Facebook pushes up growth owing to online games

 According to Bloomberg, Facebook Inc. is tapping virtual farmers, mafia dons and online pets to generate cash from the social-networking Web site’s 300 million users. The company is testing a payment system to gain a cut each time an online-game player buys any gadget for the game. That would give Facebook a piece of the hundreds of millions of dollars that are being pulled in by Zynga Inc., creator of “Farmville” and “Mafia Wars,” and Playfish Inc., maker of “Pet Society.” The social-games market will almost triple to $2 billion by 2012, estimates ThinkEquity LLC.

Zynga and Playfish, which both started in 2007, offer free- to-play titles and sell virtual goods to users through so-called microtransactions. They have turned Facebook into the world’s largest game portal, with more than 100 million users.

Facebook Credits, a payment service being tested by six outside developers, can become the “dominant payment method” on the site, where $1 billion in game-related goods and services will trade annually in three years.

How much money Facebook makes will depend on how the system is structured. PayPal, the online payment system owned by San Jose, California-based EBay Inc., charges 5 percent plus 5 cents for each microtransaction. Assuming a similar rate at Facebook and Bagga’s $1 billion estimate for transactions at the site, the company could reap $55 million from the service by 2012. That figure represents more than 10 percent of current revenue. Facebook, which turned profitable in the second quarter, expects more than $500 million in sales this year.

There are also other way to use the Facebook Credits which are looked for by the company. Users can already buy virtual gifts for friends, and they will also be able to purchase music.

For now, outside game developers are making most of the money. Zygna, which is testing Facebook Credits in one of its games, sells virtual goods in games and lets players pay to advance their positions. It expects revenue to exceed $100 million this year. “Pet Society,” Playfish’s most popular game, has gained more than 20 million monthly users by letting them create a virtual pet, decorate its home and buy gifts for friends’ pets. Playdom’s “Sorority Life” has 7.1 million monthly users on Facebook. Pleasants expects the U.S. social-game industry to grow as much as 10-fold in the next four years, with three or four companies dominating.