Bangkok--Jun 7--Public Relations & Media Consultant
Smart e-Payment Made Easy for Thai Online Game Publishers with PayLetter
Convenient Cybercash System with Single Logins for Multiple Online Gaming Titles Enables Gamers to Enjoy Undisrupted Play
PayLetter Inc., South Korea’s leading provider of specialised Internet billing and payment systems and solutions, has partnered with INI3 Digital and Sbuyzone, key players in Thailand’s game publishing industry, to introduce their premier cybercash solution, BilloneQ?, to online gamers. This partnership between PayLetter and the game publishers was initiated and facilitated by iPark Singapore / Korea IT Industry Promotion Agency (KIPA), the South East Asia promotion base and gateway to Korea’s world-class Information Technology (IT).
Investments in the cybercash solution, BilloneQ?, by both INI3 Digital and Sbuyzone, have to-date, totalled approximately US$200,000. The IT investment equips both companies with the capability to provide their customers with the convenience of paying for their time spent on online gaming using a pre-paid cybercash payment or billing system.
PayLetter’s BilloneQ? has been skilfully devised to enable gamers logging on to INI3 Digital and/or Sbuyzone’s online gaming sites to enjoy multiple games with a convenient single login. The system assures gamers that they are billed accurately for their time spent on each game played and that their accounts are properly managed.
“Online gaming is a fast-evolving industry. Time-to-market for each gaming title developed is vital for game publishers to be profitable, meaning that resources are and must oftentimes be dedicated to designing new games to feed their customers gaming enthusiasm. PayLetter understands this well,” says, Lee Sung Woo, Overseas Marketing Manager, PayLetter.
“We recognise game publishers’ need to provide their customers with payment schemes that are simple. At the same time, for publishers, it must also be a ‘smart’ solution that addresses the complexity of having an accurate yet flexible billing environment according to different service and fare policies. BilloneQ?, a proprietary Korean technology, was initially developed for Korea’s sophisticated game publishers to meet all these requirements. However, we went a step further to incorporate tracking capabilities in our ‘smart’ cybercash solution to profile the playing habits of online gamer - valuable information for game publishers and online gamers alike,” he adds.
BilloneQ? is the smart cybercash solution of choice for the game publishers since it is able to track the gaming behaviour of their customers and provides a comprehensive customer profile, detailing the frequency of play according to gaming titles that is matched to the demographics of their existing customer database. This meaningful data is then made available to game publishers who need to make sense of the ever changing consumer trends in order to design new games of high entertainment value.
“IDC forecasts that the Asia Pacific online gaming revenues will reach US$1.84 billion in 2008. Thailand, being a relatively new market for online gaming, is poised to tap into this wave of exponential growth. As a leading game publisher in Thailand, this is an important market for us. Billing may seem to be a mundane element in the world of flight and fantasy, but it is nonetheless, an essential part of the online gamers’ experience. At the end of the day, the gamers’pleasure depends on how intrigued and engaged they are during the game-play and how fuss-free is their payment experience. To this end, we are pleased that iPark Singapore / KIPA introduced us to a valuable partner like PayLetter,” explains Mr. Saksiri Champan, CRM Manager, INI3 Digital.
Online games are the future of the interactive entertainment industry. The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), for example, notes that the global online gaming market is expected to grow from the current A$2.4 billion to A$12.6 billion in 2008. Appropriate billing systems and solutions that supports e-commerce is an important, but much overlooked determinant of profitability for online game publishers.
“We evaluated several billing experts in the space of online gaming before deciding on PayLetter. The fact that BilloneQ? is being used by major game publishers in South Korea, a mature online gaming market, ruled in their favour.
The solution, which has already been implemented for our latest gaming titles, “FLYFF” and “PANGYA”, has already proven to be cost-effective and a good investment for us,” adds Mr. Champan.
PayLetter’s partnership with leading Thai game publishers like INI3 Digital and Sbuyzone puts Thailand in an advantageous position to capture a greater market share of the anticipated growth of Asia Pacific’s online gaming industry.
"Partnerships are winning strategies for businesses," says Mr. Bob Chua, Chief Executive Director, iPark Singapore. "Partnerships that work not only benefit the partners involved. They also serve as a reference point in the marketplace for other partnerships that are in the pipeline. For example, PayLetter's recent successful partnerships with INI3 Digital and Sbuyzone were good reference points when it came to its next partnership with Kapook.com, one of Thailand 's biggest portal site and interactive content provider. iPark Singapore is pleased to have been associated with the partnership between PayLetter and Kapook.com to develop a future contents billing model. Partnerships of this nature are essential to propelling the Thai interactive entertainment industry forward. We look forward to more of such collaborations between Korean and ASEAN IT companies this year."
Media queries, please contact:
Ms Suzy Wee Ms Michelle Pang (mobile: 9852 9725)
Marketing Support Manager Ms Jasmine Ee (mobile: 9734 1307)
iPark Singapore Orion Public Relations Pte Ltd
Tel: (65) 6330 5115 Tel: (65) 6844 1223
Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]
[email protected]
About iPark:
Established in October 2002, iPark Singapore acts as the promotion base and business center for Korea’s IT industry for the South East Asia Region and proposes cooperative activities between Korea and the region. Founded by the Korean Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) and Korea IT Industry Promotion Agency (KIPA), iPark Singapore provides marketing expertise, assistance in sourcing, structuring and managing relationships with South East Asian channel partners, as well as physical infrastructure for Korean portfolio companies.
One of iPark Singapore’s key roles will be to bring together Korean IT Businesses and their counterparts in Singapore and elsewhere in the region, with a view to fostering business collaboration, investment, venture capital, R&D and equity partnerships.
About PayLetter:
PayLetter is the leading ICT Company in Korea. PayLetter provides Payment and Billing Solutions to all kinds of internet and mobile content providers. The company serves more than 25 purchasing member companies in industrial complexes in Asia. Among them, our billing operating customers, such as NOWCOM, Internet MBC and Government Party, have secured fixed revenue for more than three years.
BilloneQ? is PayLetter’s proprietary billing solution and was first developed for the South Korean online gaming industry worth US$4.3 billion, dominates the Asia Pacific market today.
PayLetter also provides Payment Gateway (P.G.) services like Credit Cards, Mobile SMS, ADSL settlement, etc. The company serves over 500 listing member companies in industrial complexes in Korean P.G. market.
For more information, please visit: http://www.billcenter.co.kr/english/
About INI3 Digital:
INI3 Digital is a leading online game publisher and manufacturer of amusement games and coin-operated karaoke in Thailand. Founded in February 2004, INI3 Digital is a subsidiary of the Galaxy Group of Companies.
INI 3 Digital aims to provide “quality” virtual communities for internet browsers in Thailand to connect with one another, develop friendships, exchange ideas, enjoy online-game activities, and have a sense of belonging in INI3 community.
INI3 Digital is best known for two popular online gaming titles, “FLYFF” and “PANGYA”. “FLYFF” means “Fly for Fun”. It is Thailand’s first “Flying RPG”, making sky battles and a virtual flying community possible. “Flyff” provides elaborate full 3D graphic with cute, fairytale-like graphic, complete with fantastic attacking effects and offers the perfect flying experience which is totally different from floating. “PANGYA”, on the other hand, is a casual golf game that translates the difficult rules of golf into a fun and easy format so that players of any age, any gender can enjoy. End.