Interest Growing For Pre-Paid Game Cards

Worlds in Motion is running an interview with GMG Entertainment, a company finding success marketing pre-paid "digital currency cards" used online for games and other entertainment services. Customers and retailers alike are enjoying the simplicity and utility of the cards, and GMG suggests that this segment of the industry will only continue to grow: "I estimate this year that you'll see EA enter this space for some of their games, and a few other big names are absolutely interested. In fact we're in final negotiations with a couple of recognizable names. We tend to estimate the size of the total pre-paid gaming card business when we do our numbers, and this year we're looking to something between $75-100 million dollars in sales across North America. We see that going to $250-300 million in 2009 and being in the region of a half-billion by 2010. We see this market growing dramatically in the next two to five years."

Comments

Re:it should be interesting...

[Arch24]

If anything I think most people will invest their $15 per month in a virtual vacation. MMO's help to distract from real life woes.

How terribly unsurprising.

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

So, let's see, "Pre-Paid Game Cards":

The customer pays upfront, giving you 100% of the card's face value immediately. At worst, they end up giving you a little loan. At best, some or all of the card is never redeemed.

These cards bring the nickel-and-dime micropayment experience to consumers too young for credit cards.

The system can use the same, or similar, electronic payment infrastructure as credit cards already do, making it cheap to administer.

Well, I can certainly see why interest is growing in selling prepaid cards, they are basically just an online rehash of the old gift card scam. What I find harder to understand is why interest would be growing in buying them(underage gamers with no other way of paying excepted). The whole gift card/prepaid "value" card thing is a gigantic scam.

Re:How terribly unsurprising.

[Konster]

I disagree that it is a scam, and it's also great for credit card holders to avoid HUGE headaches.

I won't name names, but Pony Online Entertainment last year had some problem with their billing system that caused my credit card to get locked down due to suspected fraud. This became a very large problem as housing related bills that were charged to my card got declined. It took a solid day to get things ironed out, all from a problem that should never have happened in the first place.

Also, I believe that EVE Online actively encourages the trade of prepaid cards for in-game money, which is handy for anyone, not just people that do not have access to credit cards.

Prepaid cards for managing RMT (Real Money Transactions) in MMO's or other games is a nice idea as it allows for instant conversion from RMT to virtual money and can be traded in game for virtual cash or account play time.

If I were to start an MMO now, I'd include RMT and game cards in the business model, as these can add a lot of money to the bottom line and keep subscribers subscribed. I'd allow game cards to be bought and sold openly in the player market. Say player X wants in game money, so he buys X number of game cards from my game's online store using a credit card that he can then post on an in-game auction house for players to purchase using virtual money. Player X gets his virtual money, the purchaser gets account playtime and everyone walks away happy. Or perhaps a player want a secure method of using RMT to buy gear or virtual money in game; he or she can go down to local video game store and buy a game card or two and turn that into armor or virtual gold or whatever without the risk of exposing credit cards to questionable 3rd parties.

Bottom line is that this is a good idea and it can earn the developer of said game a pretty solid source of revenue outside the normal $15 monthy subscription.

i have never paid to play a game online...

[kesuki]

and i never will. how and where they find these people, is beyond me.

i did play MUDs, i know the type of game, and I honestly think the only reason people play these games is to sell items, characters etc, to people with money but not the time, who want a tricked out sword and armor that make them godly in a video game, and they can brag about having so and so a sword.

i played MUDs for about 6-8 months, and i never looked at an everquest box and thought 'this might be fun' i got over the genera as a whole, and it shocks me that people like these games. I know WOW is designed by great game programmers, but to me a video game should have a one time up front cost. paying by the month? forget it.

not even for a console, where i can play many video games online for one 'extra' fee, forget it, i pay for internet, that's the most i'm willing to pay to play online. i know some people are willing to pay extra, but i just don't see the entire gaming world bending over to pay a few extra billion here and there to bolster the economy. the gaming venues have been hit or miss all through the gaming history, i've seen every major player from atari to nintendo have trouble treading water. there are reasons why companies like 3do are a legacy, and why EA owns half the gaming properties on the known face of the earth.

trying to figure out what people want to do with their free time, is not a measured science, it's an art.

i spent 2-3 years struggling with an addiction to online real time strategy, and i know i have an internet addiction, but after 3 years i learned how to deal with my online strategy addiction, and i now have time for television, the internet, and whatever else, all without usually having trouble falling asleep at night. during my addiction i was so problematic that i would play til 2 am and physical exhaustion set in, i would at times shout from getting angry at other gamers without even being aware of having spoken.

it wasn't pretty, and i didn't have to go cold turkey. i can take measures to control how i game.

sadly i don't know if kids can learn how to be grown up until they're 30. i'm 30 and i don't know if i could have said or done anything to prevent me from making the same mistakes i made. ah well.

Re:i have never paid to play a game online...

[cjfs]

i have never paid to play a game online... and i never will. how and where they find these people, is beyond me.

Most games with a monthly fee aren't charging you for the online play. They're charging because they're adding content and providing moderation services.

There's a big difference between a racing game charging to just play online and a mmorpg that provides new content in patches and live in-game support.

Far better to evaluate them as purchase price + monthly fee*months played/months. If it's not worth that to you, then don't buy.

Re:Take a lesson from EVE

[Broken scope]

You were modded flamebait because of the "immature graphical rendering" line. And lets face it, unless you have a decent machine, eve looks like shit.

WoW maintains its look and feel across a broad range of hardware, something EvE can not claim.

Re:Pre

[Konster]

Erm, how is my original post flamebait? It was merely a Carlinesque question about pre paid. Like pre heating an oven? How do you pre heat an oven? In the same token how do you pre pay for a game card? Pay for it via CC prior to picking it up, thus obviating the purpose? :)

Of course they'll see a dramatic increase

[Zerth]

(Kids+Money)*(PayForPlayGames-NeedForCreditcards)=profit

A key growth limiter to online games has always been the need for credit cards, either because kids don't have them or adults don't want to risk fraud from either a fly-by-night game company or EA getting their billing department hacked.

One-shot electronic money transfer are the future, I wish my credit card made them easy to do for everything. Maybe they should go talk to those cell-phone money guys in India.

Re:Pre

[lgw]

Mod points come with crack. Mods have been on crack since the mod system was added to Slashdot. Don't take it personally, or wonder why, as the answer is simply "crack".