Russian consortium pours $180 million into social games firm Zynga

Social gaming company Zynga has a massively different approach towards making money from computer and video games to the major console players, but it appears to be making every bit as much.

According to a report on Mashable, Russian venture capital firm Digital Sky Technologies (DST) just spearheaded a whopping $180 million investment round - not only buying directly into Zynga, but also purchasing privately owned shares from the founders and employees.

This is the same tactic DST took when pouring money into Facebook, and its interest in Zynga now raises the value of FarmVille and Mafia Wars to a staggering $1.5 - $3 billion.

FarmVille recently became the most played online game in the world, with a staggering 65 million players. It becomes more apparent every day that social is the new hardcore.