Rather than resist the mandate from Facebook to use their in-house credit system, EA-owned Playfish has decided to switch over early. The mandate requires all games on Facebook to use Facebook Credits, forcing many developers to stop using their own forms of virtual money.
EA signed a five-year deal with Facebook back in November, already showing their intent to use Facebook’s system for some time now. Playfish will join with the parent company ahead of the July 1 deadline.
“It’s actually something we’re excited to get behind because we think that having individual game currencies in connection with Facebook Credits is a better user experience,” said Playfish vice president of Publishing and Product Management, C.J. Prober. “So going through that hurdle over the next couple of months will get us to that end point.
“We’ve always taken the high road and really been focused on the consumers from everything from virality to payment methods. Credits provides a much more seamless purchasing experience across the whole platform.”
On the bright side, the switch will help out with balancing economies thanks in part to the standardized system. “It’s one of those things that gives our game teams more independence around how they think about building up their economies, planning out their features, how they think about pricing.”
Those already using Playfish Cash can switch over to Facebook Credits on a 1-to-1 exchange rate from now until June 30. A free exclusive digital item will be awarded for the inconvenience to all that transfer over.
[Thanks Inside Social Games]
