When asked about Google’s partnership with Zynga, Mr. Schmidt said “we haven’t announced it” but “you can expect a partnership with Zynga” in the future. Google’s partnership with Zynga was reported earlier by the blog TechCrunch.
That sure sounds like an announcement to me, buried 13 paragraphs deep in an article summarizing an interview with Google CEO Eric Schmidt with the Wall Street Journal. Or an announcement of an announcement. Or perhaps an announcement of an expectation of an announcement.
We broke the news about Google’s investment in Zynga and negotiations around a Zynga partnership with a new Google Games property earlier this month. Neither company has confirmed the news before now. In fact, neither company will discuss it with us at all, even to not comment.
The story was accurate, we’re sure of that. But this is the first official on the record confirmation from either company.
Anyway, expect Google Games to be announced sometime this year. And Zynga will be one of the main game engines populating it. And eventually one of these companies will admit that Google invested in Zynga, too.