Earlier this week Sony Online Entertainment quietly launched Station Cash, a new virtual currency for use in the in-game marketplace of EverQuest and EverQuest II. Users can purchase Cash in various denominations via an in-game credit card transactions and use it for items aimed at "convenience and customization" rather than radical game changers. With Sony experimenting with microtranasactions as a main business model for some games, like Free Realms, and The Agency, Cash will likely come into play there as well. That's just the beginning, though.
"Over time we want Station Cash to be used for a lot of cool stuff (including subscriptions at some point)," SOE CEO John Smedley told Ten Ton Hammer. "That will include things like getting a photo of your guild physically mailed to you, or a t-shirt of your character. We want it to be our currency across all our games. It really isn't a radical change in direction from our perspective. EQ and EQ 2 are not going to switch to being microtransaction based games. We're just adding some additional cool things players can do."
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