Continuing its acquisitions drive, social gaming giant Zynga has bought Drop7 developer Area/Code for an undisclosed sun.

As well as iPhone games, the New York studio developed games such as location-based title Plundr, and CSI: Crime City on Facebook for Ubisoft.

On its website, the company said "We are excited to announce that, as of today, the Area/Code team will be joining Zynga. Area/Code Games is now Zynga New York."

Frank Lantz will remain creative director and Demetri Detsaridis general manager. The terms of the deal weren't disclosed

Looking forward

"This is the number one reason the studio is evolving: we want to make great games on a large scale," Area/Code continued.

"Our ambition is to contribute in a major way to the evolution of games on social networks, to make games in this space that are deeper and more interesting, games that reward the time and attention of the millions of people who play them with complex, meaningful experiences.

"We believe our best shot at doing this is working with Zynga, the biggest, most successful company in this space."

The deal is Zynga's ninth acquisition in eight months. Early in January, it bought social browser outfit Flock, demonstrating both its appetite for deals, and its latitude in terms of the social technologies it thinks are relevant to its future business.

[source: Area/Code]