Whether you are a gamer or a developer, this change will impact you!
Turns out, Facebook has listened to complaints about games crashing and the sluggish speed of most apps and has now decided to change over its gaming currency from Credits to local currency. Of course, they aren’t just throwing this at us untested. The change has been implemented by Peak, Playdom, Happy Elements, and Plarium as trial runs with phenomenal results! The best part is that developers can now set prices for in-game items based on the market. This means that users across the world will be able to see prices relevant to their currency and avoid any headaches.
Likewise, there should be less hiccups when trying to purchase an item within a game. The trial runs have shown that servers ran faster and payment completion moved quicker when games were switched over to local currency.
Developers: switch before it’s too late!
If you are a developer/company that has a Facebook game out there, then you need to switch ASAP! Facebook announced the change in late March and has given developers a 90-day deadline. In other words, if you haven’t converted to the new currency system by Sept. 12, then you don’t get any money.
On that day, Facebook will stop supporting Facebook Credits and any of you still wishing to earn piles of money off of our addictions will need to be on the local currency system. If you aren’t, you will be left with a profitless game until you make the change.
So, other than continuing to make money, what are the perks for developers and how will they impact the little man playing the app?
Payer Promotions. No matter how you implement it, Payer Promotions gets you more paying players. It’s relatively easy to set up and Facebook will sponsor the the promotion.
Plus these promotions could be great for players who aren’t currently paying to play your app. The promotions give them discounts on items that require them to pay. Most times, this has them coming back for more even if it takes more money out of the bank.
Money! Facebook has stated in the FAQs section about local currency that companies will not be losing any money through this transaction. So you will still get payout in USD and there will be no cut in the 70% revenue that you receive for your games.
This is good news for us gamers because it means that companies won’t need to up the ante in order to match their previous profits.
And, of course, performance! Changing to the local currency system will significantly increase game performance. This will draw more players into your apps and have them playing more often.
If you want more information as a developer or if you are just a gamer interested in knowing more about the changes to come then look at the following:
- Local Currency Payments
- Payments Best Practices
- Supported Currencies (there are a ton!)
- How To: Local Currencies Payments
- Integration Updates (Particularly helpful for companies! Check it out!)
And don’t forget to tell us what you think of this change!
If you are a representative of a company, what is your company’s feelings on the matter?
And if you are a gamer, do you have any concerns or are you all for the change?
Published: Jun 6, 2013 08:10 pm