Rumor Alert: Facebook Credits soon mandatory for game developers

Hey, Facebook's gotta' keep that hand strong, you know. TechCrunch reports that, from an anonymous source, Facebook is telling game developers that soon Facebook Credits will be mandatory for all games on the platform. The blog went on to say, "Our understanding is that it will be the exclusive currency as well."

As you know, Facebook has been pushing its currency for over a year now and has signed contracts with major developers including Zynga, Playfish and Playdom to use the currency exclusively for five years. However, this change would make Facebook Credits the currency for Facebook, meaning that all credit, debit or Pay Pal purchases might only be allowed to be made for Facebook Credits and then a game's respective currency like FarmVille's Farm Cash. But this is purely speculation.

More importantly, this would give Facebook a 30 percent cut of all purchases made in all social games on Facebook, similar to Apple's policy in its App Store. TechCrunch also reports that another anonymous source says Facebook scores $30 million a month from Zynga alone. Facebook Credits sure make life easier for us gamers to understand how much money we're spending thanks to its easy transfer rate ($.10 is equal to 1 Facebook Credit). But new and veteran developers alike will likely be less than pleased with this change. We've contacted Facebook for comment, so sit tight.

Update: Facebook has made an official statement in a blog post that reads, "Starting July 1st, we will require all social game developers on the Facebook canvas platform to process payments through Facebook Credits. All developers keep 70% of the revenue from virtual goods transactions using Facebook Credits." Check out the full post for more details.

How would a mandatory shift to Facebook Credits change the way you play social games or buy virtual goods? How do you think developers will react to the change if it turns out to be true? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.