Social Gold, one of the leading virtual currency and monetization providers, has partnered with one of the largest casual game destinations on the web, Miniclip.com. Miniclip’s 550 games and 57 million monthly players will now have the ability to use Social Gold to purchase in-game virtual goods with just a few clicks. There were no details of any specific virtual goods at this time.
The resulting offering will likely be similar to other offerings in the space like Mochi Media’s Mochi Coins, and will involve users able to utilize their Miniclip.com Social Gold coins to purchase in-game powerups or cosmetic goods. Jeremy Wadia, COO of Miniclip, stated that Social Gold will allow “our players to make in-game purchases without ever leaving the game. This not only drives free to paid conversion, but also turns one-time purchasers into repeat purchasers.”
Miniclip.com has been a leader in casual games since its release in 2000, and has been the launchpad of some very succesful franchises. Club Penguin, a popular MMO for youths, got its start on the network, and continues to be the top game. Miniclip traditionally gets its revenues through advertising, creation of sponsored games and commissions for paid subscribers. This new release of Social Gold will be a big milestone, and with a very dedicated user-base and high quality games, virtual currency and goods may quickly become the main revenue driver on the site, as we saw happen with Zynga’s social games when they began using similar strategies.
