The well-known online gaming company, Zynga, is opening a development studio in India, according to a report from Reuters.

The company expects to double the number of its employees working at the Indian studio by the end of 2011, Reuters adds.

The company said it will hire 100 new employees during 2011 for the studio located in Bangalore, bringing the total to 200. Some 50 of the new employees will be working on game development.

The Bangalore office will be company’s largest office for any location outside of the United States, Reuters said. Currently, Zynga has some 1,500 employees, with that number increasing as the company expands. Zynga is a privately-held company.

TechZone360 reports that Zynga is reported to have a value of between $7 billion and $9 billion, according to a recent story in the Wall Street Journal. That is a definite increase from last April, when the company gave a value of about $4 billion, according to the Journal.

Reuters adds that Zynga's games are popular on Facebook. Yet, the company is moving toward more games that can be played on mobile devices, Reuters said.

In a related matter, the company recently opened Zynga New York – where Frank Lantz is creative director and Demetri Detsaridis is general manager of the studio, according to a report from TechZone360.

Lantz worked on games for about two decades at several well-known companies, such as the Cartoon Network, Lifetime TV, VH1 and Lego.

Demetri was a co-founder of Massively Mobile, a London-based studio, TechZone360 said.

Late last year, Zynga announced the global launch of CityVille, a new social game which lets someone build a dream city from the ground up, according to a company press release.

CityVille debuted in five languages. It is Zynga’s first international game.

CityVille has features that allow players to build a city, interact with friends' cities, and build franchises with the help of friends, according to the press release.