Zynga is the biggest success story to come out of the new wave of social game companies, bu it has been curiously absent from one of the hottest new game platforms — the iPhone. That’s changing today with chief executive Mark Pincus‘ announcement that Zynga is releasing FarmVille for iPhone.
FarmVille is Zynga’s biggest hit, with Pincus reporting that it has more than 70 million monthly active users. The main platform until now has been Facebook, but Pincus said, “With FarmVille on the iPhone, you can farm anytime, anywhere.”
The San Francisco company has released iPhone games before, but none appeared to take off the way Zynga’s products did on Facebook. So this marks Zynga’s return to the platform, and in a big way with its flagship game. It comes as the company is allying with SoftBank for expansion in Japan, and as it eyes an initial public offering. If the new game takes off, it should make Zynga less dependent on Facebook.
One question is whether virtual goods purchases on FarmVille for iPhone will be as lucrative as they have been on Facebook. Pincus said players will be able to buy items that are unique to the iPhone, such as a snow leopard. The game will also take advantage of the iPhone’s push notification feature, so players get alerts when their crops are dying.
Zynga plans to release FarmVille on the iPhone later this month.
[image via Gdgt]