On Mar 27, 2006 MAKE published an article about the future of credit cards and virtual worlds, one year later World of WarCraft and VISA teamed up and just launched the WoW/VISA rewards card, I guess they read MAKE :)
Funny thing is that just a couple weeks ago someone from VISA asked that I remove the VISA logo and any mention of VISA in the article, I removed the logo because I really didn’t care (and put a silly logo in) but we refused to edit the article… now I know why.
the-inbetween.com has the scoop…
A little over a year ago, Phillip Torrone of Make Magazine wrote The Future of Credit Cards – Earning virtual currency for spending in the real world & other world bridging. He predicted:
Very soon, credit card companies and game makers will reward their customers who spend money in the real world using private label “rewards” credit cards. They will use gifts of virtual currency such as Blizzard’s World of Warcraft gold and Second Life’s Linden dollars.
The future is now. Further proof of how big of a cultural force World of Warcraft has become. It’s the biggest, hugest, money-making game of the decade… and I don’t have a single shred of interest in it. I find the cultural and media impact that it makes far more fascinating than sitting at my desk grinding levels for hours on end.
Here’s the World of Warcraft / VISA site – Link.
Related:
The Future of Credit Cards – Earning virtual currency for spending in the real world & other world bridging – Link.
Want to know what else is coming? Check our News from the Future section.
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