EA enters five-year deal with Facebook

Like Zynga, Crowdstar and RockYou, major gaming company Electronic Arts to only use Facebook Credits

Electronic Arts (EA) said Tuesday that it has entered a five-year partnership with Facebook that secures the exclusive use of payments system Facebook Credits in games developed by EA or its subsidiary Playfish.

As with social gaming company Zynga and every other third-party developer on the Facebook platform, EA receives a 70% share from Facebook Credits purchases. (By the way, anyone still skeptical about how Facebook itself plans on pulling a profit from its free social network should take a moment to figure out where that other 30% is going.)

EA’s announcement feels a lot like one made back in May, except that one involved a deal between Facebook and Zynga. From yesterday’s release:

Electronic Arts Inc. today announced it has entered into a five-year strategic relationship with Facebook, where more than 200 million people play games every month. The deal will create a simplified, more accessible experience for people who play games and purchase virtual goods on Facebook. Under the terms of the agreement, Facebook Credits will become the exclusive payment method in EA games on Facebook.

And from May 2010:

Facebook and Zynga announced today that they have entered into a five-year strategic relationship that increases their shared commitment to social gaming on Facebook and expands use of Facebook Credits in Zynga's games. The agreement provides a solid foundation for both companies to continue to work together to provide millions of people with a compelling user experience for social games.

In fact, Facebook has similar deals sealed with Crowdstar, RockYou and Disney-owned Playdom. Unfortunately, as the excerpts above indicate, these “strategic relationship” announcements are always scant on details, and even when we reach out to the parties involved, neither Facebook nor the developer will say much more.

The most certain conclusion to be gleaned is that these long-term partnerships all contribute to Facebook's goal to make Credits one of the most widely used payments platforms, usable throughout the massive social network.

If things go well for EA, the gaming company will also benefit from the deal by continuing to have access to Facebook's massive network. Almost half of Facebook’s entire population, 200 of the 500 million, play games on the site, making games the most popular kind of third-party application available on the developer platform.

EA could really use the help. The company recently posted 2Q results that showed a net loss of $201 million in revenue. The same time last year, EA posted a $391 million loss. While EA had already been bracing for the bad news, its executives hope that its new investments in the rapidly growing social gaming space can turn their luck around.

Playfish titles, like Pet Society and Restaurant City, consistently rank in Facebook’s top titles, based on number of daily users.