Pokki Partners With Acer To Offer Zynga Games On PC Desktops

Pokki is partnering with Acer and Zynga to offer a new game arcade, featuring the full Zynga.com library of games, on new Windows 8 PCs. The arcade, an extension of the Pokki Game Network, will be preloaded on Acer PCs, along with the popular Pokki Start menu for Windows 8 and hundreds of free apps in the Pokki app store.

Pokki, which is made by SweetLabs, previously won over fans with desktop versions of popular apps like Angry Birds, Pandora and Pinterest, an app recommendation system, and a start menu for Windows 8.

SweetLabs cofounder Chester Ng showed me the Zynga games on an Acer machine, and the arcade looks appealing. Users can install games in one click and start playing games immediately; the interface is pretty and everything loads very quickly. Most of all, the games have the feel of an authentic tablet experience.

Ng says the smart arcade features real time notification badges and banners, and starts tailoring games to what the user likes and doesn’t like.

“Pokki is trying to make the PC better for users, developers to help them get distribution, and now device manufacturers,” Ng tells me. “There are plenty of problems to solve for all three of those constituencies.”

Zynga Poker_Pokki

For developers like Zynga, Pokki offers a new distribution as they try to get their games into users hands beyond Facebook and mobile devices; these games are promoted right out of the box when a user opens a new PC. And it works for Pokki and equipment manufacturers, as Ng says it is a revenue opportunity for them to drive users to these games.

Pokki enables manufacturers like Acer to offer the newest, hottest games in real time, rather than preloading machines with a game months before the point of sale.

Ng said working with Acer is “a big win for us,” and that it’s “good validation that we’re not only making the pc better but also helping them on the business side.”