Here’s how hot the online gaming space has gotten: not only are developers and advertisers landing venture funding, now billing services for games are, too. Om just passed me word that Philadelphia-based Aria Systems just secured a four mill Series A investment from Hummer Winblad. (Prior to founding Aria, CEO Ed Sullivan developed the basic laser technology for Lasik’s vision correction surgery, hence “focus” as the appropriate word choice here.)
Aria specializes in billing for online gaming systems, including the upcoming MMORPG Hellgate London and MMO middleware provider Big World Technology, but evidently, games are just a starting point. As their PR rep Mike Maney tells us, “While their first playground is literally a playground, they have their sights set on other industries that rely on recurring billing– utilities, insurance and telco.”
5 comments so far
2:16 PM PT
There are MAJOR billing issues for HellGate: London. These include multiple charges, inability to cancel, and many other issues.
If this company is truely handling all of this, then their investors may want to know of the issues.
2:49 PM PT
More than just a few customers are angry with this billing service for HGL. In fact I would not be surprised at all if there is a class act suit started shortly. May want to think twice before signing up for the subscription portion of this game.
2:53 PM PT
This is true. The handling of Hellgate: London’s billing system (or the lack thereof) is catasrophic at the moment. It’s on the borderline to scam.
3:43 PM PT
The only “billing” problem I had with hellgate was the download store. EA took my money and I couldn’t download the game. They refunded my money and i purchased the box set…working great now!
12:00 AM PT
[...] at 12:00 AM PT | No comments VC funding is flowing into the backbone of online games. Last week, Hummer Winblad put $4 million into game billing service Aria Systems; this week, Benchmark is investing $7.8 million into Vivox, the official VoIP solution provider for [...]
Leave a Comment