live-gamer posts

More and more we are seeing the use of microtransactions in online games, both on the PC and console platforms. Today one of the leaders in developing the technology for microtransactions, Live Gamer, announced a new deal with publisher Electronic Arts to "drive its global microtransactions-based projects and accelerate the company's online gaming strategy." Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

This is Live Gamer's biggest client yet to use its technology and services. The company has had its microtransactions model used by Sony Online's many titles. Earlier this month Live Gamer announced that its technology would also be used by THQ beginning with its upcoming RTS MMO Company of Heroes Online.

While the PC gaming industry is losing revenue in terms of titles sold in brick and mortar retail stores, it has been gaining in downloadable game sales. It also has been generating revenue in another way via the purchase of in-game items from free-to-play online titles. Now a new study claims that the purchasing of virtual goods in games will expand rapidly in the US.

The study comes from DFC Intelligence which worked with MMO in-game item seller Live Gamer to survey nearly 5,000 games in the US and Europe earlier this year. The survey revealed that 88 percent of the respondents said they had purchase some kind of digital download item and that 60 percent said they have bought an in-game item that was not a full game. DFC believes that free-to-play online games with in-game items as their revenue model generated $800 million in 2009 in the US and Europe. DFC predicts that number will grow to $3 billion by 2015.

For those unfamiliar with the term, RMT, or Real Money Trading, is the practice of converting real-world dollars into in-game cash, predominantly in virtual worlds such as Second Life. It's a controversial phenomenon, accused by some of ruining virtual economies and supporting illegal sweat shop-like activity in foreign countries. However, there are a few legitimate, publisher-supported RMT trading houses, among them Live Gamer.

Already providing RMT services for players of Sony Online Entertainment's MMO EverQuest 2, Live Gamer has announced the expansion of its services to SOE's upcoming MMOs The Agency and Free Realms. This is welcome news, as it confirms the likelihood of the two titles' free-to-play nature, as opposed to a subscription-based model. For a little more in-depth look at this announcement, check out our sister site, Massively.