Playdom eyes a bigger Facebook presence by acquiring Offbeat Games

Online games provider Playdom, one of the big three social gaming publishers, has acquired Facebook game developer Offbeat Creations. The news comes via TechCrunch, which reports that Offbeat Creations’ founders will join Playdom at its Seattle offices. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Playdom has seen most of its success with MySpace games, and it expanded into Facebook with Poker Palace in March. According to numbers from November, TechCrunch reports that Playdom has 28 million monthly users — with 60 percent of its traffic coming from MySpace and the remaining 40 percent from Facebook. By purchasing Offbeat Creations — whose game lineup includes “Super Farkle” and “Be a Tycoon” — the company would lay claim to a bigger presence on Facebook.

Things have been going well for Playdom and for the social gaming space in general. In November, we reported that the company had raised $43 million in funding and was valued at $260 million. Playdom also rocked the gaming industry when it nabbed Electronic Art’s Chief Operating Officer, John Pleasants, as its chief executive over the summer.

Playdom and its rivals, Zynga and Playfish, together reportedly earned more than $300 million in revenue by selling virtual goods in 2009.

Playdom is based in Mountain View, Calif., and raised the aforementioned $43 million in first-round funding from New Enterprise Associates, Rick Thompson, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Norwest Venture Partners.

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