BWI: PlaySpan Launches Virtual Goods Marketplace on Leading Social Networking Sites

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: PlaySpan India Pvt Ltd
Friday, July 17, 2009 10:35 AM IST (05:05 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, Entertainment; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Banking & financial services, Information technology; Technology
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PlaySpan Launches Virtual Goods Marketplace on Leading Social Networking Sites
Publishers and Game Creators Can Now Plug into Social Commerce in Today's Most Popular Platforms

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Friday, July 17, 2009 -- (Business Wire India) -- PlaySpanT, the leader in monetization solutions for online games, virtual worlds, and social networks, today announced a new marketplace storefront for Facebook, and coming soon to MySpace, which enables consumers to purchase online game items, virtual goods, and game currencies from many of today's most popular online games and applications.

The news marks the first time that consumers will have the ability to participate in a universal virtual goods commerce marketplace that also enables them to buy, trade, and sell goods within social networks and use the items in their online game environments. The application provides game developers and publishers a massive new social networking based distribution channel to engage consumers within the context of their social graph.

"Our social network marketplace takes online game commerce experiences to the next level. We are bridging the gap between gaming on and off social networks through a common monetization platform," said Karl Mehta, Founder & CEO of PlaySpan. "Providing our marketplace application to hundreds of millions of consumers on the social networks will significantly help them to conduct virtual goods transactions across multiple platforms, as well as engage their friends in the process through gifting, trading, and sharing."

"Combining the PlaySpan marketplace with our existing monetization solutions within the social networks and online communities like Facebook and MySpace signals a giant step forward for publishers and developers who want to make virtual goods available to consumers wherever they are," said Lex Bayer, General Manager of Social Networks at PlaySpan and Co-Founder of SpareChange. "By uploading their items into the PlaySpan market place, publishers will tap into a syndicated distribution model that places their items in store fronts that span gaming sites, online portals, and social networking sites."

Facebook users can go to the following page to start utilizing the marketplace:
http://apps.facebook.com/sparechange/landing.html

About PlaySpan, Inc.

PlaySpanT is the leader in monetization solutions for over 1,000 online games, virtual worlds, and social networks. PlaySpan's patent-pending in-game virtual goods commerce and micropayment platform enables game publishers and developers to generate new revenues, acquire new users, and extend the loyalty of existing users.

PlaySpan also offers global payment solutions through its subsidiary PayByCash® with 85 payment methods in 180 countries. The ULTIMATE GAME CARD® is used by consumers to pay for 300 multiplayer games and around 700 games on popular social networking sites. It is available in about 45,000 retail locations across North America and growing rapidly worldwide.

Social network payment solutions are available through Spare Change©. Acquired by PlaySpan in April 2009, Spare Change is the first and leading payments platform designed specifically for social networks. Featured on over 700 applications, across Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, Spare Change empowers developers to successfully monetize their applications through micro payments. The Spare Change platform enables users to make safe, convenient, and friendly 1-click purchases through a variety of funding sources.

PlaySpan is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in Virginia, Ohio, and Mumbai. Investors include Easton Capital, Menlo Ventures, STIC and Novel TMT Ventures. The company has recently won the 2009 OnHollywood Category Award for Best Gaming Company.

For more information about PlaySpan, visit http://corp.playspan.com
For more information about Spare Change visit: www.sparechangepayments.com


CONTACT DETAILS
Vinayak Rao, PlaySpan India Pvt Ltd, +91 9820045958, Vinayak.rao@playspan.com

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, ENTERTAINMENT, MARKETING, BANKING, IT, TECHNOLOGY

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