Virtual Goods News

Welcome to the Virtual Goods News Wrap-Up for the week of March 13, 2009. The Wrap-Up is where VGN spotlights stories that we didn't get to cover individually, but still make for interesting reading about the virtual goods industry.

Brandon Barber Joins Zynga From EA

Formerly Senior Director of Global Marketing at Electronic Arts, Brandon Barber is now Vice President of Marketing at Zynga. Interesting as another example of talent from the mainstream gaming world heading into social gaming scene during the downturn.

China's The9 Faces Bankruptcy If Wrath Expansion Not Approved By The Government

While The9's revenue from its virtual goods games may be up, it apparently won't be enough to recoup the losses the company faces if it is unable to clear the World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King for release in China. It seems The9 has already paid substantial licensing fees to Blizzard for the rights to operate the expansion in China, but is having difficulty getting the game's content approved by the Chinese government.

Monetizing The Village: CafeMom's Social Network Strategy

An interview with Laura Fortner, SVP of Marketing and Insights for the CafeMom social network. This contains quite a bit of discussion of how the social network for moms successfully monetizing by implementing branded virtual goods and gifting widgets featuring brands targeted to the interests of the community. It's worth a comparing to the similar approach used by