of direct advertising revenue and payments. Zynga is also the largest provider of Facebook games, accounting for 80% of Facebook Credits revenue.
Adding Zynga games to the Facebook news feed isn’t the only change that Facebook announced on Monday, January 30. Games will also appear as a Timeline unit so that you will be able to see your own and other peoples’ gaming achievements. There is now an app request on the main site, too. If you want to view game activity as its own news feed, you can do that to – just select the friend activity news feed under Apps and Games. Games.com’s Joe Osborne notes that this news feed is similar to the Google+ Games Stream, as the two continue competing for gamers’ eyeballs, time and money.
Facebook relies on Zynga apps for revenue. The Facebook news feed is one of the most heavily trafficked and viewed aspects of the entire social network. If Facebook wants to keep Zynga happy, why wouldn’t it include games in the main news feed? Besides, games are already popping up in the mobile news feed. It was only a matter of time before games began appearing on the main site news feed.
