GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE (GDC) 2010, San Francisco, CA - March 9, 2010
NASHVILLE, TN & CLEVELAND, OH - March 1, 2010- ProfitPoint, a leading provider of gift and loyalty card services and Aria Systems, Inc, the leading provider of on demand billing and subscription management solutions, today announced a partnership designed to bring the advantages of ProfitPoint's stored-value cards to game publishers and gamers alike. The partnership offers game publishers a comprehensive billing platform to manage subscription fees, usage fees, and virtual goods with the flexibility and convenience of ProfitPoint's stored-value cards.
An established leader in the gift and loyalty card market, ProfitPoint produces more than 15 million stored-value cards per year serving more than 25,000 merchant locations for global brand name customers like Godiva Chocolatier, The Body Shop, Aerosoles, Atlanta Bread and Michael Kors. ProfitPoint's new SNAP platform (Stored-value Network Authorization Platform) extends the company's technology leadership by offering greater capabilities to customize gift and pre-paid programs and supporting new vertical markets, including the gaming market. The gaming market is now estimated at more than $10 billion dollars annually by the Entertainment Software Association.
Monetization strategies for game publishers have grown more sophisticated in recent years driven by factors like the explosion of Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) Games, the emergence of handheld gaming platforms and game-capable smart phones, and the growth of virtual goods and currencies. Managing millions of subscribers and accurately billing for a combination of subscription, usage, and virtual goods creates complexity for game publishers. To address this large and growing need, Aria provides the Aria Billing and Subscription Management Platform, a SaaS solution that automates the subscriber lifecycle with the cost and time-to-market advantages of an on-demand billing platform. Aria has delivered billing success for game publishers for years, with a proven ability to handle the incredible subscriber growth that occurs when a given title "goes viral" and rapidly attracts huge numbers of gamers.
"The gaming industry represents a significant opportunity for ProfitPoint to leverage its state-of-the-art technology platform within other strategic verticals," said Vaden Landers, CEO at ProfitPoint. "Integrating our new SNAP platform with Aria's proven billing solution lets us offer new capabilities to Aria's installed base and gives both companies an attractive offering for both new and established game publishers."
Integration is planned for delivery in the second quarter of 2010, made possible by the flexibility and openness of the companies' platforms and SaaS-based delivery model.
"The leading game publishers know that gift and loyalty cards are a great way to bring in new gamers, to offer payment flexibility to players, and drive loyalty and long-term value from their customer base," said Ed Sullivan, CEO at Aria Systems. "We're pleased to partner with a proven leader in ProfitPoint to offer this new integrated solution to the gaming industry."
Aria Systems is exhibiting at the Game Developers Conference 2010 at booth #1246, with technical staff providing product demonstrations and answering questions.
About ProfitPoint, Inc.
ProfitPoint, Inc. is a leading provider of gift and loyalty card services to the small to medium sized merchant community. Recognized by Inc. Magazine’s list of 500/5000 fastest growing private companies for two consecutive years, ProfitPoint ranked No. 59 in the US in 2008 and No. 23 in Pennsylvania in 2009. With its corporate headquarters near Philadelphia, PA, and customer care center in Franklin, TN, ProfitPoint supports its gift and loyalty cards with real-time electronic transaction processing, customizable reports, point-of-purchase marketing tools and direct marketing services. ProfitPoint specializes in the design and production of custom gift and loyalty cards, software capability and merchant education to meet each client’s needs. Now serving more than 25,000 merchant locations nationwide, ProfitPoint produces over fifteen million cards per year and does more than 20 million stored value transactions on its proprietary gift and loyalty card platform. www.rewardforloyalty.com.
About Aria Systems
Aria Systems is the leader in on-demand billing and subscription management solutions. Since its inception in 2003 as the pioneer in SaaS billing, Aria has grown rapidly to manage millions of accounts in every country in the world and spanning a wide range of industries. The Aria Billing and Subscription Management Platform is the industry's most reliable, flexible and scalable on-demand platform for organizations looking to accelerate recurring revenue capture while significantly reducing operating costs. Aria Systems also leads the market in security and compliance as the only vendor to have achieved both SAS 70 Type II certification as well as PCI DSS Level 1 compliance for the entire billing management process. Aria's team is comprised of industry veterans that have managed multi-billion dollar billing operations supporting millions of end user subscribers. For more information about Aria Systems, visit http://www.AriaSystems.com or call 1-877-755-2370.
