Online and mobile gaming is an industry that continues to grow every year, especially surrounding the release of new technology. That growth is seen not only in the players, but the developers and businesses as well. Facebook has been near the center of this online growth as they combine online games with their social media platform. The result is a new breed of gaming and socialization that involves family, friends – and financial gain.
Facebook is now planning to expand their in-games purchase system, Facebook Credits, to offer gamers different methods to pay for their online purchases. The biggest headliner is a partnership with PayPal that will enable Facebook game junkies to purchase content using their online accounts. There's a good chance this will also include the credit cards that PayPal enables their users to link to a particular account. These methods are already being tested across several popular games and will most likely expand after the annual developers conference that is held in April.
Offering in-game purchases through PayPal is a great way to create new revenue streams for developers and businesses involved in the industry, but that is provided that the profits are distributed correctly. Facebook currently earns a 30% cut of all transactions on their site, which is arguably fair. If the other profits can primarily go to the developers there will ideally be a strong reinvestment in game quality so the user experience can continue to improve.
That said, is pushing product-based gaming really the right direction for the industry? Facebook certainly isn't doing anything wrong with their choice to further implement in-game purchasing with PayPal, but with such a giant social influence, there could eventually be an industrial backlash resulting from overemphasizing productization in games. Purchasing items that enhance the gameplay experience is a fine application, but its difficult to imagine a clean line between those types of purchases and real-world brand marketing.
What no gamer wants is to be bombarded with guady product advertisement in the middle of their fun, PayPal certified or not. Some games have found elegant and enjoyable ways to include investor sponsorships, particularly the sporting industry. Snowboarding apparel, various sports equipment, food and beverage campaigns– they often line the walls of any arena one might play in. This is usually an unjarring experience because it only emulates the day-to-day realism we are exposed to in such places.
Maintaining that level of advertising in the social media realm will be far more difficult. With as diverse of an audience as possible, it will be tempting to businesses to squeeze every sale possible from a well-place ad or product plug. And considering how easy it is to make payments using PayPal, every gamer will be just as tempted since they'll be mere clicks away from buying those digital dodads. Hopefully, there will be pleasant limits on how imposing these options are to gamers, while trying to provide meaningful revenue and support to small developers that try delivering quality experiences to their fans.
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