After announcing in January that it will require social game developers on the platform to process all payments through Facebook Credits starting July 1, Facebook has now rolled out new international payment methods and payout workflows for developers in 13 markets including India. The extended deployments have been facilitated by Live Gamer, a micro-transactions solutions provider. With this Indian developers will be able to use Facebook Credits as a means of buying virtual currency and virtual goods in their Facebook apps, since they are required to process payments through Facebook Credits starting June 1. Developers will also be able to receive pay-outs through PayPal. In India, Facebook supports PayPal, MOLePoints, Moneybookers, Western Union QuickPay, in addition to mobile based payments, Credit Cards and Gift Cards. However we did not see a mobile payment option on Facebook, while trying to buy credits. Also, Facebook Credits does not allow payments in Indian Rupee and a minimum of 50 credits have to be purchased for $5. Although, developers can continue to use their separate in-game currencies, Facebook gives more incentives to the ones who just use Facebook credits. It remains to be seen if the move will have an impact on Indian game developers. At the moment, some game developers including Zapak have very low entry price points ranging between Rs 3 to Rs 50. After the implementation of Facebook Credits a user will have to shell out a minimum of $5 ( about Rs 225) to buy credits, since it will be the…
