Prepaid card distributor GMG Entertainment announced a partnership with animated avatar site Meez to offer prepaid cards, which include a "bonus free limited edition item" for the free-to-play community at Best Buy locations. GMG also reported that it extended its partnerships with current clients AdventureQuest, Gala-Net, and Stardoll.

Meez claims over seven million registered teens and college-aged youths who visit the site to create customizable 3D avatars, play casual games, interact with others, and contribute to its virtual economy. The site's in-game currency, Coinz, can be used to purchase premium content, such as special animations or accessories.

Said Meez CEO Sean Ryan: "Meez is very excited to announce our partnership with GMG Entertainment by introducing our prepaid cards into Best Buy stores across the country. This is a chance to not only offer our established user base an important new way to purchase virtual currency, but we look forward to inviting millions of new digital entertainment enthusiasts into the Meez community.

Expanding further on his personal blog, Ryan described prepaid cards for virtual worlds as "perfect merchandise" for retailers because of their ability to deliver high value-to-floor-space ratios, offering margins closer to other physical products. "Given the decline of recorded music sales and the flattening of DVD sales, this can be a nice win for retailers who really focus on the digital entertainment category -- some of them will soon start to actually integrate their brands and links into these worlds so that users can move back and forth between virtual and physical spaces."

He went on to applaud GMG's efforts to work with Best Buy to launch a specialized area for prepaid cards at the electronics retailer's video game sections: " ... retail placement and the resulting revenue will be a key driver for successful digital entertainment brands, and leading retailers will benefit by offering these options to their customers."