Zynga's already conquered Facebook, but now its almost frighteningly addictive games will start showing up in real life too. Hasbro has just signed an agreement to develop Zynga brands like FarmVille as a series of toy and game lines, hoping to capitalize on the growing desire of consumers to "surround themselves with gaming brands they love." The agreement also opens the door to crossovers between Hasbro and Zynga — think MonopolyVille, where you slowly grind your neighbors into crushing poverty.
With both companies owning a pretty substantial list of properties, including My Little Pony, Words with Friends, and Transformers, the possibilities are almost literally endless. Some of these will probably just be action figures and other toys, but it would be interesting to see Hasbro approach making offline versions of massively social games. Can an iteration of FarmVille without enforced waiting and online collaboration share more than a name with the original product? We'll have to wait until this fall to see.
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