You’ll soon have 20 new ways to buy your Facebook Credits today, as Facebook has selected PlaySpan‘s Ultimate Pay as an additional payment provider.
Before today, you could buy your virtual currency via PayPal, credit card or mobile phone, as well as earn Credits via certain games and apps. But the addition of UltimatePay will help power a variety of additional payment methods, aimed at expanding the global reach of the program.
These new payment methods will include store-bought prepaid cards such as PaySafeCard, Wallie-card in Europe, MyCard and Gash cards in Taiwan, as well as payment services that are popular in specific countries, such as bank transfers in Germany, Brazil’s Boleto Bancario, and Russia’s Webmoney.
Making it easier for those outside the U.S. to buy Facebook Credits is a smart move for Facebook. Over 70% of Facebook’s users fall into that category, and having a globally-available payment system lowers the barriers for people to buy credits.
A recent New York Times article estimated that the virtual goods market is expected to reach $835 million on Facebook this year. If Facebook and PlaySpan can make it even easier for people to participate in a global Facebook economy, that number is likely to be even higher.
