Rumors of Zynga’s impending expansion and opening of a new development studio have been confirmed. The social gaming firm has announced that it will soon open a Los Angeles based firm in addition to it’s two current studios in San Francisco and Baltimore.
In multiple recruitment ads for the new studio, Zynga is looking for “all-star Flash developers,” as well as product managers and IT engineers. This continued growth and expansion for FarmVille creator Zynga only serves as further proof that while the current economic situation might be forcing other studios to lay off staff members, or shut down studios altogether, social gaming has a promising future.
“The reason we chose LA is because of the talent in both interactive entertainment and Web which is essential for social games,” the company told news site Games.com.
“Zynga LA will be very much like our Zynga East office in Baltimore where it will be a studio for our new games. We are looking to expand and scale our talent as we grow.”
You’ll remember that Zynga made a number of headlines last year, but perhaps most notably for their involvement in the ‘ScamVille’ scandal. The company was targeted for hiding scams and deliberately misleading customers with regards to their in-game advertising and revenue generating models. After a temporary hiatus, Zynga seems to be returning to the same monetization model – hopefully sans hidden offers.
Zynga also recently secured $15 million in VC funding back in November of last year. Obviously, nothing can be confirmed, but it’s a pretty good bet that Zynga’s using a healthy chunk of this new investment to plant a flag in LA.
Covering the top five immerging trends, Newstead covers everything from ‘The War on Geekiness’ to ‘Taking Virtual Responsibility Seriously’. 
