If you’re an owner of a game console you’re probably familiar with the concept of platform specific currency – Xbox Live and Wii points, for example. Facebook has its own form of imaginary currency in the form of Facebook credits. Now, Facebook wants to make this the only form of currency for purchases across the platform, whereas previously they allowed games to monetize however they liked.
The switch will occur on July 1, 2011, and it has some developers a bit peeved. While the move makes the platform more unified and easier to understand for users, it does hurt Facebook developer’s bottom line. Much like Microsoft on Xbox Live, Facebook takes a 30% cut on purchases. Some of the smaller developers don’t like this, calling the move “dictatorial”.
For larger developers like Popcap and PlayFirst, the move is business as usual – many of the larger games have already adopted Facebook credits, seeing them as a way to bring in more business than less. In an in-depth report by Gamasutra, Kavin Stewart of developer Lolapps summarized the benefits best: “Yes. This is a good thing for the community because it puts game developer interests in much clearer alignment with Facebook’s. It’s a strong statement on their part that they care about making games huge on Facebook.”
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