Zynga brings Mafia Wars, FishVille to Yahoo

The exodus has begun. Well, sort of. TechCrunch reports that Zynga has officially launched Mafia Wars and FishVille on many of Yahoo's services including Yahoo Messenger, Pulse, Games, and within its browser toolbar. The release seems to be the fruit of a partnership between the two companies that was revealed in May of this year. This news comes hot off the heels of Zynga CEO Mark Pincus' stating his vision for a "dog activated world." We suspect that more Zynga games are to come if the expansion proves successful.

We say "expansion" because Zynga isn't going anywhere on Facebook. You'll still find your digital mob and fish tank on Facebook, though the company has been looking to go forth and conquer our digital lives for some time. Hopefully for the studio this attempt at expansion goes better than when it launched FarmVille on MSN Games only to have it shuttered shortly after.

Mafia Wars even has items exclusive to its Yahoo version, though players can't import their Facebook player profiles at the moment. This could be intentional so as to not draw away too many Facebook mobsters, though Zynga is reported to be working on a currency that it will likely use across the several platforms the company has already invaded. Eventually, it would make sense for Zynga to allow its players to access their original accounts across any platform, but it appears that the company is just testing the waters with Yahoo.

Have you tried Mafia Wars or FishVille on Yahoo yet? What are your thoughts on Zynga's expansion into other platforms? Let us know in the comments. Add Comment.