Softbank + Zynga: Japan is about to get Farmville’d?

[as posted on Japanator]

I don’t see Farmville or any of Zynga’s other properties appealing to the Japanese public, but I guess I didn’t see them appealing to me either. I’ll admit that I’m addicted to Frontierville, Zynga’s newest Facebook-based social game. Don’t ask why — I’m not even sure myself.

Zynga has definitely conquered the U.S., but now it looks like they’re prepared to be “big in Japan” with a new partnership between Japanese mobile company Softbank and Zynga. Zynga will develop and distribute social games there, armed with the $150 million that Softbank pumped into the American company.

It sounds like the plan is to bring their brand of addictive, time-wasting games to Japanese mobile devices. Perfect for the train ride.

Hey, maybe they could make a game using Softbank’s talking dog mascot, Otousan!

A press release was just sent out and a press conference will take place in Tokyo later today. We’ll keep you posted on any new developments.