Former SCEE Exec Deering Joins PlaySpan Advisory Board

Former PlayStation Europe CEO and Edinburgh Interactive Festival Chair Chris Deering has joined the advisory board of in-game commerce network PlaySpan, where he'll contribute from his ten years' experience with SCEE dealing with cross-cultural and cross-currency issues. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, PlaySpan provides virtual goods marketplaces for online games. It offers payment methods through its PayByCash subsidiary brand, which the company says supports more than 70 payment methods across 200 countries. It also offers a pre-paid "Ultimate Game Card" at over 20,000 North American locations and plans to go global. The company recently raised $6.5 million in Series A venture capital, and its current partners include Outspark (Fiesta) and K2 Networks. "The PlaySpan microtransaction platform delivers the next big revenue stream to game publishers based on in-game commerce and complements subscription and advertising revenue streams," Deering says. Deering retired from Sony in 2005 after founding the London-based PlayStation division for EMEA and Australasia territories in 1995. He has also served as VP of international marketing at Atari and spent 10 years as senior VP of Sony Pictures as COO of international video. "I am impressed with the all- star team at PlaySpan/ PayByCash and their industry leading technology which has gained rapid adoption by reputable game developers and publishers worldwide," says Deering. "I look forward to helping PlaySpan realize its objective to become global market leader."