THE COMPANY BEHIND the massively popular Facebook games Farmville, Cityville and Mafia Wars has officially opened its European headquarters in Dublin.

Zynga, founded just four years ago, officially opened its European headquarters in Ballsbridge this morning, and is already seeking applications for vacancies there.

The wave of new jobs comes as part of a major international expansion for the company, which specialises in developing games for social platforms like Facebook and MySpace, as well as for mobile platforms like the iPhone.

Most of the games are free to play for their users, but then charge for the sale of virtual items in the games – such as livestock or plants in Farmville, and industrial materials in the related Cityville.

Zynga’s games are played by around 250 million people worldwide, with Farmville currently boasting 3.5 million regular monthly players two years after it first came to prominence.

The company also has 200 job vacancies at premises across the United States, as well as dozens in Bangalore, Beijing and Frankfurt. It also has offices in Cork.

It is reportedly preparing to file for a public flotation by the end of this month.