Image via CrunchBase
Clint Boulton
This Google gaming and social network story is really boiling over. In the last month, Digg's Kevin Rose tweeted that Google has a social network in the works, an assertion backed up Quora's Adam D'Angelo and possibly by this document.
In mid-July, TechCrunch said Google had invested $100 million in social gaming platform Zyngaand was striking a deal with that sensational startup.
Now the Wall Street Journal reports (paywall warning) that Google is in "talks with several makers of popular online games as it seeks to develop a broader social networking service that could compete with Facebook."
But isn't this the worst-kept secret in high tech? I could resort to snarky commentary about traditional media outlets merely building off of blogs like TechCrunch, but they do a much better job of trashing mainstream media.
Oh, wait, TechCrunch is the new mainstream media. They just don't know it yet.
Anyway, the WSJ says Google is also talking with Playdom, which Disney just purchased for as much as $763 million.
The article rehashes the notion TechCrunch established that something called Google Games will be the centerpiece for what I'm just going to call Google Social but what others are saying is Google Me. Not to be confused with "Despicable Me."
However, the WSJ did score this gem: While Google CEO Eric Schmidt declined to confirm the development of a social networking service that would incorporate social games, he did confirm the Zynga deal by saying "you can expect a partnership with Zynga" in the future.
Google Piling Up Social Network Arsenal to Challenge Facebook
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