Social Gold CEO, Vikas Gupta, spoke on a panel at the Flash Gaming Summit in San Francisco on Tuesday, March 9. The panel entitled, “Money in Flash: Next Gen Monetization of Flash Games,” was moderated by Atul Bagga of ThinkEquity and brought together monetization companies and publishers to examine and discuss the monetization of flash games. Chris Hughes of FlashGameLicense.com, Justin Wong of Mochi Media and Jim Greer of Kongregate were also on the panel.

The definition of a gamer is expanding to include a broader audience since the growing popularity of social and casual online games. Bagga opened the discussion by asserting that gamers are willing to spend money, but companies in the U.S. have not capitalized on monetizing these games as successfully as China, which experienced great revenue growth with the free-to-play model. There is great potential to increase revenue by providing social and casual games with a virtual economy platform.

While multiplayer online games have been monetized for a longer time, panelists asserted that monetizing single player games is somewhat new. Despite whether a game is a single player or multiplayer experience, though, providing an engaging experience is essential in achieving monetization. All panelists agreed that players will spend on virtual goods to enhance their game experience when they are immersed in gameplay. Furthermore, once users are engaged and make their first purchase, they tend to be spend again. Creating a quality game experience that hooks players in and inspires an initial transaction is essential when monetizing flash games.

We here at Social Gold provide a virtual goods platform for games and applications that allows for in-game payments. Users playing flash games can make payments and buy virtual goods without having to interrupt gameplay, which preserves the quality gaming experience for players, and this is essential for monetization. Preserving this experience through frictionless payments is our primary focus as we continue to innovate and build upon the online experience.

At the end of the panel, the panelists shared thoughts on future trends. It appears that casual, social and multiplayer games are converging and the popularity of social games is expanding rapidly. Since more users are willing to pay when engaged in these online games and virtual worlds, virtual goods will scale very well. There are great opportunities ahead for quality online and social games to be monetized when they offer users an engaging experience, and we’re looking forward to the future growth opportunities in this industry.

As always — sign up and get access to the Social Gold in-flash API at http://getsocialgold.com.

Today we announced a new partnership with GamerSafe, in which their community of over 10,000 online game developers and publishers will now have access to our in-Flash payments platform. Founded in 2009, GamerSafe is a powerful tool that allows developers and publishers to add high quality features into their online games, such as universally saved games, achievements, microtransactions, virtual currency and more. By offering Social Gold’s in-Flash payments platform, GamerSafe’s development community will be able to provide an unparalleled payments experience to their end users.

In-Flash GamerSafe purchase with Social Gold

We’re particularly excited to be working with GamerSafe because they provide Flash developers with a great ecosystem for creating robust online gaming experiences. Flash continues to be a dominant format for online game development, and so we’ve developed our in-Flash Payments API to manage payments securely and directly within Flash games. We anticipate that GamerSafe’s community of thousands of Flash developers will continue to adopt the microtransactions-based business model to support their online games, and we’re proud to provide our Social Gold platform, so that developers can generate sustained revenue as well as a provide a frictionless payments experience for end users.

For more information about GamerSafe, please visit http://gamersafe.com. You can sign up for Social Gold in-flash API at getsocialgold.com

We’re excited to announce new speakers for our first-ever Cha-Ching! Workshop: Realizing Revenues Through Virtual Economies. Participating in a new panel discussion focused on monetization of virtual goods, this new group of speakers consists of Trip Hawkins, CEO of Digital Chocolate, Lee Clancy, Senior Vice President of Product Management and General Manager of Direct Revenue at IMVU, Susan Wu, CEO of Ohai, and Charles Hudson, host of the Virtual Goods Summit and Social Gaming Summit (also formerly the VP of Business Development at Serious Business). The Cha-Ching! Workshop held on March 11, 2010 from 10:00am until 3:00pm PST at The Box SF in San Francisco will provide an educational and interactive forum for entrepreneurs, developers and business professionals to learn more about monetizing virtual goods and optimizing virtual economies.

“For our first workshop, we have made it a priority to bring in industry experts from the virtual goods space,” said Vikas Gupta, CEO of Social Gold and host of the Cha-Ching! Workshop. “We’re also taking a hands-on approach at the workshop to tackling the big issues that face our industry today, which makes the Cha-Ching! Workshop a unique and noteworthy event.”

“As the virtual goods market expands to global audiences, it presents new opportunities as well as distinctive challenges. The Cha-Ching! Workshop enables industry leaders the opportunity to come together and share insights into furthering the growth of this expanding marketplace,” said Hudson.

The Cha-Ching! Workshop will feature industry experts sharing their stories, experiences and knowledge, as well as engaging with current and future leaders in the innovative micropayments and virtual currency space. John Zdanowski, CFO of Avatar Reality, makers of Blue Mars (formerly of Linden Lab, makers of Second Life) will provide a keynote on insights on the growth of the virtual economy. Additionally, a variety of hot-button topics will be circulated throughout the room so that teams can discuss, brainstorm and conduct collaborative presentations based on their expertise and interests.

Cha-Ching! Workshop topics include:
• Merchandising strategies for virtual goods
• Building products for a global audience
• Sustaining growth in virtual worlds
• Social games – year in review and emerging trends
• Casual games – challenges, best practices and paths to success

As part of our ongoing initiative to provide 100% coverage of currency and payments support everywhere in the world, we’re proud to announce that the Social Gold platform now enables customers to purchase virtual goods in their local currencies. Currencies already live include Euros, Pounds, Swiss Francs, Danish and Norwegian Krone, Swedish Krona, Canadian Dollars and Australian Dollars. We will be expanding our offering to support additional currencies over the course of this year.

Users can switch the default currency if they want

In addition to enabling customers to purchase in their local currencies, we will soon be revealing our partners for support of local payment methods in global regions. Audiences in different markets prefer diverse payment methods, so we’re building direct integrations with regional payment providers so that customers can purchase goods online by whichever method they prefer – whether that’s using credit and debit cards, mobile payments, cash or bank transfers. Additionally, we will ensure that exchange rates, regulations and local fees don’t get in the way of profits and market penetration for publishers.

Along with this, we have also optimized the customer purchasing experience: customers who enter the Social Gold payments platform locally from a specific region are automatically provided the choice of their local payment methods and the local currency. By listing the local payment methods at the onset of the purchasing interface, this ensures a seamless user experience and that the customer is never neglected from a monetization standpoint based on their local region. Unlike payment platforms where a customer must review countless payment options on a single page, through the Social Gold platform, customers only see the payment methods most relevant to them. Additionally, the default payment methods are further personalized based on most common usage. Customers can also override the default currency, and bring up non-local payment methods if they choose, and this does not disrupt the user experience.

Stay tuned for upcoming details on our partnerships with regional payment providers!

This year we’re participating in full force at the 2nd Annual Flash Gaming Summit (www.flashgamingsummit.com). Hosted by Mochi Media, the Flash Gaming Summit brings together leaders in the industry to share insights and strategies for monetization, distribution and analytics. 

Our co-founder and CEO, Vikas Gupta, will be speaking on a panel called “Money in Flash: Next Gen Monetization of Flash Games” with Mochi Media CEO Jameson Hsu, Kongregate CEO Jim Greer, and FlashGameLicense.com co-founder Chris Hughes (moderated by Atul Bagga of ThinkEquity). This elite group of panelists will discuss the current state of the flash gaming market as well as the opportunities and potential challenges of monetizing flash games. We invite you to come listen in on the panel at 10:00am on March 8 at the Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF. 

Additionally, we are proud to be Gold Sponsors for the Flash Gaming Summit the year, and will have a booth setup at the conference. Please feel free to swing by and say hello, or email us at business@jambool.com to coordinate a time to meet. We hope to see you there!

To learn more about the event and register to attend, please visit: http://fgsummit2010.eventbrite.com/. Feel free to use our discount code to receive 15% off your registration: jambool15

Social Gold, the leading virtual currency and payments solution for thousands of online games and virtual worlds, recently announced a new workshop series focused on virtual currencies called “Cha-Ching” along with the launch of the Social Gold panel of virtual goods economists. Panelists include John Zdanowski, CFO of Avatar Reality, makers of Blue Mars (formerly of Linden Lab, makers of Second Life) and Prakash Ramamurthy, CTO of LifeLock (formerly of Gaia Online), who will also be providing keynotes at the first workshop. Both Zdanowski and Ramamurthy bring extensive experience in virtual currencies, product strategy and financial modeling for Internet businesses. The Cha-Ching Workshop series will feature panels and discussions with thought leaders in the virtual goods industry to discuss casual games, social games and virtual worlds. The first workshop focused on “The Virtual Economy” will be held on March 11, 2010 from 10:00am until 2:00pm PST in San Francisco at The Box SF just two blocks from the Moscone Center.

“As the virtual goods market continues to grow, virtual currencies will play a larger role in the core monetization strategy for publishers,” said Vikas Gupta, host of the Cha-Ching Workshop. “As such, it has become increasingly important for thought leaders in this industry to collaborate together, and we’ve created the Cha-Ching Workshop to facilitate this discussion.”

The Cha-Ching Workshop will offer a half-day of panels and talks dedicated to the key fundamental drivers of virtual currencies. It will bring together the luminaries from casual games, social games and virtual worlds in a collaborative environment with the goal to encourage cross-vertical learning. A group of experts will cover topics ranging from effective virtual goods strategies and monetization of virtual goods to building a virtual currency business online. Following the keynote discussion, a variety of hot-button topics will be circulated throughout the room so that teams can discuss, brainstorm and conduct mini-presentations based on their expertise and interests. Through these interactive events, the Cha-Ching workshop series will be a significant driver in encouraging leaders in the virtual goods space to collaborate.

Keynote speaker John Zdanowski was the CFO of Linden Lab from 2003 to 2006 as the Second Life economy grew from $10 million to a half a billion dollars annually. “I’m excited about the Cha-Ching Workshop as a place for industry participants to discuss the unique challenges associated with managing virtual economies, currencies, fraud and payment systems. I will be sharing insights learned from growing Second Life’s successful virtual economy and how we’re approaching building a new one in Blue Mars,” said Zdanowski. 

Having recently joined LifeLock as CTO this year, keynote speaker Prakash Ramamurthy was most recently the Senior VP of Product Management and Engineering for Gaia Online, and formerly the VP of Identity Management and Security Products for Oracle. “While the virtual goods market is expected to exceed $1.6 billion this year there is still much opportunity to grow, and the Cha-Ching Workshop series serves to address the challenges of operating virtual economies as well as identify the solutions to help foster the growth of this industry,” said Ramamurthy.

For more information on the Cha-Ching Workshop, please contact Social Gold at chaching@jambool.com

Social Gold and Women in Games International (WIGI) will be hosting its 3^rd annual mixer at GDC 2010 on Wednesday, March 10 from 6:00pm – 9:00pm. This year’s industry exclusive VIP party will be will be held at one of the most unique venues in San Francisco — the California Historical Society Museum located a few blocks away from Moscone Center. The reception will bring together innovative developers, publishers, and top leaders from the industry along with great food, drinks, and plenty of excitement. 

The Social Gold team visited New York City last week as part of the Virtual Goods Conference at the Engage! Expo, held at theJacob K. Javits Center.  Sharing the spotlight with the 107th International Toy Fair, the Virtual Goods Conference gave us an opportunity not only to provide shelter to blizzard victims seeking warmth in the Social Gold V.I.P. Lounge, but to connect with other leading members of the virtual goods industry. Opening up dialogue on the current and future state of the virtual goods industry is something we constantly seek out and encourage among our industry peers.

The two-day event was highlighted with our very own Mike Haswell speaking on the “Getting Paid: Payment Systems That Power Virtual Goods” panel. The panel focused on the necessary steps in building and implementing a payment solution for virtual worlds and social games. As Mike pointed out during the session, the keys to maximizing revenue in the virtual goods market are having a proper currency in place, analytics to assess virtual ecosystems, and delivering the best payments method to enable purchases. Specifically, in regards to payments, targeting and matching the right payment method for the right users is essential, and platforms such as Social Gold that remove all friction from the user experience help convert visitors into purchasers of virtual goods. Mike also shared that publishers have noticed an increased conversion rate of 30-50% after having implemented the Social Gold platform into their virtual economy.

The juxtaposition of the Engage! Expo with Toy Fair was an interesting combination of two separate, yet somewhat similar worlds. Both the virtual good and the retail toy deliver a level of entertainment to the average consumer. However, while the retail toymaker must navigate the current troubled economy with only a partial understanding of their consumer base, the virtual goods provider has an amazing advantage in today’s world of digital consumption. As Mike pointed out on the panel, virtual goods providers can carefully use analytics to identify and connect with consumers. Having the ability to key in on the right payment methods, price points, and overall spending behavior within a virtual economy allows publishers of virtual worlds and games the ability to react in real-time. Unlike their retail counterparts, virtual goods providers can adjust to and fit the exact needs of consumers within their own ecosystems immediately.  

Additionally, judging by the New York City weather, obtaining a virtual good through digital distribution is likely more desirable than hitting the streets in a desperate search for a product sitting on a shelf at a local retailer not so near you. 

Here’s a quick intro to getting set up with payments within your flash games. Sign up and start making money today in your flash games!

Monetizing your international user base is not an easy task. Having a global user base inherently means that a very diverse user base is involved. When you game is playable on social networks that reach players in multiple countries around the world, you are dealing with hundreds of countries, even more languages, a wide variety of preferred payment methods and a large number of local currencies. Therefore, it is imperative that your payments solution is comprehensive to provide full coverage across international markets.

Money from around the world

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicmcphee/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

The idea of successfully catering to local needs in a global market can be daunting. When monetizing an online game, there is the added complexity that users in different parts of the world prefer to pay with different means. Specifically, credit cards are popular in the U.S., but not as much in other parts of the world. In order to accommodate varying needs, you need to work with payment methods that are appropriate for each region or country. Furthermore, handling local currency is problematic because it requires operational complexity and exposes you to currency risk. In addition to these factors, you need to be aware of and work with local fees and regulations in each country.

Although international monetization is not intuitive and involves countless details, it is essential not to neglect such a valuable user base. On one hand, you want to enable users from anywhere in the world to be able to purchase virtual goods and make microtransactions, but the complexity in collecting money from them can be prohibitively high.

Today, no single company provides a seamless experience, easy integration and access to local audiences. Companies, who claim to, work with other intermediate aggregators to present payment options to users. Unfortunately, this is less than ideal for developers and leads to a poor end user experience, higher fees and eventually loss in revenue—the exact opposite goal of monetization. We see a great opportunity to improve international monetization and cater to a huge global market while providing a quicker, smoother and more tailored local user experience that international audiences deserve.

Please stay tuned for more exciting news at Social Gold that will tighten the gap between international payments and a frictionless end user experience!