Today game publishing giant Electronic Arts is announcing that they’ve selected microtransaction/virtual economy service provider Live Gamer to help monetize its online gaming products. This is major news for the game industry, as America’s largest game publisher continues moving away from the old school retail model and towards social network-driven, free-to-play gaming, with revenue driven more by virtual item sales than sales of cardboard boxes on shelves. Last year, EA made a huge move into social gaming with the purchase of Playfish; this partnership with Live Gamer strongly hints that the company will put more of its existing “core gamer” franchises online, with Live Gamer handling sales.
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