UPDATED 13:49 EDT / OCTOBER 12 2010

Sometrics GameCoins Join Facebook Credits in Virtual Currency Exchange Program

Earlier this year we saw Facebook Credits start taking off, which they’ve expected to be a huge boon to their social gaming community with the ability to spend virtual coin anywhere across a multitude of gaming and social environments. Now, social app maker Sometrics is jumping on board as well. Customers of Sometrics can now exchange game coin for Facebook Credits, according to an exclusive announcement on VentureBeat,

The deal is a coup for the startup because it means that the rewards that its customers can earn on its Game Coins web site will be more liquid, allowing users to earn Facebook Credits (which can’t be spent in scores of Facebook apps) through acts such as browsing the web, shopping online, completing game missions, or writing game reviews. This means that Facebook has approved Sometrics as a partner in the App2User program, which lets merchants and loyalty program operators to convert reward points into Facebook Credits.

Before today, users who went to Sometrics’ GameCoins.com web site could earn Game Coins, Sometrics’ virtual currency, by doing those kinds of tasks. More than 250 publishers have partnered with Sometrics, giving 225 million users access to its GameCoins.com. The Game Coins can be spent on items in games made by the publisher partners. Now, with Facebook Credits behind it, the Sometrics currency is more useful, said Ian Swanson, chief executive of Sometrics.

The social/online gaming market is huge and spans a vast variety of games and gamers. Especially those of the casual gaming variety who get into the web versions of games like Bejeweled and Facebook’s Farmville. Social gaming provides a natural space for players to spend virtual coin by giving them spaces to display trophies and virtual items to friends. Something that Facebook and other casual social gaming outfits have worked hard to take advantage of.

By making Facebook Credits and bringing as many other networks on board, Facebook is bridging the gap between kingdoms. According to the linked article, Facebook has in fact been using the Euro as a metaphor for their virtual currency exchange—by engaging users with one currency they are allowing them to move freely between different gaming networks to spend how they like, which releases them from worrying about spending extra just to get into a new game.

This liberty of movement will give users a greater chance to spend their money, more places to spend it, and even bring more players to otherwise regions unknown. Players won’t have to worry that they’ll have coin expire when they’re not interested in the game anymore if they only went there to see what friends were raving about, making them more likely to spend coin.

Joining Facebook Credits will indeed give Sometrics a huge boost as they can now ply Facebook currency users to come over to their side of the fence to check them out.


A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.

One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.  

Join our community on YouTube

Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.

“TheCUBE is an important partner to the industry. You guys really are a part of our events and we really appreciate you coming and I know people appreciate the content you create as well” – Andy Jassy

THANK YOU