Facebook to let developers charge subscriptions

AP FILE PHOTO

NEW YORK – Facebook is letting app developers charge subscription fees, in addition to existing one-time payments, for games and other applications on its site.

Facebook Inc. said on its developer blog Tuesday that the subscription feature will be available in July. The changes open up a new revenue stream for developers as well as for Facebook, which takes a 30 percent cut from all payments on its site.

People will still able to make payments on a one-time basis. Facebook is also replacing its own Credits currency with users’ local currency. So U.S. users will pay in dollars and those in Japan will pay in yen.

Payments for virtual items, such as chips on “Zynga Poker,” accounted for 17 percent of Facebook’s revenue in the first quarter.