Games on Facebook are big business. Companies like Zynga have made fortunes from having their games on the social networking giant. But will Facebook’s latest announcement change the social gaming landscape?

Mark Zuckerberg and co. have announced that their ‘Facebook credits’ system will become the mandatory form of virtual payment on the site come July 1st. The Facebook Credits system, launched in 2009, allows users to buy goods and earn money on social games. You only have to enter your details once and can pay using a credit card, gift cards, PayPal or their mobile phones. 10 Credits cost $1.

Sounds great, but what does this mean for social game developers like Zynga?

Well, Zynga and Playfish and the like are hardly going to be jumping for joy at the news. It basically adds up to them earning less and having less control at the same time. Although the majority of developers used Facebook Credits anyway, a sizeable proportion don’t. With the old system, they would keep the vast majority of any payments made, as they were direct. With the Credits system, developers keep 70 percent of revenue. This is a big jump and one which may force developers to seek other options than Facebook.

And there are other options…

Serial startup buyers Google dipped their considerable toes in the market in August, when they acquired virtual payment system Jambool. Not only that, Google also spent some of its gargantuan wedge on Slide and SocialDeck, as well as finding a spare $100 million to invest in a certain company called Zynga. This would imply that Facebook may not have the social gaming space all their own way for much longer.

With the purchase of Jambool and their other buys, as well as their already hugely impressive Web presence, Google looks to be building a social games space that could give Facebook a big kick in the derriere region. It also has to be noted that the search engine kings have acquired some more than useful expertise in the appointment of Johnny Chung Lee. Johnny being an important figure in the creation of  Microsoft’s Kinect gaming sensor.

All this adds up to a potential dilemma for Facebook. It has dominated all its rivals in the social space for years now, a waste ground of mauled competitors is a testament to that. But as it has got bigger and moved into different things it has taken on bigger rivals like Google, rivals that have the size to fight back. Facebook’s vastly superior user numbers always gave it the edge over its previous competition. They now can’t afford to rely on their size to win their battles.

For Facebook, the hard work really starts…NOW

What do you think of Facebook’s new system? Are they being too controlling to their clients and pushing them in to the hands of their rivals? Let us know your thoughts…