FarmVille creator Zynga and Citi join forces for exclusive game rewards

Citi Bank cardholders will be delighted when they check their ThankYou Rewards account today. Well, those that happen to be social gamers, that is. Zynga announced today that it has joined forces with Citi to add a new category of ThankYou Rewards to Citi's long list of goodies: virtual items. Starting immediately, players of hit Zynga games like FarmVille, FrontierVille and Cafe World can redeem their ThankYou Points for exclusive items in several of the company's Facebook games. Starting at 600 ThankYou points, players can begin to redeem virtual rewards as well as physical Zynga Game Cards for a boost to the tune of $25 for 3,500 ThankYou Points. Exclusive items in some of Zynga's games include:

FarmVille:
-Purple Harvester (1,400 Points)
-Red Pinto Horse (1,000 Points)

FrontierVille:
-Mystery Animal Crate (1,000 Points)
-Pink Deer (1,500 Points)

Cafe World:
-Lightning Stove (3,500 Points)
-Outdoor Fountain (2,000 Points)

This partnership with Citi marks Zynga's second collaboration with a credit company--the first being with American Express and its Membership Rewards Program. (This is also why some of those items might look familiar.) If this strategy catches on, expect other social game developers to hop onto Zynga's tailwind. Terry O’Neil, Executive VP of North American Cards at Citi says that Zynga ThankYou Rewards keep Citi's ThankYou Point offerings relevant and meets a demand for social game rewards. I'd say hundreds of millions of players is relevant enough, wouldn't you?

If you're a Citi member, would you use ThankYou Rewards to buy goods in Zynga games? If not, is this something that would motivate you to join either Citi or American Express? Speak up in the comments. Add Comment.