Café.com celebrates success of Asian payment model

Cafe.com’s internal economy encourages members to spend their virtual coins on everything from special powers within games, called “game boosts,” to new clothing and accessories for their 3D ‘MiniMe’ personas.

Users can even spend their coins on emotive expressions, athletic movements and other virtual personality enhancements for their MiniMe.

“Micro-transactions have become mainstream in Asia, where S. Korean multi-player games like Kart Rider and Chinese gaming portal QQ have reaped tremendous returns,” said Café.com CEO Roman Nouzareth.

“With CafeCoins, members can purchase special powers and other in- and around-game virtual items that make Cafe.com one of the first social gaming sites in the U.S. to adopt a micro-transactional business model and it’s catching on in a big way with gamers of all skill levels.”

The firm hopes to make micro-transactions and rich-media advertising the standard business model for online gaming.

It says it is ’putting its money where its mouth is’ by giving away 10,000 CafeCoins to each new member.