If something at the 2015 Game Developers Conference wasn’t about gaming, it was about money.
One of the biggest problem plaguing mobile gaming is payments, specifically, kids making them. Apple, Google, and Facebook have all shelled out big money to compensate the parents of tap-happy children, for good reason. But that doesn’t mean games with in-app purchases are going anywhere, and developers still want to serve this.
Dr. Jo Webber, the CEO of Oink, think she may have a solution.
Oink is basically a digital allowance system. It’s a virtual wallet that parents can load money into for kids, so that the money is there, ready for Candy Crush purchases. Parents have access to everything, can see what’s being purchased, and received notifications of those purchases.
And yes, parents are able to put limits on it all.
Oink links to a few gaming services, like Facebook, WarGaming, and Gaia Online. Sadly, there still isn’t much interest from Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo.
Will Oink become the defacto payment method for teens, tweens, and youngins’ in general? Maybe, but only if other services jump on board. Either way, the concept has certainly targeted a pain point: Mobile money management is necessary. Kids need to learn the value of an in-app purchase somehow.
Photo via Frankleleon/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
