Kara Swisher

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Zynga Makes Another Acquisition: Conduit Labs

It looks like the San Francisco-based gaming company is going to suck up social gaming start-ups, one city at a time.

Today, it announced the acquisition of Cambridge, Mass.-based Conduit Labs, which specializes in social music games. It will now become Zynga Boston.

In what feels like a modified roll-up strategy, Zynga has done this recently in Austin, Los Angeles and other cities, to expand its studio operations geographically.

Zynga did not disclose the price it paid for Conduit Labs, which raised $8.5 million in funding from Charles River Ventures and Prism VentureWorks.

Here is the official press release:

ZYNGA ACQUIRES CONDUIT LABS

SAN FRANCISCO–Aug. 17, 2010–Zynga today announced it has acquired Boston-based social games company Conduit Labs. Effective immediately, the Conduit Labs office will become Zynga Boston, a new game studio focused on new product development. Today’s announcement expands Zynga’s studio operations, adding to locations already in San Francisco, Austin, Baltimore, Bangalore, Beijing and Los Angeles. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Conduit Labs’ CEO, Nabeel Hyatt, will become head of the new Boston studio. The Conduit Labs team will be immediately integrated into Zynga’s workforce. Conduit Labs, founded in 2007 and funded by Charles River Ventures and Prism VentureWorks, has developed several free-to-play social games for the web.

“Boston is an epicenter for technology and has a strong talent market, making it an ideal location for us to expand operations,” said Mike Verdu, senior vice president of games at Zynga. “As one of the most prominent social game companies in Boston, the Conduit team shares a similar culture and drive with Zynga, and together we anticipate great successes from our new studio.”

Today’s acquisition, along with the recently announced joint venture with SoftBank for the launch of Zynga Japan, continues to extend the company’s footprint worldwide, creating more opportunities for Zynga to connect the world through games.

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