Thousands of online games will reach new paying players thanks to a just-announced partnership between Sherman Oaks-based video game commerce company Xsolla and Stockholm-based Pley.
Founded in Russia and based locally since 2010, Xsolla positions itself as a one-stop shop for studios to launch, monetize and scale their video games. Its partnership with Pley will allow game developers to create web browser versions of their mobile games that accept a wide range of payment methods.
“If you’re only transacting or delivering your game through the app stores, you’re missing a significant portion of the population who may want to play your game, but they literally cannot,” said Chris Hewish, president of Xsolla. “They may want to spend money, but there’s no way they can do that.”
Xsolla works with more than 2,000 games – including three-fifths of the 100 highest-grossing games – and boasts compatibility with more than 1,000 payment methods, Hewish said. Together with Pley, which simplifies the process of porting mobile games built on the Unity Technologies game engine to web browsers, it’ll create a path to wider global monetization for games studios.
“The games industry is finally moving that direction, where it’s not about a single channel anymore,” Hewish said. “It excites me because it’s a real business growth opportunity.”
Untapped markets abroad
The greatest untapped markets lie in Brazil, Mexico and Poland, where credit card use is low and cash-based e-commerce platforms like Pix, OXXO and BLIK are prevalent, Hewish said. Latin America, the Middleast and Africa also see a growing appetite for games paired with lagging integration of popular payment apps on mainstream game platforms like the App Store.
Without direct payment access, players wanting to spend on a game subscription or buy virtual currency for in-game upgrades use cash kiosks or bill through their cellphone carrier.
Xsolla and Pley’s move is part of a broader push for direct-to-consumer sales in the video game industry. Propelled by easing regulations and restrictions that once barred developers from steering players to their own webstores, DTC represents a fast-growing share of the $113 billion mobile gaming in-app purchase market, new research from Appcharge shows.
“It’s not about beating platforms or anything like that. It’s about expanding your business,” Hewish said.
