Today we are pleased to announce that THQ has selected the Live Gamer Elements platform to drive e-commerce solutions and virtual goods monetization across multiple titles for both PC-online and mobile games. Company of Heroes(R) Online, launching later this year in the United States and Canada, will be the first THQ title to integrate Live Gamer’s Elements platform for monetizing its virtual economy. Other scheduled projects include multiple social game titles for Facebook.

“In-game virtual items have become increasingly popular with gamers today, and not only offer them a more immersive experience, but also give game publishers a viable and profitable revenue stream,” said Martin Good, THQ Executive Vice President, Kids, Family, Casual Games, and Global Online Services. “Live Gamer offers the most complete platform for integrating a virtual economy into our games. We view this as a critical component of our complete online game delivery platform for THQ’s growing portfolio of online games.”

The deal marks a major shift with major US gaming publishers who are now embracing the virtual goods business model more than ever. The virtual goods business model allows publishers to offer their games F2P (free-to-play) and players pay real money for virtual goods such as weapons, booster packs, fashion, accessories, etc…

“We’ve watched this industry evolve since its inception and today, virtual economies have become the driving force in the online gaming business. THQ is at the forefront of game development across the globe, and we look forward to helping them grow their business model for years to come, ” said Andrew Schneider, President and Co-Founder, Live Gamer

For more information on Live Gamer, visit www.livegamer.com. To learn more about THQ, visit www.THQ.com.

Female gaming icon and Live Gamer’s Senior Director of Business Development, Stevie Case will speak at a special panel hosted by the Technology Council of Southern California on July 15th. The “How Virtual Goods Are Transforming the Game Industry” panel will focus on the trends and challenges of the Free 2 Play business model and the explosion of virtual goods consumption on Facebook, Smart Phones, and other popular gaming platforms.

Speakers:

• Andre Bremer, Studio CTO at Zynga
• Stevie Case, Senior Director, Business Development at Live Gamer, Inc.
• Jason Kay, Chief Operating Monkey at Monkey Gods LLC
• Brad Spahr, Founder & CEO at Fan Space Media
  (former Exec. Dir. of Digital Distribution, Sony Pictures Entertainment)

Moderator:

• Shalom Mann, Founder & Creative Director at OneLoop Games
  (former SVP & Studio Head, Sony Online Entertainment)

To learn more click here

To register now click here

Live Gamer’s CEO and Co-founder, Mitch Davis will join ThinkTomorrow ~ Today: A Private Company & Venture Capital Summit (TTT) hosted by Think Equity. Mitch will participate on the “Monetizing Generation Y” panel, which will take place on May 11th at 3:15 PM moderated by Atul Bagga.

About Think Tomorrow ~ Today

ThinkTomorrow ~ Today brings together the leaders of the growth economy and offers an opportunity to meet face-to-face with visionary company executives, interact with leading growth strategists and technologists, and witness firsthand the state-of-the-art products and services that will shape the future. In this one-of-a-kind forum, our presenting companies will outline their latest developments while key influencers and industry luminaries debate the future of the growth economy.

To learn more about monetizing the next generation of consumers, please contact us

Live Gamer’s president and co-founder, Andrew Schneider will be joining a social gaming panel at the upcoming Digital Hollywood Conference.  They will discuss the latest trends of social gaming design, distribution, and monetization across online and mobile platforms.

Monday, May 3rd

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM

Track I – DMny-1, HGmz-2, NuVIS-2

Social Gaming: Online and Mobile – Design, Distribution, Virality, Cross-Promotion & Monetization

Michael Pole, Founder, President, Trilogy Studios

Andrew Schneider, Co-founder & President, LiverGamer

Mike Goslin, Vice President Product Development, Hangout, former VP Disney Online

Mikael Gummerus, CEO and founder, Frosmo

Kyle Laughlin, Head of Yahoo! Sports and Yahoo! Games

DreamWorks Animation, tba

Steve Poehlein, Director, Media & Entertainment Solutions, Hewlett-Packard, Moderator

To schedule a meeting with Live Gamer, contact us

Join Live Gamer’s Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Product, Bill Grosso for two exciting sessions at this year’s Login Conference.

Optimizing Micro-Transactions (Panel)

This panel will discuss the major elements of pricing, promoting, and integrating micro transactions with the gameplay flow. Speakers include researchers, and execs on the front lines implementing and managing micro transactions.

Moderator: Hugh Bowen, Bowen Research

Panelist: David S. Lee, Sleepy Giant Entertainment, Inc.

Panelist: Bill Grosso, Live Gamer

Panelist: Stephen Kutner, Market Innovations Inc.

Date/Time: Wednesday, May 12, 10:30 AM

Room: Seaport

Learn More

Managing a Virtual Economy

Lecturer: Bill Grosso

Virtual goods are one of the most important monetization tools for many developers today. But before you turn on the virtual machine, you need to understand what makes it tick and how your management tactics can affect your success in the marketplace. In this presentation, Bill goes in depth on the metrics, measurements and levers that developers and executives alike need to understand and master in order to run a successful virtual economy.

Date/Time: Thursday, May 13, 3:30 PM

Room: Salon AB

Learn More

Vili Lehdonvirta, member of Live Gamer’s advisory board and economic sociologist at the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology was recently featured in Newsweek. In an article titled “Why Behavioral Economics Love Online Games” David Lyons explores the booming business of virtual goods in online games like Pet Society, Farmville, Mafia Wars, Eve Online, and much more.

One interesting piece of data that Kristian Segerstrale, CEO of Playfish shares is that the company sells 90 million items a day through its 12 different games.

Lead economist of CCP, Eyjólfur Gudmagnusson is also quoted in the piece regarding his role in Eve’s Online economy. Both Vili Lehdonvirta and Eyjólfur Gudmagnusson recently shared the floor at GDC (Game Developers Conference) during Live Gamer’s VCON 2010 on the panel The New ARPPU Playbook, Cont’t. Dev-onomics: Economics 101 for Game Designers.

View Newsweek Article

Learn more about VCON 2010 presented by Live Gamer

Morning Session Spotlight

10:30am-11:15am –Nanu Nanu! How to bring social functionality into traditional game design…and actually make it work

How can traditional game design utilize social functionality…and actually do it well?

Moderated by David Cole (President | DFC Intelligence)
Amy Jo Kim (CEO | Shufflebrain)
Kai Huang (Founder | Guitar Hero )
Dennis Fong (CEO | Raptr ),
Dan Fiden (GM, San Francisco Studio | Playfish)
Mike Verdu (SVP, Games | Zynga )

Afternoon Session Spotlight

3:40pm-4:25pm – It’s not fair!” said the T-Rex: How monetizing games-as-a-service will save you from extinction

How will games-as-a-service, virtual goods, and micro-transactions will save game companies from extinction AND increase their bottom-line?

Atul Bagga ( VP Equity Research | ThinkEquity)
Brandon Beck ( CEO | Riot Games)
Howard Marks (CEO | Acclaim)
Susan Wu (CEO | Ohai)
John Cahill (CEO | Meez)

Join Bill Grosso, Live Gamer’s CTO as he discusses practical ways to optimize your virtual economy using common merchandising techniques, including many found at your local Safeway!

12-12:30 – North Hall Room 123

Visit the official VCON website

The event is free with your GDC admission, Register Now!

To schedule a meeting with Live Gamer at GDC, Contact Us

Congratulations to Sony Online Entertainment for launching PoxNora today on Facebook. The new Facebook application comes with a complete storefront powered by Live Gamer Elements platform.

Here is a peak at the PoxNora game on Facebook and the storefront.

Play PoxNora on Facebook

PoxNora Screenshots

Live Gamer is thrilled to have the following line up of industry CEO’s, founders, visionaries, and executives at this year’s VCON 2010!

Other Speakers Include:

Atul Bagga | VP Equity Research | ThinkEquity

Brandon Beck | CEO | Riot Games

John Cahill | CEO | Meez

Ed Castronova | Associate Professor of Telecommunications | Indiana University Bloomington

Tim Chang | Principal | Norwest Venture Partners Patrick Chung | Managing Director | SK Telecom Ventures

M. Lee Clancy Jr. | SVP Product Management & GM of Direct Revenue | IMVU

David Cole | President | DFC Intelligence

Mitch Davis | CEO | Live Gamer

Dan Fiden | GM, San Francisco Studio | Playfish

Dennis Fong | CEO | Raptr

Eric Goldberg | Managing Director | Crossover Technologies

William Grosso | CTO & SVP Product | Live Gamer

Eyjolfur Guomundsson | Economist | CCP

Kai Huang | Founder | Guitar Hero

Daniel James | CEO | Three Rings

Amy Jo Kim | CEO | Shufflebrain

Daniel Kim | CEO | Nexon

Vili Lehdonvirta | Researcher | Helsinki Institute for Information Technology

Howard Marks | CEO | Acclaim

Niranjan Nagar | Chief of Game Operations | Outspark

Mike Verdu | SVP, Games | Zynga

Jordan Weissman | Chairman & Chief Product Officer | Smith & Tinker

Susan Wu | CEO | Ohai

To see the complete list of speakers and agenda please visit the VCON 2010 website

V-Con 2010: How Games-as-a-Service & Virtual Items Have Changed the Playbook Forever

produced by Live Gamer

03.10.10 // 10:00am – 5:15pm // West Mezz Room 270/272

@ Game Developers Conference // San Francisco, CA

V-Con is a 1-day exploration into how Games-as-a-Service and Virtual Items have changed the playbook forever. Led by the game industry’s most sought-after CEOs, founders, visionaries, and executives, we’ll discuss the industry’s undisputed transition to this new business model, as well as its ramifications on development, product management, operations, and strategy.

We hope to see you there! Stay tuned – exciting speaker announcements, keynotes, and the official agenda coming soon!

The event is FREE with the purchase of your GDC ticket.

Register Now

Learn More