Electronic Arts has struck a
five-year deal with Facebook for the social network's virtual
currency--Facebook Credits--to become the exclusive payment method for EA games on Facebook. EA's "Pet Society" and "Restaurant City" from subsidiary Playfish are among the most popular games on
Facebook and the company has announced plans to launch Monopoly and other top titles from Pogo Games.
EA follows other game companies including Zynga, maker of "Farmville" and "Mafia Wars," in
adopting Credits as the sole payment system for buying virtual goods on Facebook. The social network, which takes a 30% cut from game developers for all transactions via Credits, has also been
marketing the currency to consumers in part by selling prepaid cards for Credits
through retail chains like Target, Best Buy and Wal-Mart.