Google â??secretly invested up to $200m in Zyngaâ??

Google has covertly invested as much as $200 million in the social gaming giant Zynga, according to media reports.

The speculation comes from ‘multiple sources’, anonymously tipping news site TechCrunch.

The report goes on to claim that Google is now preparing a new, ambitious launch of a dedicated games division.

The report reads: “Zynga will be the cornerstone of a new Google Games to launch later this year, say multiple sources”.

It adds: “Not only will Zynga’s games give Google Games a solid base of social games to build on, but it will also give Google the beginning of a true social graph as users log into Google to play the games”.

Google has yet to make an official comment on the matter, yet the rumour is that

The search engine giant’ investment in Zynga has purportedly fetched somewhere between $100 million and $200 million.

Zynga, one of the world’s biggest social gaming companies, has won close to half a billion dollars in investment. These have partly funded an agressive acquisition spree, with the social game firm looking to absorb the competition in a bid to become the first kingpin in the emerging social game sector.

The group has opened offices across the globe; in Europe, the US and Asia.

Click here for Develop’s reportage on Zynga’s extraordinary growth.