Zynga recently signed a five-year deal to use Facebook Credits on most of its games (excluding Texas Hold’Em Poker), so the company isn’t likely to be introducing a new system anytime soon. But Zynga may be able to use the future development of such a system as a bargaining chip in future negotiations on other issues involving the two companies. Facebook is widely assumed to take a 30% cut of transactions utilizing its Credits, so it’s not hard to see why Zynga might want to make up this drain by getting some claw backs in other areas.
SharesPost, a secondary market that allows shareholders in a private company to trade shares, pegs Zynga’s current value at $5.27b.