Today Zong announced that it would partner with the online games portal Outspark to provide mobile payment options to users looking to purchase Sparkcash, the site's virtual currency. The announcement seems to be its way of returning fire as the mobile payment wars heat up. Newcomer Boku crashed into the space claiming the greatest reach thanks to its purchase of rivals Paymo and Mobillcash, while Zong is now claiming the most extensive network of direct carrier connections (over 100).
"We’re thrilled to partner with Outspark. Given Outspark’s gaming
offerings, its target audience and its virtual currency & goods based
model, Zong is a highly complementary and valuable payment option for
Outspark users," said David Marcus, Founder and CEO, Zong. "The
partnership allows us to introduce the mobile billing concept to a
large, growing and global audience of Outspark members, many of whom we
expect to be high-frequency users of the easy-to-use Zong mobile billing
service."
The Outspark portal primarily operates MMORPGs, where users can spend purchased Sparkcash on virtual goods to use in playing otherwise-free games like Fiesta, Secret of the Solstice, Wind Slayer, and Project Powder. The addition of mobile payment methods will probably help Outspark monetize younger users, who are unlikely to have credit cards but very likely to have prepaid phone cards provided by their parents. Outspark is famous for drawing very high ARPPU rates, so giving customers extra payment methods can't possibly hurt the company's margins.
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