Playfish Abandons Proprietary Virtual Currency For Facebook Credits

Electronic Arts' social game subsidiary Playfish is abandoning its cross-game Playfish Cash system in favor of individual game currencies purchasable with Facebook Credits starting today. Last November, Electronic Arts signed a five-year deal to adopt Facebook's new universal virtual currency, and the social network is making Credits mandatory for all games after July 1, but Playfish says it's also making the switch due to quality considerations. "We think that having individual game currencies in connection with Facebook Credits is a better user experience," said Playfish's Publishing and Product Management VP C.J. Prober in an interview with Inside Social Games. "We've always taken the high road and really been focused on the consumers from everything from virality to payment methods," he added. "Credits provides a much more seamless purchasing experience across the whole platform." The London-based firm also notes that there were difficulties with using the proprietary Playfish Cash currency, noting that it couldn't offer discounts or change prices in one game without impacting the virtual economies for all its other titles at the same time. To help with the transition, the developer is allowing players to exchange their Playfish Cash for individual game currencies for a limited time. It's offering bonus in-game items to those users who make the exchange, too. Playfish and Electronic Arts' social games reach almost 36 million monthly users and 5.7 million daily users on Facebook, according to< AppData. Their most popular titles include Pet Society, Monopoly Millionaires, Restaurant City, and EA Sports FIFA Superstars.