Today Zeus Research announced an exclusive partnership with STi Prepaid LLC that would instantly enable all STi prepaid calling cards to be used as a method of paying for virtual goods. STi sells over 200 million calling cards annually through 20,000 retail outlets nationwide. Zeus intends to launch its new payment solution and distribution partners in March 2010.
"Having seen the issues and opportunities in virtual currency first hand, we spent the year building a service which would be simple for a player to use, quick for a publisher to integrate, and which would provide a massive and instant increase in retail outlets to complement the current payment options,” said Sean Ryan, founder of Zeus Research, in a press statement.
The Zeus payment method uses an API that embeds an STi logo into the Web sites of client games, apps, and virtual worlds. Users will click the logo, enter two numerical codes found on the back of each STi calling card, then click enter. The value of the purchase will be subtracted from the value stored in the prepaid calling card.
Zeus Research founder Sean Ryan was also the co-founder of the virtual economy services platform TwoFish, which has since been acquired by Live Gamer. Ryan was also a founder of the teen virtual world Meez, where as CEO he advocated wider adoption of alternative payment methods as revenue-boosters. Payment through prepaid calling cards is a new idea that may unlock significant value in unbanked teen and tween users.
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