Facebook and Zynga are to end their close advertising partnership, in a move that will mean players on Farmville will no longer be able to share their social gaming progress with friends on the social network.
At its peak, Zynga’s Farmville attracted 82 million players a month- mostly accessing the farming time management game via Facebook.
However, this year Zynga set up its own games platform, leading to the two firms agreeing to end the deal that let players share their gaming progress on their Facebook newsfeed The change will take place from 31 March 2013.
The move also means it will no longer be required to display Facebook advertising on its own site.
Zynga’s share price fell by 13% in after-hours trading following the news.
It is the latest blow for the company, which last month announced job cuts and studio closures.
Facebook said the move would bring its relationship with Zynga in line with other games studios.
“We have streamlined our terms with Zynga so that Zynga.com’s use of Facebook Platform is governed by the same policies as the rest of the ecosystem,” the social network giant said in a statement. “We will continue to work with Zynga, just as we do with developers of all sizes.”
Facebook has not announced plans to build its own games platform.
Recent figures suggest 80% of Zynga’s revenue comes from Facebook users.
In an email to staff in October 2012, Zynga founder Mark Pincus said the company would close its Boston studio and consider closing studios in the UK and Japan as part of an “overall cost reduction plan”.
