Seems more likely that any discounts would go the other way. Facebook provides Zynga with a massive installed and networked user base. What does Zynga offer Facebook that couldn't be replaced?
If I were Zynga, my biggest fear would be that Facebook would decide to compete with me. So I'm guessing this agreement prevents that from happening, at least for five years, and in return Facebook gets a bigger chunk of Zynga's revenue stream.
Disclaimer: I don't pay a ton of attention to this stuff, so let me know if I'm off base.
Much of recent FB growth, especially international, has been driven by gaming. FB has users, but Zynga has over 200M players. FB couldn't compete with Zynga in games without giving shady preferential platform features to their own games - even the other big, successful game companies aren't competing with Zynga.
Yep, I think people severely underestimate how much gaming is a contributor to technology adoption. Mac OSX could have gained a lot more market share had Steve not been so stubborn. Case in point, iPhone app popularity is heavily skewed toward games.
My wife created her Facebook account to play some Zynga game a colleague was playing. Later on I had to make a Facebook account in order to be a neighbor to this Zynga game.
At least 3 other people in our circle use Facebook only for and due to Zynga. The social issue becomes just a side issue.
If I were Zynga, my biggest fear would be that Facebook would decide to compete with me. So I'm guessing this agreement prevents that from happening, at least for five years, and in return Facebook gets a bigger chunk of Zynga's revenue stream.
Disclaimer: I don't pay a ton of attention to this stuff, so let me know if I'm off base.