Sony announced yesterday that they’re getting into gaming outside the PC or console/handheld world. This marks the first time in over a decade that SOE has announced a title outside their own comfort zone.

The popular turn based strategy game PoxNora is now available on Facebook. Obviously capitalizing on their own gaming expertise, not only is Sony jumping into the Facebook gaming world with PoxNora, but they also planning on bringing a number of additional games to Facebook based on existing franchises and new intellectual property.

PoxNora is a mix of strategy game play and a collectible card game. Set in a fantasy world consisting of mystic creatures, relics, and spells, Sony’s acquisition of PoxNora in January 2009 has since expanded and has reached over 2.5 million users to date.

“The Facebook platform offers gamers a new and powerful way to interact with and tap into their social communities,” said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. “With the launch of PoxNora for Facebook, we are leveraging the expertise SOE has gained bringing entertainment to the online gaming community for over 10 years.”

Naturally when speaking of Facebook gaming, one must think of the microtransactions monetization aspect. To this end, SOE has customized the Facebook version of PoxNora to appeal to a wide social networking platform based audience. I.e., Sony’s obviously had a close eye on what current Facebook gaming superstars (Zynga, for example) have been up to, and will obviously adapt a similar approach. The current PoxNora version features some common social networking features including friend invitations and accomplishment updates. Presumably, Sony will roll out additional features to not only catch up to what a number of startups have been using to their advantage for a while now, but hopefully, innovate some new ones.

Sony points to Facebook’s virtual goods business as a major factor in the decision to jump on board. An interesting move to bring a relatively unknown title to a major platform. On the other side of the coin, perhaps bringing a relative newcomer to a major table may be a very smart way for Sony to test the waters. If PoxNora does well, then Sony is already building a playbook of what to do with a major title, and likewise, if it fails miserably, at least they’ll know what not to do with one of the “number of additional games” that they’ll soon be bringing to Facebook.