Start-Up gWallet Looks To Monetize Social Games With Its “Brand Bar”

Virtual currency company gWallet is launching an extension of its service called the Brand Bar, a new way for brands and developers to monetize social games. The bar will appear at the top of the screen on all games it’s installed on, allowing players an opportunity to earn virtual currency which can be used in-game.

To access similar offers in the past, users would have to pause and exit the game, or go through a series of steps that significantly detracted from game play (only two to four percent were willing to do this, according to company estimates). Another difference is that gWallet works directly with brands – as opposed to adopting an affiliate leads model – to create branded video campaigns.

“While virtual currency is clearly a thriving industry, we still think there are ways that the process can be improved,” said gWallet CEO Gurbaksh Chahal in a statement. “Rather than force users to seek out offers and hunt and peck for the right one, we are bringing the offers to them."

The Brand Bar is currently live on over a dozen games, including those developed by Clipwire Games, Poolhouse, Zen Gaming Inc., Bubblefish, FooMojo, Mobscience and Chat Republic. Whether this represents the future of social gaming is unclear, but the company reports steady US growth, and is now looking to expand into international markets.