Lady Gaga agrees Zynga deal

Social games firm Zynga has inked a deal to promote Born This Way, the new album from Lady Gaga. The partnership involves a virtual ‘GagaVille’ farm in its FarmVille game, a contest in its mobile social game Words With Friends, and other elements.

The GagaVille farm will let fans unlock streams of songs from the album in advance of its release by completing quests. Meanwhile, Words With Friends will have a daily ‘Words With Gaga’ contest, offering prizes including gig tickets and signed albums.

"I want to celebrate and share Born This Way with my little monsters in a special way that’s never been done before," says Gaga in a statement. "Zynga has created a magical place in FarmVille where my fans can come play, and be the first to listen to the album."

Zynga will also be bundling a free digital download of the album in with $25 Zynga Game Cards sold through US retailer Best Buy, and will be selling Lady Gaga virtual items across its games, including FarmVille but also CityVille, Mafia Wars, Zynga Poker and others.

The deal is one of the first big partnerships between a music artist and Zynga, although other social games publishers like Booyah and MXP4 have been working with artists before.

Story originally published on ME