Facebook gaming invades UK retail

Looks like it’s soon gonna be impossible to escape the relentless march of Facebook gaming even if you don’t happen to use the social networking service itself. Starting early next year all GAME (and probably by extension, Gamestation) stores and Tesco supermarkets will start stocking gift cards that can be redeemed for Facebook credits, similar to the already existing PSN and Xbox Live cards.

Thanks to a strong marketing push by Facebook management, most notable micro transaction based games on the site accept the credits in exchange for virtual perks and items. This includes Zynga’s ever dominant Mafia Wars and series of “-vill” games such as Farmville and Frontierville, which will no doubt consume a majority of the purchased credits.

GAME plans on stoking gift cards in values of  £5, £10 and £25 while Tesco will offer £10 and £20 equivalents. This should make it far easier for those who lack credit cards (or are too paranoid to use them online) to buff up their Facebook farm/city/mobster/car/company/aquarium/ect without having to spend absurd hours a day in pursuit of small stat bonuses. Then again they’ll probably keep doing that anyway.