In a week of gigantic buyouts, one little firm missed out on a lot of media coverage. Super Rewards, a company that establishes virtual currency, was bought out by Adknowledge for $50 million, in real money. That’s right, $50 million and it didn’t make the papers. The price isn’t the interesting part though. Super Rewards generates income by creating small economies in apps that are used by millions. The proliferation of apps has led many brands to offer incentives in the apps to generate real sales. Basically, this is how Mafia Wars makes money. It’s also how a company like Netflix gets new customers. By using the popularity of Mafia Wars, Netflix provides players virtual money in the app when they sign up for the DVD rental service. A small fee is paid to Super Rewards and everyone is happy. This is an excellent example for all those naysayers who don’t see the business value of little online games. Once the player is invested, their interest can be leveraged.

The full story at Tech Crunch:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/26/the-value-of-virtual-currency-the-real-price-of-super-rewards-was-closer-to-50-million/