BWI: hi5 Partners with PlaySpan to Launch Micropayments for Virtual Goods and Premium Content Available to its 62 Million Member Community

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: PlaySpan India Pvt Ltd
Wednesday, April 15, 2009 11:13 AM IST (05:43 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, Entertainment; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Banking & financial services, Information technology, Media & entertainment; Technology
Release no: 19694
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hi5 Partners with PlaySpan to Launch Micropayments for Virtual Goods and Premium Content Available to its 62 Million Member Community


Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Wednesday, April 15, 2009 -- (Business Wire India) -- hi5, one of the world's largest and fastestgrowing social entertainment sites, today announces a partnership with PlaySpan, the leader in monetization solutions for online games, social networks, and virtual worlds. Under the agreement, hi5 will offer two of PlaySpan's global payment services to its subscriber base of more than 62 million users.

PlaySpan's PayByCash and Ultimate Game Card will provide several different purchase capabilities for virtual goods and other premium content. PayByCash and Ultimate Game Card cover 180 countries and 80 different payment methods.

"Some of the world's most recognized brands use PlaySpan as a monetization solution for their virtual world customers," said Anil Dharni, Vice President of Products at hi5. "Our partnership offers our users a very flexible means to purchase hi5 Coins, the virtual currency our members use to acquire premium goods and services on the site. Not only will our North American users have the security and convenience of a retail stored value card, but our users in Europe, Latin America and Asia will also have more payment options at their disposal."

"With the addition of hi5 to our client network, PlaySpan now provides payment services for over 1,000 online games and social network applications worldwide," said Karl Mehta, Founder and CEO of PlaySpan. "hi5 is growing rapidly, and we are thrilled to help its users maximize their enjoyment of the site. We're also proud to deliver benefits to hi5 developers as well, giving them the ability to monetize applications, which in turn fuels development and generates more consumer entertainment options."

PayByCash is rapidly expanding its global services to keep pace with hi5's tremendous growth. Additional payment services from Turkey, Thailand, Portugal, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, and Argentina are expected to launch this month with several more in the pipeline.

About hi5 Networks

Headquartered in San Francisco, hi5 is one of the world's largest and fastest growing social entertainment sites. Our focus is on delivering a fun, interactive, and immersive social experience online to our users around the world. With over 62 million unique visitors every month, hi5 is a top 20 website globally and the number one social site in dozens of countries across Latin America, Europe, and Asia. The service is available in over 50 languages, delivering localized content, games and other applications to users worldwide. For more information on hi5, visit http://www.hi5.com

About PlaySpan, Inc.

PlaySpanT is the leader in monetization solutions for online games, virtual worlds, and social networks. PlaySpan's patent-pending in-game virtual goods commerce and micropayment platform enables game publishers and developers to generate new revenues, acquire new users, and extend the loyalty of existing users.

PlaySpan also provides global payment solutions for over 1,000 games through its subsidiary PayByCash® with 80 payment methods in 180 countries and ULTIMATE GAME CARD® available in over 21,000 retail locations across North America and several key markets worldwide.

PlaySpan is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in Charlottesville, Virginia, Cincinnati, Ohio and Mumbai. Investors include Easton Capital, Menlo Ventures, STIC and Novel TMT Ventures.

For more information about PlaySpan, visit http://corp.playspan.com


CONTACT DETAILS
Vinayak Rao, PlaySpan India Pvt Ltd, +91 9820045958, Vinayak.rao@playspan.com

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, ENTERTAINMENT, MARKETING, BANKING, IT, MEDIA, TECHNOLOGY

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