How Ubisoft Drove 25% DTC Wallet Share for Invincible: Guarding the Globe in Just Two Weeks

About the Partnership

Ubisoft's Invincible: Guarding the Globe is a mid-core strategy RPG built on one of Amazon Prime's most popular animated series. To capture direct-to-consumer revenue from a highly engaged US player base, Ubisoft partnered with Appcharge to deploy Payment Links on iOS: an alternative billing solution that lets players purchase in-game items directly within the game flow, outside of standard iOS billing, with a fully integrated checkout backed by Appcharge's Merchant of Record stack.

The Opportunity

Season 4 of Invincible premiered on Amazon Prime on March 18, 2026, dropping its first three episodes at once. For Ubisoft, this was a rare convergence of cultural attention and player engagement, all concentrated into a narrow window.

Ubisoft needed a DTC partner to help them capture the full value of the demand the IP moment would generate.

The Solution

Appcharge and Ubisoft worked together to deploy Payment Links for iOS in 25 days — live ahead of the Season 4 premiere.

This was a full deployment, not a limited test. It included Merchant of Record (MOR) services, fraud management, tax compliance, and infrastructure scaled to handle the traffic surges that come with a major IP launch. The system needed to perform from minute one, with no runway to course-correct after go-live.

Payment Links gave Ubisoft a direct monetization channel that sat alongside their existing in-app flows. Players could move from the game to a purchase-ready checkout in seconds, with support for Apple Pay, credit cards, and a range of other payment methods.

What Appcharge delivered:

• Payment Links on iOS — fully compliant and optimized for mobile-native checkout
• Full deployment in 25 days — timed to an immovable external deadline
• Merchant of Record services — handling tax, compliance, and fraud management across US transactions
• Infrastructure built for launch-day scale — supporting premiere traffic spikes without interruption

The Results

25% Daily DTC Wallet Share

Within two weeks of going live, Payment Links were accounting for 25% of Appcharge-tracked revenue against iOS US IAP for Invincible: Guarding the Globe — on average, every day. This wasn't a spike that faded. It stabilized as a consistent share of the revenue mix, establishing DTC as a core channel from day one.

80%+ Conversion Rate

The conversion trajectory tells a clear story of player trust building in real time. In the first days after launch, conversion sat around 50%. Within two weeks, it climbed past 80% and held there. Players who experienced the checkout flow once came back and bought again.

65% Repeat Purchase Rate

Within the first month, 65% of paying users had already made more than one purchase through Payment Links. Players weren't treating DTC as a one-off transaction. They were folding it into their regular spending behaviour.

Late-March Performance Spike

Towards the end of March, Ubisoft saw significant surges across multiple KPIs — new users, first-time depositors, second-time depositors, deposits per depositor, and average order value. This coincided with the heart of the Season 4 episode rollout, when viewer engagement was at its peak.

What the Data Reveals

The new user acquisition data maps directly against the Invincible: Guarding the Globe Season 4 episode release schedule.

March 18 — The premiere dropped its first three episodes. The new user chart shows the single largest spike in the entire period, with first-time depositors surging right behind it.

Late March — As weekly episodes continued to air, new user acquisition and first-time depositors spiked again, with deposit volumes tracking closely behind visitor growth. Ubisoft appeared to be running coordinated campaigns timed to each episode drop.

Early April — Another sharp uptick in new visitors and FTDs, consistent with a key episode release combined with a dedicated campaign push.

The pattern held throughout the month. Each major episode release drove a wave of new users into the Payment Links flow — and those users converted. The tight correlation between new visitors and first-time depositors shows the funnel was working.

Why It Worked

Precision Timing

The deployment was complete before the Season 4 premiere. Ubisoft captured demand from day one of the cultural moment.

Frictionless Checkout

Players moved from game to purchase in seconds. No account creation, no redirects, no friction. The mobile-native checkout experience reduced every barrier between intent and transaction — which likely explains why conversion climbed so sharply in the first two weeks as players encountered the flow repeatedly.

Built for Spikes

The Invincible: Guarding the Globe season launch wasn't a steady ramp. It was a series of traffic surges tied to episode drops. Appcharge's infrastructure handled every spike without degradation, ensuring no revenue was lost to downtime or slow load times.

Repeat Engagement

With 65% of paying users returning for a second purchase within the first month, the DTC channel moved beyond acquisition into retention quickly. Saved card details and a consistent checkout experience made repeat purchases easy — and players took that path.

What's Next

Following the success of Payment Links, Ubisoft is evaluating a full Appcharge-powered web store for Invincible: Guarding the Globe — expanding beyond in-app payment links into a persistent, branded storefront where players can browse offers, claim rewards, and purchase directly. What began as a rapid deployment for a single launch window may become a long-term DTC growth channel.