Facebook game maker Zynga launches its own social games platform, Zynga.com

Popular Facebook game maker Zynga is scaling up and branching out from the clutches of the world’s biggest social networking site with the launch its own Zynga.com website and gaming platform.

The shift means users will soon be able to play Zynga’s popular social games including CityVille, Words with Friends, CastleVille, Zynga Poker and Hidden Chronicle outside of the Facebook ecosystem.

“The Zynga Platform is designed with two simple goals: more access to the best social games and more people to play with,” said Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus. “We’re excited to offer new features like the live Social Stream which will enable you to play in real time with your friends and find new ones. Player profiles will let you check your friends’ helpfulness score to see who’s most likely to help you back. And you’ll be able to chat and play live with your friends and a community of players interested in the same games as you.”

Third party game developers will also be able to publish their games on Zynga.com, the beta version of which will launch in early March. Initial Zynga platform partners will include developers MobScience, Row Sham Bow and Sava.

Zynga made it clear that it is not (yet) cutting its ties with Facebook. Users will still pay for virtual goods using Facebook Credits but will now be able to interact with other gamers outside of Facebook’s own social network. In its IPO filing earlier this year Facebook revealed that Zynga accounted for 12% of its 2011 revenue.

http://zynga.com/