Rumour - Zynga working on Unreal Engine-based "mid-core" games

Rumourmongers and analysts agree: Zynga will soon break away from the 2D games it's best known for.

PocketGamer cites anonymous sources for news that Zynga has made an Unreal Engine licensing deal. The company is said to be "refocusing" for upcoming games.

Analyst Colin Sebastion of Baird seems to have heard the same whispers.

"This summer, we believe that Zynga will announce a new game slate, including 'mid-core' titles that should appeal to a broader audience of gamers, as well as sequels to existing franchises, such as Farmville," he told Gamasutra.

We're a bit skeptical as Epic and partners tend to press release the heck out of their every move, but we'll do a bit of digging.

Zynga CEO Mark Pincus said recently that he hopes Zynga.com can become a service much like Xbox Live, and the social publisher will be in attendance at E3 to woo third parties.