PlaySpan's new subscription features cater to hybrid monetization models

Visa's online monetization subsidiary PlaySpan has added support for subscription billing to its UltimatePay services, in addition to its virtual goods features for game developers. PlaySpan believes more major companies are moving toward a hybrid business model, mixing free-to-play and subscription options in their games -- and it says its UltimatePay suite will be an all-in-one option for those developers with this newest offering. Along with being able to add a source of predictable revenue flow with subscriptions, developers can take advantage of having microtransaction services in the same suite by offering free-to-play incentives to convert users into premium subscribers. UltimatePay's subscription features for developers include multiple billing periods, trial periods, multi-currency pricing, consumer plan switching, entitlements (points and virtual items), and more. The suite offers over 85 payment options for more than 180 countries around the world. A number of large game companies have used UltimatePay in the past, including Playdom, Ubisoft, and Gazillion.