Zynga Acquires Chinese Dev XPD Media, Beijing Office

Zynga has acquired the Beijing-based social game developer XPD Media for an undisclosed sum.  In addition, Zynga announced its intend to open a new Beijing studio that would serve as its second international branch office. Zynga opened a studio in Bangalore, India in March. XPD's 40 employees will immediately be integrated into Zynga's global workforce. 

XPD Media was one of China's largest social developers and one of the few to release its games internationally. The company's CEO, Robin Chen, will become Zynga's new General Manager of Asia Business Operations. XPD co-founder Andy Tian, one of Google China's first employees, will lead the Zynga Beijing studio. 

XPD marks Zynga's fourth major acquisition, following YoVille, Serious Business, and My Mini Life. Zynga usually acquires talent moreso than users and that appears to be the case with XPD. Zynga intends to hire a CTO, HR manager, and some software engineers to supplement the developers and engineers already on staff. 

Before this acquisition Zynga had no real presence in the Southeast Asian social game market, let alone the rapidly-growing Chinese market. Now it's joining competitors like RockYou and Playfish in trying to bring Western social games back into the world's first true virtual goods economy. The XPD acquisition brings Zynga's worldwide employee headcount to 846. 

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