PlaySpan Lands $6.5 Million For In-Game Commerce Network

PlaySpan's plan is to sell virtual goods from within virtual worlds, and while not yet launched, has received $6.5 million in its first round of funding between Easton Capital, Menlo Ventures, STIC and Novel TMT Ventures. According to the website they've signed up seven MMOG publishers, and will attempt to be the only "official" commerce providers for them.

While the sale of virtual goods in game worlds has been seen as detrimental, this isn't always the case if it's built in from the beginning. They plan on fully integrating virtual goods trading with these games, with other communication and social networking features added on.

The company has changed management since its foundation, which is important given the history so far:

PlaySpan is founded by Arjun Mehta, a 6th grader, passionate about gaming and software programming that can make game playing experience exciting and more importantly rewarding!

PlaySpan started in Arjun’s garage in Silicon Valley in 2006 and was incorporated with Arjun’s earnings from selling online game items won from quests he fought while attending 5th grade at Challenger School in San Jose.

From Gamasutra: "[This investment] will help create a new class of revenue opportunities for publishers and will allow gamers to enjoy their game experience with commerce,” said Karl Mehta, PlaySpan co-founder and CEO. “We are extremely fortunate to have a complimentary group of global investors that bring solid experience in the gaming, internet and financial service industries.”

The creation of a plug-and-play commerce system may be a welcome thing to worlds that aren't games in the future, but for now this will be a great way to test the system and investigate the possibilities for a new kind of middleware.