02/01/2011
Facebook Currency Will
Make Company A Fortune
Facebook, seeking to
develop revenue streams beyond advertising is going to demand that
all developers of games on their social networking service use its
in-house credits-payment system, as of July 1, 2011.
Credits can be used
to buy virtual goods and pay for other services in games that people
play on Facebook. The company began testing the credits-payment
system as a form of currency with some developers in 2009. They are
now used in more than 350 applications from 150 developers,
representing more than 70% of virtual goods’ transactions volume on
Facebook.
Facebook users can
buy credits with a credit card — which cost $1 for a set of 10 —
from mobile phones, through gift cards sold at grocery stores and
convenience stores, as well as by using eBay’s PayPal payment
service. Facebook takes a 30% cut on sales of credits, compared to
eBay’s PayPal which take 3% of all transactions.
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