Zynga offering office space, employee time to edugame incubator

Co.Lab, a game development incubator geared toward the production of educational games, showed off the early work of its first five-team cohort this Tuesday. A collaboration between the NewSchools Venture Fund and Zynga.org -- the charitable arm of the well-known social game developer -- Co.Lab was first announced this past May. The incubator provides funding and work resources for educational game devs. Unused Zynga office space serves as the teams' workspace. "We're excited to lend not just space, but, we hope, other talents at Zynga," said former Zynga CEO Mark Pincus at Tuesday's showcase. "I think there's already been an outpouring of interest from Zynga employees to get involved. Hopefully they don't join the companies permanently, but if that happens, we'll live with it." Zynga.org executive director Ken Weber, who refers to this involvement from Zynga employees as volunteered time, said Zynga employees who participate will be involved in many stages of the incubation cohort's development, from design to marketing and distribution. At the event, as All Things D reports, the five teams showed off the early fruits of their incubation, including apps for tracking child development, musical education software, and math training games. One of the teams, established educational tool publisher Edmodo, is aboard with the intent of distributing the other teams' creations.