PlaySpan makes virtual goods gains with FooPets game

PlaySpan scored a deal to provide virtual goods and global payment solutions for FooMojo’s FooPets.com virtual pets game.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based PlaySpan will help FooPets.com, which has more than 5 million registered members, process virtual goods on a number of fronts. FooPets will use PlaySpan’s Ultimate Game Card, which is a prepaid game card sold in 45,000 retail stores around the world.

The deal is one more example of how casual online games are switching to virtual goods business models fueled by micro-transactions.

PlaySpan provides a virtual currency system that FooPets users can use to buy everything from flea medication to a breeding license for their virtual kittens and pups. So far, users have created over 8 million virtual pets. Before, users had to have access to credit cards to pay for items in the world, which is accessible via MySpace, Cyworld and Facebook.

PlaySpan’s virtual goods and online payment solutions are used in 300 web-based games and 700 social network games in 180 countries. FooMojo was founded in 2007 and launched its FooPets game in 2008. It has 22 employees and has raised $10 million to date.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.