Playfish abandons in-game currency in big switch

EA’s social games arm Playfish has abandoned its own game currency and has set in place Facebook’s own Credits system.

Facebook requires all games to use its own Credits system from July 1st. The social network giant takes a thirty per cent cut from in-game transactions using the credits.

Speaking to its fans on the Playfish blog, the company said: "Rest assured, you will not lose any of the Playfish Cash you have bought up to now.

"We are making it quick and easy to convert it into the new currency of your favorite game or games by using The Playfish Cash Converter within each game."

Playfish played down any futility in the matter. A company representative told Inside Social Games that the switch “is actually something we’re excited to get behind because we think that having individual game currencies in connection with Facebook Credits is a better user experience.”

Earlier in the month, Playfish revealed it will soon shut down servers of three Facebook games. Pirates Ahoy, Poker Rivals and Gangster City will each go offline on June 7th, Playfish said.