Zynga makes bank; Facebook apps still have VC potential

I read about Zynga's $29 million round of VC funding [wsj.com] just after getting home from Bill Bryant's StartPad presentation "Venture Capital - The Good, Bad and Ugly".  Considering that just last week I was reading about VC's going dry on Facebook apps, the timing couldn't be better.

Zynga seems to have found the magic formula - build a simple, immersive experience that Facebook is not likely to copy. Games are just the ticket - they are getting tons of casual gamer eyeballs and keeping those eyes glued to the game for long periods. There's no better ad opportunity on Facebook.

What about Zynga's next step - are they going to really push their developer platform? They have the chance to be a huge casual gaming platform, but their big Series B round must be going chiefly to developing new first-party games. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the third-party story.