Xsolla grows digital payment services for games

Xsolla has been growing its services beyond the traditional operations of a video game commerce company over the past decade. Since its founding in 2005, Xsolla quickly zeroed in on the need for digital payment services in games, and particularly the burgeoning online multiplayer market left out of traditional provider services at the time. But being first to the table isn’t enough to stay on top for 18 years.

Xsolla is always evolving its offerings. Headless Checkout, the latest evolution of Xsolla’s initial payments solution Pay Station, has grown to provide built-in support for more than 700 payment methods, 130 currencies, and complies with regulations across more than 200 countries. The latest iteration allows for total UI design control to match game or brand aesthetics, a seamless purchase flow integration and full control for A/B testing or other regional differences.

With their products now implemented in some of the most popular games in the world, Xsolla’s clients range from Epic Games’ Fortnite and Hi-Rez Studios’ Smite, to Team17’s publisher-run store full of fun and quirky games from a variety of developers.

The payment processor has become more than a payments company to most of the gaming world, enabling publishers and developers alike to add new functionality beyond scope, and novel ways to offer the best to their customers. All while saving the hassle of creating their own solution, with in-house data suggesting up to 30% of developers’ operational time budget can be saved by not starting from scratch.

Team17’s publisher store, for instance, uses Xsolla’s Game Sales solution; a combination of Pay Station, Site Builder, Anti-Fraud measures and other services individually offered by the company, packaged together into a bespoke store.

The store currently features more than 70 games and 30 DLC packs, each with dedicated pages for screenshots, trailers, system requirements and community building.

Offering better control over sales and a more attractive revenue split than other third-party vendors, Game Sales proved a successful staging ground for Xsolla’s latest addition to their product range.

Web Shop, which launched earlier this month in 40 of the top 100 mobile games, offers the same granular control over sales and platform delivery, but for in-game items too. Taking advantage of Subscription tracking, In-Game Store solutions and one-click user authentication through existing products, the Xsolla Web Shop also ties in with Partner Network, an affiliate marketing engine enhanced by key strategic acquisitions this month.

Xsolla’s acquisition of Lightstream, Rainmaker and API.stream from Videndum will allow creators to go live within seconds via cloud streaming services, request free keys from game developers, participate in referral programs, create their own branded web shops and sell digital goods for games in Xsolla’s portfolio.

“Xsolla is committed to supporting creators and providing them with the tools they need to succeed,” said Chris Hewish, CEO of Xsolla. “The acquisition of Lightstream, Rainmaker and API.stream reinforces our dedication to delivering extra value to the gaming community and making the Xsolla Partner Network an all-encompassing solution for developers, publishers, creators, and their audiences.”

With Web Shop and the Partner Network, Xsolla offers new ways for developers to provide value back to their communities and top content creators, who also have the chance to get more deeply involved with the games and franchises they love. But the new functionality is built on top of a growing payment structure base that has continued to stay one step ahead of digital economies and the fragmented gaming platform landscape.

“Web Shop launches for 40 of the top 100 mobile games is a monumental milestone for Xsolla, and it signifies a major shift in the industry towards multi-platform expansion,” said Hewish of the new product launch earlier this month. “It also underscores the increasing importance of a unified cross-platform strategy, particularly in light of recent privacy changes, including the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), App Tracking Transparency (ATT), and the upcoming crackdown on Fingerprinting. These changes have made it more important than ever for developers to adhere to the rules while using Web Shops to broaden their user bases and enrich the gaming experiences across platforms.”

For more information, go to Xsolla.