Offerpal Downsizing After Losing Facebook Credits Deal

Offer-based ad network Offerpal Media revealed that it's laying off an unspecified amount of its employees, due to Facebook choosing a rival advertising partner for its universal virtual currency Credits. "Facebook has indicated to us that at least initially they have selected another provider to be their alt-pay partner for purchases of Facebook Credits," explained Offerpal's CEO George Garrick in an open letter published on the company's blog. The social network has reportedly chosen TrialPay for its alternative payment platform, which allows users to earn free virtual currency by participating in surveys, trial subscriptions, brand engagement activities, and more. Offerpal says it respects Facebook's decision to choose another ad network, and that it will do its best to help transition applications and games that want to move to the social network's upcoming Credits system, abandoning game- or publisher-specific currency systems. "However, this means that for the applications we currently serve which do switch to Credits, once that change happens, the user traffic to those games originating from Facebook will no longer be served by Offerpal," said Garrick. "... But like any good business, we must balance our costs with our revenues by business area." He continues, "This means that we must downsize our Facebook operations in order to adjust to an anticipated lower scale of Facebook user traffic. ... Unfortunately, as a result of this, some of the outstanding people who have worked tirelessly over the last couple of years to monetize Facebook games will have their positions at Offerpal eliminated." The Fremont, California-based company says it will re-focus its resources on areas like "other gaming platforms, open web gaming, new Internet verticals," and mobile through its Tapjoy subsidiary. Just last week, Offerpal announced a deal to bring its offer-based ads to the Yahoo App Platform.