Ways to Accept Payments
Cross-Border Payments
Payment Optimization
Payment Types & Currencies
Fraud Prevention
Chargeback Management
Compliance
Payment Analytics & Reporting
Accounts Receivable Automation
Subscriptions & Recurring Billing
Invoice Payments
Virtual Terminal
Sandbox
Production
This holiday season is already proving to be one of fierce competition in the video game industry, particularly in the arena of video game consoles. I’ve experienced this first-hand, watching my son and his friend stand in line for hours to buy the new PlayStation 4 (PS4). Two of the world’s leading console manufacturers, Sony and Microsoft, launched their new products in late November and the gaming market has been scrambling to get in on the action.
On November 15th, Sony began shipping its new console, the PlayStation 4 and broke console sales records by selling over a million units within the first 24 hours, and at the time of this writing, has topped over 2.1 million sales. One week later, Microsoft followed suit with their new Xbox One console, and proved that the audience was nowhere near being exhausted as they, too, sold over a million units within the first 24 hours.
Of particular interest in this new breed of home entertainment is that more and more gamers are adopting digital sales of their games as well as microtransactions, which occur after a consumer has obtained a game and wishes to enhance their experience by purchasing digital items or property through an online store. While even just a year ago microtransactions were primarily viable through PC gaming only, an onslaught of new titles that support this kind of monetization has become realized within the console gaming circle. In fact, Sony shipped their new unit with full support for the popular superhero game “DC Universe Online” which is free to play for the consumer, but offers a full service online store allowing players to purchase in-game costumes, content expansions and other novelties.
With online gaming and micro-transactions on the rise, it’s little wonder that the micro-transaction model is now penetrating the console stage, which at one time was a closed market to only the larger development studios.
Today, however, is much different as new and creative ways are being developed on an hourly basis to offer consumers many more products at much lower prices.
We’re excited to watch the industry evolve and continually adapt to changing market conditions, and our goal is to meet these evolving needs. Our Smarter Payment Gateway is perfectly designed to help to more game companies process micro-transactions and win many more loyal followers.