Social Gaming Pushes Deeper into the Mainstream with Zynga, AmEx Deal

Social Gaming Pushes Deeper into the Mainstream with Zynga, AmEx Deal

Click to enlarge Zynga, the maker of such games as FarmVille, CityVille and Mafia Wars, has scored a coup for its corner of the social world via a new partnership with American Express. Social gamers can now use rewards from American Express credit cards to buy virtual goods.


The deal is significant not only because it is the first social game to link up with a major credit card but because it will go far in convincing mainstream consumers that virtual goods do indeed have value in the real world, Venture Beat notes.

This move follows the recent roll out of Facebook Credits in-store gift cards. Now on sale in $10, $25, and $50 increments at Best Buy and $5, $10, and $25 at Wal-Mart, Facebook Credits effectively pushed its own online currency into bricks-and-mortar stores in time for the holidays.

Tangible Examples

Eventually bricks-and-mortar retailers will follow suit with their own virtual goods promotions, predicts Scott Silverman, Ifeelgoods.com’s co-founder and VP of marketing. (via eConsultancy). At that point true mainstream acceptance will be reached.

Silverman gives a hypothetical promotion on a retail webpage - buy two pairs of jeans and save $20. Now contrast that with a virtual goods incentive of buy two pairs of jeans and get 20 free Facebook credits. Which is more appealing to the consumer - obviously the additional bargain of 20 Facebook credits. In truth, this offer costs the retailer next to nothing, Silverman said. "Each Facebook credit is worth 10 cents, so the cost to the retailer is $2, or 20% off of an order that might be $50-$60. But 20 feels like a pretty significant number to consumers…We believe that'll have a high perceive value to consumers, and it will help drive them to make that purchase."