Electronic Arts adopts Facebook’s virtual money

Video games editor Electronic Arts has signed a five year agreement with Facebook to use the social network’s virtual money.

Electronic Arts announced on Tuesday that they had signed a five year strategic alliance with Facebook. While the social network counts more than 500 million members, according to EA more than 200 million have adopted Facebook’s entertainment aspect by playing games each month. This social gaming exposure is an aspect in which EA is rather interested in increasing their presence.

With 12.4 million and 8.7 million users respectively, Pet Society and Restaurant City rank among Facebook’s top 10 games. They are edited by Playfish, a company that separated from Electronic Arts last year for 275 million dollars. EA will also launch a Facebook version of Monopoly and adapt versions of their football games.

"Since gaming has emerged as the most popular category of applications on Facebook, the natural next step is for EA to broaden its relationship with Facebook and its 500 million users," said Barry Cottle, Senior Vice President and General Manager for EA Interactive. "Our goal is to make the best games tailored specifically to the platforms on which people want to play."

Through this agreement with Facebook, the social network’s virtual money (Facebook credits) will become the exclusive method of payment for Electronic Arts games on Facebook. This money is used to purchase virtual goods. As is the case for all Facebook developers, EA will receive 70% of revenue generated with the Facebook credits.