PaidContent.org asked if virtual currencies can help bridge the gap between paid and free content in this article. It’s no surprise that “Virtual goods and micro-transactions have been driving the billion-dollar online games industry across Asia for years,” as the piece states. What’s most interesting is how virtual currencies can also help the online publishing market. The feature points to four points on how to make this happen, the right economic climate; getting people to pay in increments is easier than you think; readily adoptable payment platforms already exist – Obopay has one! – and future acquisitions and investments are on the horizon.
November 10th, 2009
Here’s a recap of press reporting at and surrounding the 2009 Virtual Goods Summit in San Francisco:
“Industry leaders talk top lessons on virtual goods” – Gamasutra.com
“IMVU.com proves fiscal stability while creating a gold standard with virtual worlds” – Examiner.com
“Mobile payments options evolve” – Wireless Week
“Consumers are spending lots of real money on virtual goods” – San Jose Mercury News
“U.S. Virtual Goods Market to Hit $1 Billion This Year” – Digital Media Wire
October 30th, 2009
The PlaySpan study recently showed a growth in virtual goods marketplace. As reported on TechCrunch, “31% of the total number of respondents said they have sold digital goods and 39% of the remaining 69% of respondents, expressed that they are either interested or very interested in doing so.” Soon the virtual goods fans will be able to do the same – over their mobile phones, The New York Times reported today.
“Itβs really a matter of trying to simplify the user experience and keep the user from having to re-enter confidential information, spread across the Web,β said Michael Ting, senior director of online payments at Obopay.
Maybe next on the virtual payments horizon? Buying virtual goods that also do good.
October 29th, 2009
As VentureBeat reports Obopay has announced its entrance into the online games market with the immediate availability of its mobile payment solution. Both users and online merchants will experience many advantages by using Obopay’s easy, secure and convenient mobile payment service. Users can mobilize their credit or debit card by linking it to their mobile phone number, making it easier and safer than ever to quickly purchase goods online. Online merchants can enjoy better economics and revenue opportunities with Obopay.
This mobile payment solution targeted for the social network market is a natural extension of Obopay’s existing product offering. There are significant synergies, in terms of demographic and usage patterns, between online gamers and the general mobile payments market.
“We are excited about the opportunity to bring our mobile payment expertise and credibility into the online payments market. The growth of the online game industry shows tremendous promise and is impacting the development and monetization of social networks,” said Carol Realini, founder and CEO of Obopay. “Obopay is making it easy and safe to purchase online games and digital goods. Our “stay, pay and play” solution benefits both the gamer and the merchant. This product launch further illustrates our commitment to bringing innovative solutions to a generation that trusts the power of their mobile phone.”
Features include:
- With Obopay’s online mobile payment solution, consumers can quickly and easily make purchases in-game with a credit or debit card. Returning users can simply use their mobile phone number and a PIN of their choosing to pay without having to disrupt the game experience or leave the application. When playing a game on the Facebook platform, for example, players would not need to be redirected to another site to make payments.
- Because users can “stay, pay and play,” the Obopay solution offers improved economics and increased conversion rates for merchants as they will stay longer in-game due to the positive user experience.
- The service also provides online merchants better revenue opportunities than carrier billing alternatives that require the merchants to give up a large part of their revenue to their payment provider and they can receive money from transactions faster.
- Already in live production today with online merchants and game publishers.
“While online games have been growing for some time, the biggest story of the past year had been the meteoric rise of social gaming and virtual goods,” commented David Cole, president, DFC Intelligence, a market research firm focused on video games, PC games, online games and interactive entertainment. “We forecast that over the next five years the worldwide online game market will nearly double to reach over $17 billion by 2014. Much of this growth will be driven by developers and merchants increasingly producing sophisticated online business models and payment platforms to maximize monetization.”
October 28th, 2009
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