Station Exchange(TM) Allows Players to Buy and Sell the Rights
to Use Characters, Items and Coin for Real World Money
SAN DIEGO, April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Online Entertainment Inc. (SOE), a
worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online (MMO) gaming, today announced
plans for Station Exchange(TM), the official auction site for SOE games. Station
Exchange, scheduled for launch in late June, will be the official, secure way
for EverQuest II subscribers to buy and sell the rights to use characters, items
and coin in a player-to-player auction setting.
"The unsanctioned secondary market for online games is rapidly growing
and more and more of our players are taking part in it," said John Smedley.
"Not only are we answering the demands of a sizable portion of our
subscriber base, but we are also set on establishing the standard for online
game sales. SOE is in a unique position to help guide the industry, just as we
have since we first opened the world of EverQuest to the public six years
ago."
Leading industry analyst group DFC Intelligence estimates that the online
game industry in 2003 was $1.9 billion. By 2006, they predict revenue growing to
$5.2 billion with continued steady growth, with worldwide online game revenue
reaching $9.8 billion by 2009. As this business has grown, so too has the
"secondary" market, which is based around the unsupported buying and
selling of in-game characters, items and coins. Unofficial estimates of
underground "secondary" market trade volume range from $100 - $800
million a year, with titles such as SOE's EverQuest and EverQuest II making up
20% of those sales.
The difference between Station Exchange and other third party, non-sanctioned
sites can be summed up in one word: security. When a player decides to auction
the use of an item or character, that item is removed from the game world and is
moved to a secure Station Exchange server. Interested buyers will be able to
browse through all auctions, and will have the comfort of seeing exactly what
they are bidding on and knowing that once an auction is complete, the item or
character will be placed in their account. Since all transactions happen through
Station Exchange servers run by SOE, fraud will be virtually eliminated and the
transfer becomes an automatic process. All activities on Station Exchange will
be player-to-player on servers designated "Exchange Enabled"; Sony
Online Entertainment itself will not sell items, characters or coin.
For more information, visit http://www.stationexchange.com.
Source: Yahoo
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