I was thinking about how much fun my daughter has at Chuckee Cheese when it struck me that Chuckee Cheese uses a virtual currency. The kids come to Chuckee Cheese, and their parents buy them “tokens”. The kids spend the “tokens” playing games that give out tickets. These tickets can be cashed in for prizes.
So, this is essentially very similar to a new platform Facebook is going to be using soon. With Zynga overpowering the market with their hotter than hot Facebook games like Farmville, Cafe World, and Treasure Isle. Zynga is cashing in HUGE off of selling consumers VIRTUAL CURRENCY.
This is really cool because I have a website myself that deals similarly in virtual currency. Users sign up, and they can complete surveys in return for a certain type of gift card. (sorry, not outing my niche right now lol)
Anyway, I’ve noticed that this is a huge trend and if you can capitalize it even to a small degree, there is huge money to be made here. Facebook knows this, and is rolling out their own games to compete with Zynga’s that will soon make Facebook a powerhouse even moreso than it already is.
Another company I noticed using this technique is of course Disney. Now, besides the obvious similarities with the Chuckee Cheese model which most likely Disney invented, they have a virtual game of their own called Club Penguin.
This game is similar to the Facebook games, and you build up a house and decorate it with things so more of your friends will hang out with you in the game. I was actually looking for an affiliate program once I saw that you could buy Club Penguin money for X amount of dollars. But, there is none to be found. And, why should there be? Games like these go viral very fast and if you search for Club Penguin, you will see it is a crazy hot niche for young kids. Disney would rather keep all the money they make for their virtual currency, and it only makes sense.
- Mark Sullivan
