早在2009年，就有不少社交游戏公司为开发iPhone游戏积极奔走，向手机用户推出了数款Facebook最走红的社交游戏，但最终发现这些用户并不买帐，只能刹羽而归，断了向手机领域进军的念想。

现在，那些社交游戏中的领军力量又开始回心转意了，Zynga就是其中典型。尽管Zynga还没有公开宣布其手机计划的详情，但该公司近期的一些动作已经初现端倪，表明Zynga的战略意图并不仅仅是将社交游戏移植到手机平台，甚至有可能开发专门的手机游戏。

Zynga may release on mobile

1.收购

在短短两周内，Zynga就宣布收购了两家与手机业务有关的公司，即德国HTML5平台开发商Dextrose AG，美国手机游戏开发商Bonfire Studios。

Dextrose公司正开发一款基于HTML5技术的“Aves引擎”，并在年初就向外界介绍了这款可用于跨平台网页和手机的工具。假如Zynga真的只认定社交网络游戏，无意盘算手机游戏，那么最适合Zynga的开发工具无疑是Flash，犯不着使用HTML5，至少近期情况是如此。

“Aves引擎”的技术标准，不但可通用于Android、iDevice等平台，而且对普通浏览器也适用，可以开发一种只能一次性完成、不像《FarmVille》那类可后期移植其他平台的网页或手机游戏。但目前为止，多数开发商仍然不会考虑采用该工具，也许Zynga公司的举动另有更大的打算。

Bonfire Studios收购案并不能明显表露Zynga的意图，因为该公司主要负责为其他公司开发游戏。Bonfire硕果仅存的几款比较著名的手机游戏作品之一是Ngmoco公司的《We Farm》，这款iPhone游戏实际上是《FarmVille》手机山寨版。Ngmoco是手机社交游戏领域中响当当的名号，因此Zynga在《We Farm》发行三个月后即收购Bonfire的举动绝非偶然。

另外在今年8月，Zynga还收购了在日本手机社交游戏界颇负名气的开发商Unoh公司。

2.招聘

Zynga目前的员工超过1200人，很难判断该公司到底哪些人拥有手机游戏背景。Zynga仅含糊地向公众表明它何时参与苹果产品发布会，何日任命了新的执行管理人员（比如说本周指派前雅虎高管大卫·高为Zynga移动部门领导）等非关键性的手机游戏计划。

Zynga还打出了一系列求贤广告，招聘Android开发工程师、手机产品经理、用户界面设计师等人员。截止目前，Zynga在旧金山市至少还有两个手机工程师职位正等待有识之士的加盟。

3.投资

Zynga公司8月份出手收购日本Unoh公司，很可能是通过日本软银的牵线搭桥完成的，因为在7月份，软银还刚刚向Zynga投资了1.5亿美元。

尽管软银和其他日本游戏公司都对网页游戏招徕玩家抱有希望，但仍然不得不承认，手机游戏在日本更受欢迎。如果软银认定Zynga不会出击手机游戏，那就很难解释它为何还会向Zynga投下这样一笔至少在日本算是数额惊人的巨资。

尽管我们认为Zynga意欲变身为多平台游戏开发商，但究竟哪一个迹象最能证明这一说法仍然有待观望，也许直到Zynga的手机游戏产品问世那一天，这个答案才能真正揭晓。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译）

Zynga May Be Readying for New Releases on Mobile

In early 2009, several up-and-coming social game companies were active in iPhone gaming, releasing ports of top Facebook titles for mobile users. Then, as the social companies realized that players weren’t showing up in any great numbers, they mostly turned away from mobile development.

Today, some of those same top companies may be changing their minds again. The one most are watching is Zynga, which was given stage time beside Steve Jobs himself for the June release of FarmVille for the iPhone.

Although Zynga has said nothing publicly about a broader mobile plan, some of its actions do suggest that the company is planning more than just ports of its most popular games — maybe even games designed specifically for mobile.

Acquisitions

In the space of two weeks, Zynga has announced the acquisition of two companies that both have ties to mobile: Dextrose AG, a German HTML5 platform developer, and Bonfire Studios, a Dallas-based game developer.

Dextrose, as we noted at the time of its acquisition, is developing an HTML5 “Aves engine” that the company specifically touted earlier in 2010 as being useful for cross-platform web and mobile. If Zynga intends to stick to the web for most of its games, it’s probably best served by using Flash instead of trying to use HTML5, at least for the near future.

But the standard, which will work as well on Android or an iDevice as on an ordinary browser, could offer possibilities to develop a game just once for both web and mobile platforms, instead of going back for a later port as Zynga did with FarmVille. For now, most developers still wouldn’t consider this process straightforward, but Zynga may see greater possibilities in the Aves engine; we’ll have more on this later.

Bonfire Studios is a less clear case, because the company worked on titles owned by other companies. One its few known projects, however, was Ngmoco’s We Farm, an iPhone title with a clear connection to FarmVille. Ngmoco is the best-known name in the social mobile space, so Zynga’s buyout of Bonfire three months after the release of We Farm was probably not coincidental.

In August, Zynga also bought Unoh, a Japanese developer with well known social-style games on Japan’s mobile social networks.

Hires

With more than 1,200 employees, it’s hard to tell exactly how many people Zynga has hired who have a mobile background. The company only loosely refers to its mobile gaming plans, like when it participates in Apple launch events, or when it makes new executive appointments, as with its appointment this week of former Yahoo exec David Ko as its head of mobile.

At other times, Zynga has been seen advertising to fill Android development spots, mobile product management and interface roles. Right now, the company has at least two mobile engineering roles open in San Francisco.

Investments

Zynga’s acquisition of Unoh in August was not completely out of the blue; the two companies may have been connected through Softbank, the Japanese conglomerate that invested $150 million in Zynga in July.

While Softbank and other Japanese firms have hopes of interesting Japanese gamers in web-based games, the country’s hot business is in mobile. It’s difficult to see why Softbank would have invested such a large sum without some expectation that Zynga would go into mobile, at least in Japan.

Still, for now the best evidence of a Zynga strategy to become a true multi-platform developer remains circumstantial, though we believe it intends to progress down this path. The first full view of Zynga’s plans may not come until the company is ready to release a new product — something it has been slow to do throughout this year, even on the web.（source:insidesocialgames）