Game currency card sales on the rise

GMG Entertainment, the US-based publisher and distributors for physical game currency cards, has announced revenues for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2008 that are eight times that of the same period in the previous year.

That's thanks to "extraordinary growth" in the sector, with cards sold for games published by the likes of Gala-Net, K2 and Artix Entertainment, to name a few.

"While the nascency of the space can be credited for some of GMG's 2008 exponential growth, we really attribute the steady results to the multiplier effect of new partners going into new retailers with an increased consumer awareness of digital entertainment prepaid cards as the perfect gift or as an impulse purchase," said Rob Goldberg, CEO of GMG.

"Even in these tough economic times, consumers will continue to turn to the online and free-to-play/micro-transaction gaming space as a cost effective use of entertainment dollars that need to be stretched."

January 2009 too showed strong growth over the same month last year, with the month performing stronger than expected, and likely to boost results for a strong Q1 this year.