Inside Social Games

Mochi Media has long provided game developers with a means to monetize Flash games through its Mochi Ads service. The company says games it supports now reach more than 100 million users. This isn’t a surprising figure, considering Mochi games are found inside popular portals like Meebo, RockYou, and (recently) hi5, which has over 60 million users alone.

While games that utilize Mochi’s stats and in-game advertisements are played more than 1.5 billion times a month, advertisement revenue, especially in the current economy, has been rather low. According to TechCrunch, the current industry average is approximately $0.50 per 1,000 game plays.

To diversify revenue streams beyond advertising, Mochi Media recently launched a virtual currency called MochiCoins. It allows for the easy purchase of virtual goods and services through Mochi supported titles. MochiCoins can be purchased with credit cards, PayPal, and Super Rewards.

Even though the platform is brand new, there have already  been reports of its monetization potential. One of the early adopters is Ninjakiwi’s SAS: Zombie Assault 2. According to the same post, early testing has increased average revenue per 1,000 plays from $0.50 to $6.50.

Furthermore, Mochi’s platform is decentralized. This means that no matter where the game is located on the web, it is still making money for the developer and Mochi Media. Considering the increase in revenue after only a few days, the capabilities of the new payment platform should be encouraging for developers who are looking to diversify their revenue potential beyond ads without having to manage their own virtual currency payments service.