Channeling free money

Another sign that virtual goods are becoming as important as real goods and services:

Visa has agreed to buy virtual goods company PlaySpan for $190 million in a big move into the market for digital goods.

PlaySpan enables game companies and video publishers to make money through the buying and selling of virtual goods. It’s a key part of the food chain in the free-to-play business model.

Also related, according to NYT, Apple wants to channel all in-application sales through its AppStore:

Apple is now saying the app makers must allow those purchases to happen within the app, not in a separate browser window, with Apple getting its standard 30 percent cut of the transaction. At the moment this applies only to e-book purchases.

tags: money, virtual, games, social, market, communications, 4q diagram, control