Live Gamer announced today that THQ has chosen them to provide an e-commerce solution for the publisher's online and mobile games. The first title to use Live Gamer’s Elements platform will be Company of Heroes Online, which will be launching later this year in the United States and Canada. Other titles utilizing Live Gamer’s virtual commerce system will include multiple planned social games for Facebook.
"In-game virtual items have become increasingly popular with gamers today, and not only offer them a more immersive experience, but also give game publishers a viable and profitable revenue stream," said Martin Good, THQ Executive Vice President, Kids, Family, Casual Games, and Global Online Services. "Live Gamer offers the most complete platform for integrating a virtual economy into our games. We view this as a critical component of our complete online game delivery platform for THQ's growing portfolio of online games."
Live Gamer was founded 2007 and built on experience dating back to 2001, when N-Cash (now Live Gamer Asia) enabled the first micro-transaction-based online title in Korea. Since then, the business model has grown in Asia and spread recently to the rest of the world with the social gaming boom. The market is estimated to bring in almost $7 billion worldwide by 2015, with Live Gamer being a large part of brand-new initiatives by classic publishers.
"Major game publishers like THQ are tapping into the growing virtual goods market more than ever," said Live Gamer President Andrew Schneider. "We've watched this industry evolve since its inception and today, virtual economies have become the driving force in the online gaming business. THQ is at the forefront of game development across the globe, and we look forward to helping them grow their business model for years to come."
