Facebook and Zynga  announced today that they have entered into a five-year strategic relationship that increases the use of Facebook Credits in Zynga’s social games. This is clearly a message that the two companies are planning a future together based on Facebook’s up and coming Credits currency. Unfortunately the two companies are not disclosing any details about the new partnership. I imagine this is to assure people that Zynga is not planning to make any drastic moves to separate from Facebook, although the press release does not refer to anything about where the games live.

Certainly, a five year strategic deal is important for Zynga, who had been rumored to be separating from Facebook. This ensures that they are not alienating any of their Facebook players around the world. At the same time, as seen in the message from CEO Mark Pincus below, they clearly state they are looking at other platform providers and this is anything but exclusive.

“Facebook was a pioneer in opening their platform in 2007 and in just three years tens of millions of Facebook users play our games every day, from FarmVille and Café World to Treasure Isle and Mafia Wars,” said Mark Pincus, founder and chief executive officer at Zynga. “We are excited about Facebook’s long-term commitment to social gaming and Zynga, and look forward to working with them and other platform providers to bring the best social gaming experience to users worldwide.”

The Facebook COO also released a statement, and it confuses more than clarifies as there is no indication of what the deal will do other than ensure that Facebook Credits live on the system.

“We are pleased to enter into a new agreement with Zynga to enhance the experience for Facebook users who play Zynga games,” said Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer at Facebook. “We look forward to continuing our work with Zynga and all of our developers to increase the opportunities on our platform.”

We’ll do some digging and let you know more about this as we find out.