Facebook warms to subscription billing for devs, backs away from Credits as main currency
Subscriptions. It's the wave of the future, man. It's also the wave that Facebook's now riding, as it has just announced plans to enable developers to offer subscription payment services starting in July. In other words, devs that charge monthly for a premium edition of a title will be able to accept automated payments so long as the user continues their subscription. Without question, it's bound to be attractive to prospective app builders, and moreover, Facebook's about-face on Credits as the primary payment method will be met with praise, too. For the past year and a half, Facebook Credits were the way that many items were priced; going forward, devs will be allowed to price things in their own currency, eliminating yet another barrier in the transaction. The status quo 30-70 revenue split isn't going anywhere, however, but Facebook has admitted that it'll "convert any Credit balances into the equivalent amount of value in local currency," according to TechCrunch.
