Updated: Facebook Credits Goes Global With Additional Support in 13 Countries

Update: A Facebook spokesperson clarified that it was already these 13 markets, however, they will now be offering additional payment methods through Live Gamer that were not previously available. The biggest change is that developers in these countries have the opportunity to be paid out directly to their bank accounts. The story has been updated to reflect these changes.

Facebook’s payment system will be available virtually worldwide starting next month with additional support coming in 13 countries in Latin American and Asia.

For those who don’t know, Facebook Credits is the currency inside all games on the social network and acts very similarly to Apple’s iTunes.

And, just like Apple, Facebook keeps 30 percent of the revenues and shares 70 percent with developers.

The expansion to more countries coincides with the looming July 1 deadline, which will require all developers on Facebook to use credits instead of other third-party payment systems.

To add payment methods in these final countries, Facebook has partnered with Live Gamer, a New York-based company that powers microtransactions in 23 countries around the world. Facebook has similar deals with companies, such as PlaySpan, which was recently acquired by Visa. Here’s a full list of all the payment providers Facebook works with around the globe.

For Facebook, partnerships are key since the billing solutions can vary drastically from country-to-country.

In a blog post, Facebook told developers: “Through these improvements, we’re now able to support developers in virtually all countries.”

The countries affected are: Japan, Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico. The deal is expected to go live in July.

In addition, Facebook will also support payouts to developers in all countries, except where the government has prohibited it. That means, developers will be able to receive revenues through bank accounts or PayPal.

Facebook is able to operate in 15 currencies, including the Japanese Yen, the Australian dollar, the Hong Kong dollar, the Norwegian Krone, the Turkish Lira and others.

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