Report: Zynga runs MSN out of FarmVille
Leading social game disappears from Microsoft gaming portal
Zynga has reportedly pulled social gaming phenomenon FarmVille from MSN Games after just six months.
The deal with Microsoft's gaming portal commenced in February, but FarmVille has now disappeared from the site.
Zynga had apparently been seeking to establish greater success outside of Facebook, having suffered now-resolved altercations with the social network concerning virtual currency and user notifications.
But Inside Social Games has asserted that the brief dalliance with MSN as an alternative was curtailed due to lower than hoped audiences.
MSN Games is, in theory, on a par with Facebook in terms of gamers - claiming approximately half a billion across the portal and its Messenger application. This would seem to make it a sound platform for social games seeking a new environment.
If it has indeed proven unsuitable, then social game developers may be left to choose between Facebook or Google's much-rumoured gaming-centric rival.
Alternatively, MSN's loss of FarmVille may be related to Google's $100 million investment in and a rumoured future partnership with Zynga.
Zynga also provides its games to Yahoo! and MySpace.