RockYou Signs Five-Year Facebook Credits Deal

Social game publisher RockYou has signed a deal that would make Facebook Credits the exclusive cash-based virtual currency in its games for the next five years. It was already clear that RockYou was going Credits-exclusivey, but previously the terms of the deal were unknown. Zynga and CrowdStar are the only other developers that have signed five-year deals with Facebook, and only CrowdStar's deal specified Credits exclusivity. LOLapps has also gone Credits-exclusive, but under undisclosed terms. Zynga's deal allowed Credits to come into certain games, but still allowed the publisher to use its own cash-based virtual currencies and make its own payment deals with third parties. 

Credits are currently in "testing" in over 150 Facebook apps, with a formal launch due almost any day now. Developers who use Facebook Credits give up 30% of the transaction value to Facebook, a much bigger cut than the 5% to 10% that third parties like Social Gold traditionally take. Facebook says this is because it's building extensive infrastructure so it can take care of all aspects of microtransaction payments in-house, an effort that is much like building a banking system in terms of complexity and cost. 

Once Credits are standard in major games, Facebook thinks more users will buy virtual goods. CrowdStar says its revenues jumped 50% after it instated Credits as the sole cash-based virtual currency in its games. RockYou's Chief Revenue Office Lisa Marino says that RockYou has generated more revenue with Credits than its own virtual currency, too. 

[via VentureBeat]

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