16th Jun 2009 07:00
Press release For immediate release
NEOVIA Financial Enters Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming (MMOG) Market and
Secures Contract Win with MindArk's Entropia Universe
Worldwide Online Payment Solutions Support Operators and Players with the Secure
Flow of Real Money Trade
Tuesday 16th June 2009 - NEOVIA Financial Plc (LSE: NEO), the independent global online payments business, announces the launch of its services for the Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming (MMOG) market by providing a secure global payment solution that supports real world trading for virtual products and services. As part of this initiative NEOVIA also confirms a recent contract win with leading MMOG publisher MindArk, operator of the leading virtual world Entropia Universe.
The real money trading on and around MMOG sites represents a multi-billion dollar global market. It is estimated users'
spend on such MMOG sites will increase to $9bn1, including subscriptions, virtual land, retail products and services by 20102. Games Investor Consulting, an industry analyst, has predicted the micropayments market for multiplayer role-playing games will grow by 40% to 50% in 2009.3
To manage the flow of this money between the operator, retailers and players, the enhanced NEOVIA Payment Suite has a raft of capabilities ideally suited for the demands of the MMOG market. The products support local deposit options as well as local languages and currencies for key countries. This means increased and efficient penetration into emerging territories for MMOG operators, supporting countries where credit cards have limited use online and non-card payments types are preferred such as iDEAL in the Netherlands, giropay in Germany and Carte Bleue in France.
Retailers and operators can rely on NEOVIA for effective fraud control and anti-money laundering policies, and players benefit by using the NETELLER e-wallet, part of the NEOVIA Payment Suite, which allows them to spend securely online without revealing their card details.
Due to small transaction values and high fees, players are not easily liquidate or transfer their "virtual assets" outside a game, plus virtual assets are non-transferable as only a few sites offer easy methods to cash-out. To overcome this, NEOVIA has enhanced its e-wallet micro-payment capabilities to support the multiplayer/video online gaming industry.
For additional revenue stream generation and cross-selling opportunities, NEOVIA also offers its Merchant Co-branding Program. This allows operators and merchants to acquire new, extend value from active, or reactivate dormant customers. It provides conversion-landing pages, co-branded e-wallets and targeted special offers.
Jan Welter Timkrans, CEO of MindArk, said: "NEOVIA's payment solutions will help enhance and expand Entropia Universe as the leading virtual platform for entertainment, commerce and avatar development. The enhanced NEOVIA Payment Suite will enable our users to develop and extend their e-commerce activities within Entropia Universe."
Dan Starr, Executive Vice President, NEOVIA said: "With this significant new version we believe we are offering the broadest and best global Payment Suite on the market. NEOVIA is ideally suited to support these types of payments and the MMOG market. We have proven ability to support online merchants and because our NETELLER e-wallet can be used with thousands of entertainment and retail sites, players can take their money and spend it elsewhere. We look forward to working with MindArk and further developing our relationship with additional product enhancements for Entropia Universe."
For further information contact:
NEOVIA Financial Plc
Andrew Gilchrist - VP Communications
+ 44 (0) 1624 698 713
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: http://twitter.com/neovia
Media Relations
Nick Daines / Sheelagh Connelly, McEntegart Marketing
+ 44 (0) 207 617 7019
Email: neovia@mmcomms.uk.com
About NEOVIA Financial
Trusted by consumers and merchants in over 160 countries to move and manage billions of dollars each year, NEOVIA Financial Plc (formerly NETELLER Plc) operates the world's leading independent online payments business. Through the NEOVIA Payment Suite™, featuring NETELLER®, NETBANX®, Net+™ and 1-PAY™ brands, NEOVIA Financial specialises in providing innovative and instant payment services where money transfer is difficult or risky due to identity, trust, currency exchange, or distance. Being independent has allowed the company to support thousands of retailers and merchants in many geographies and across multiple industries.
NEOVIA Financial Plc quoted on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market, with a ticker symbol of NEO. Subsidiary company NETELLER (UK) Ltd is authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to operate as a regulated e-money issuer. For more information about NEOVIA Financial visit www.neovia.com or contact us by email at [email protected].
About MindArk and Entropia Universe
Entropia Universe is an expanding entity of interoperable 3D virtual worlds based on the proprietary Entropia Platform. Each virtual world takes the form of a planet(s) within the virtual Entropia Universe.
The Entropia Universe Platform contains full support for secure micro-transactions in real-time, rich media viewing, transactions with real and virtual items, MMOG entertainment and social interaction between global participants. Its virtual currency, the PED, has a fixed exchange rate of 10:1 with the US dollar.
The Entropia Universe Platform has been developed for over 10 years at a cost of over $40m. Commercially launched in 2003, MindArk's planet Calypso has been generating profit since 2004 and has served as a vehicle for fine-tuning the platform's business model and functionality. During 2007, the Entropia Universe Platform provided a secure and stable means for $400m of user-to-user transactions. It has today over 820,000 registered accounts from over 200 territories.
The Entropia Universe Platform offers a complete solution for virtual planet creation and maintenance, and for premium content production. For more information, please visit www.mindark.com and www.entropiauniverse.com.
Sources:
1 Charles River Ventures
2 TowerGroup Research (subsidiary of MasterCard Worldwide)
3 GamesInvestor Consulting
Related Shares:
Paysafe Group