Is EA bringing Need for Speed to Facebook?

EA reported recently in an earnings call to investors that its 'digital service' games revenue skyrocketed 46 percent to $211 million and its net income boosted fivefold from $30 million to a whopping $151 million compared to last year. However, as Inside Social Games reports, "digital service" games covers a swathe of properties--not just its Facebook games. Regardless, the company teased that it has 15 more "digital service" games in beta testing, which includes a potential social adaptation of its hit racing franchise, Need for Speed.

As for the other 14 mysterious games, not all of them necessarily have to be on Facebook, as EA's use of the phrase "digital service" games covers its 3D browser adaptations of franchises like PGA Golf and FIFA Soccer. But according to the company, the FIFA franchise alone raised a sweet $100 million in revenue, though how much of that is thanks to FIFA Superstars for Facebook isn't clear.

Speaking of which, just how well is EA doing on Facebook? Well, the company still sits in third place behind Badoo (a dating app) and the immovable Zynga with 34.5 million monthly players across all of its social games, according to AppData. That's only a hair above CrowdStar's 31 million, but miles ahead of Playdom's paltry 21.7 million. However, that number is boosted by 27 games that don't even reach 1 million monthly players, with Playfish's Pet Society sitting pretty at number one with 9.5 million players.

In comparison to those below it, EA and Playfish seem to be doing just fine, and they're not far from claiming the coveted second place slot. (Though, in the social games space, they're already there.) It sure is enough to keep Playfish afloat, who drives most of EA's revenue, so don't worry about Pet Society going anywhere. What we should worry about, however, are these 14 other games that EA is waving in our faces.

Considering EA's recent partnership with Hasbro to bring Monopoly Millionaires to Facebook, we could very well see more games come of that. Board game adaptations seem to do well on Facebook, so why not bring in even deeper games like Risk or Trivial Pursuit? How about Twister?

Would you play Need for Speed on Facebook? What other games do you think EA is brewing up on the platform?

Zynga may soon name its price, as its IPO road show starts Monday

Interested in buying up a chunk of Zynga, eh? Well, the FarmVille maker just may name its price very shortly, as Fortune reports that the company will begin to pony around to investors next Monday. And with that, Zynga will likely make another amendment to its S-1 filing with the Security and Exchanges Commission (SEC) that would reveal its asking price for public shares along with how many shares will be made available.

Zynga filed for its initial public offering (IPO) way back in June of this year, and it finally looks like it's time to pull back the curtain and start taking offers. According to Fortune, company CEO Mark Pincus will join COO John Schappert (of EA fame) and CFO David Wehner in the dog and pony show to get investors excited about diving into Zynga, or ZNGA as it will appear on the Nasdaq.

The creator of top social games like CityVille seeks to raise $1 billion as a result of its IPO. Some expect a valuation, or projected worth of a company based on several factors, between $15 and $20 billion. That would make Zynga not only the most valuable social games company in the world, but the most valuable game company. Period. Well, that is if investors can look past Zynga employees driven to tears under company pressure.

[Via Inside Social Games]

If given the chance, would you ever invest in Zynga? Do you the company could become the most valuable game maker in the world?