Electronic Arts and Facebook today announced they have signed a five-year deal. The strategic relationship aims to create a simplified, more accessible experience for people who play games and purchase virtual goods on Facebook. It also means that Facebook Credits will become the exclusive payment method for the social networking platform in all of EA's games. As part of the agreement, EA will receive a 70 percent revenue share (the standard for all developers on Facebook) for Facebook Credits.
More than 200 million people play Facebook games every month. Facebook Credits is a virtual currency used to purchase virtual goods in many games and applications on the social network, such as such as Farmville and Mafia Wars. You can purchase Facebook Credits using your credit card, PayPal, or via a mobile phone.
EA already has games on Facebook: the company bought out Playfish late last year for $275 million and they still have two games in the Facebook top ten: Pet Society and Restaurant City. EA is also planning to release Monopoly as well as Pogo Games (20 games in one location, currently in beta) on the Facebook platform.
"Since gaming has emerged as the most popular category of applications on Facebook, the natural next step is for EA to broaden its relationship with Facebook and its 500 million users," Barry Cottle, Senior Vice President and General Manager for EA Interactive, said in a statement. "Our goal is to make the best games tailored specifically to the platforms on which people want to play."