PGC London 2025 wasn’t just another event on the calendar; it was a defining moment for Appcharge. With our new branding officially unveiled in time for the conference, we came ready to showcase not just a new look but also the momentum behind our mission to help game publishers reclaim their revenue.
A New Chapter
After some late nights working to ensure our new website was ready in time for PGC, we successfully launched our refreshed brand with pride – and a sigh of relief!
Featuring a sleek new logo and a design philosophy that reflects our core vision – empowering game publishers – we were over the moon by the positive feedback we received throughout the event. It reaffirmed our belief that this new chapter isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about better serving our partners and the industry at large.
Key Highlights from the Conference
Maor Sason, Appcharge CEO and co-founder, on The Expert’s Guide to DTC Strategies panel
Maor Sason joined the panel on “The Expert’s Guide to DTC Strategies” alongside Tayber Voyer from A Thinking Ape, George Osborn from Video Games Industry Memo, Faisal Bitar from Tamatem, and David Stelzer from Xsolla.
Maor shared actionable insights into how publishers can unlock new revenue streams by connecting directly with players. There were particularly interesting discussions around how DTC tools and infrastructure are evolving, and all the innovations that game publishers can use to capitalize on this opportunity.
Gil Tov Ly, Appcharge CMO, Web Store Popularity & Adoption talk
Gil Tov-Ly followed Maor with a deep dive into data on Web Store Popularity & Adoption, based on our report. The room’s engagement and the thoughtful questions afterward made it clear: DTC is already a significant piece of the monetization stack for many publishers.
Our data shows over 70% of the top grossing games operate a web store – they are no longer the “next big thing” but the new norm of mobile game monetization.
Hosting PGC After Dark at Soho House with Deconstructor of Fun and Appsflyer
The day closed with the PGC After Dark Mixer at Shoreditch House. This intimate, invite-only event brought together industry leaders with an open bar, a great DJ, and even better vibes. It was the perfect setting to connect with our friends and partners, away from the conference hustle and into the early hours!
Meetings, meetings, and more meetings at our booth
We’re pumped for what’s next
We also had the chance to meet incredible game leaders and publishers at our booth. The enthusiasm for direct-to-consumer strategies—and the genuine curiosity about our platform—was wonderful to see.
What stood out most at PGC London 2025 was the sense that gaming is entering an exciting new era. From packed sessions to casual booth conversations, it’s clear that publishers are looking for tools and strategies that empower them to reclaim control, build deeper player connections, and grow their businesses sustainably.
We’re proud to play a role in shaping that future. If you didn’t get a chance to connect with us at the event, reach out—we’d love to continue the conversation.
Here’s to what’s next. 🚀
Why Your Players Hate Your Web Store (and How to Fix It)
I’ve spoken to countless mobile game publishers, and one thing keeps coming up: web stores aren’t delivering as expected. You build the store, but players don’t come, or worse—they come once and never return. Sound familiar?
The good news is that this isn’t an unsolvable problem. From my time at Appcharge and conversations with publishers around the world, I’ve identified four common reasons why players avoid web stores. Fix these, and you’re well on your way to turning your store into a thriving revenue engine. Let’s dive in.
1. The Login Problem
Let’s start with the basics: players can’t conveniently access the store.
I’ve seen it happen again and again. Players are hit with confusing login processes that feel like a chore. They ask themselves, “Why bother?” By the time they’ve fumbled through account setups, password resets, or unresponsive interfaces, they’ve already lost interest.
The fix? Make it simple.
Use auto-login whenever possible. If they’re logged into your game, they should be logged into your store.
Remove unnecessary steps. Don’t make them create a new account unless absolutely necessary.
When you reduce friction at login, you’ll see the difference. When the Appcharge team added One Time Password as a login method, we saw revenue jump by 10% or more for some games.
2. The Personalization Problem
Players want to feel valued. But too often, web stores feel generic. Offers aren’t tailored to their preferences, and prices might not even appear in their local currency. When players see this, they think, “This store isn’t for me.”
The fix? Personalize everything.
Segment your players. What works for a new player might not excite a VIP.
Show offers in their currency, and if possible, highlight local payment methods.
Add value. Exclusive deals and personalized recommendations go a long way.
From my experience, personalization is one of the biggest revenue drivers. A well-segmented store can increase sales by 25% – yes, really.
3. The DTC Metagame Problem
Here’s a harsh truth: most web stores are boring.
Players come to your store, and it feels like a completely different world from your game. No connection. No excitement. They ask themselves, “Why would I shop here when I can just buy directly in-game?”
The fix? Gamify the store experience.
Make your store an extension of your game. Use visuals, sounds, and themes that players already love.
Add goals and challenges. For example, “Spend $20 to unlock an exclusive item.”
Reward loyalty with badges, points, or discounts for repeat purchases.
When you make shopping fun, players come back. Daily bonuses, accumulation bars, post-purchase offers – these kinds of features are key to web store success.
4. The Checkout Problem
Imagine this: a player finds something they want to buy. They add it to their cart. But then… they’re unsure if it’s safe to proceed.
“Why isn’t my local payment method here?” “Do I really need to enter my credit card info again?” “Is this even an official store?”
Trust issues at checkout are a conversion killer.
The fix? Build trust.
Use your branding at checkout. Display your game’s logo, colors, and background visuals.
Offer trusted, local payment methods. Can your Polish players pay with Blik? How about your Brazilian players with Pix?
Make it clear this is your store. Add official seals or security badges where needed.
A branded, trustworthy checkout process isn’t just about avoiding lost sales—it’s about building loyalty.
The Path Forward
If you’re reading this and thinking, “Our store has these issues,” don’t worry. You’re not alone. We’ve worked with publishers who faced the same challenges, and with a few targeted changes, they saw dramatic improvements.
Here’s what I’ve learned:
A frictionless login process boosts first-time access.
Personalization makes players feel valued and drives repeat purchases.
Gamification transforms your store from a chore into a destination.
Trustworthy checkouts close the sale and build loyalty.
Fix these four areas, and your players won’t just visit your store—they’ll love it.
Beyond The First Purchase: How to Build Web Stores Your Players Love Returning To
Editor’s note: this article was originally published on Business of Apps.
“Habit-forming products often start as nice-to-haves, but once the habit is formed, they become must-haves,” says Nir Eyal, author of Hooked.
This touches on a key challenge publishers are facing: moving beyond attracting one-time web store buyers to forming loyal, repeat buyers. Building a habit loop within your store is key, especially for VIP players who contribute significantly to average revenue per user (ARPU). For many of our partners, launching a web store has led to an incremental revenue increase of 25–35%—a testament to the financial impact of building these long-term player habits.
But when done right, a habit loop doesn’t just increase revenue; it boosts player engagement and satisfaction, creating a fun experience that they choose repeatedly. Let’s look at how publishers can build these habits by guiding players through each critical stage of the web store journey.
First visit: Setting the stage for engagement
You only get one chance at making a strong first impression. Your goal is to ensure players are aware of your web store and, further, understand it has unique benefits that are worth checking out with a visit.
To do this, you should lean upon your online communities. Games often have their own Instagram, Facebook, X, or TikTok, but we’ve also increasingly seen the benefits of communities on Reddit and Discord. These platforms provide places for users to forge community, create friendships, seek quick tips and tricks, and find the best insider news. Therefore, they make the best place to promote your web store’s deals and showcase its unique store benefits, from exclusive items to better value on purchases when compared to in-app purchases.
It’s important to play an active role in these channels, especially with VIP players. VIP account management is key, and account managers should be reaching out directly to VIP players to offer exclusive deals and spark interest for first-time web store visits. Keep in mind the “trigger” stage of habit formation focuses on capturing attention. By creating strategic, well-timed triggers through social channels or VIP outreach, publishers can provide an initial nudge that brings players into the store, setting the foundation for a new buying habit.
Repeated visit: Building FOMO and desire to return
So you’ve raised awareness for your web store, and there’s been a spike in first-time visits. Now what? Your next goal is to encourage second and third visits with more “triggers”. According to our data at Appcharge, most first-time deposits occur after 2 to 3 visits.
To drive repeat visits, continue leveraging VIP account management and social media to drive home the value of the web store, offering time-limited and unique offers. These create urgency and excitement, or, as some would say, drive the classic “FOMO” (fear of missing out). Further, to build a desire to return, consider gamification in your web store, such as daily bonuses or offer wheels. By showing players the exciting content and offers available with each visit, you can increase retention and help form a habit of returning to the web store.
According to our data, a daily bonus is helpful, but the types of daily bonuses you offer are most crucial. Variable rewards are key to forming habits since they tap into player curiosity and desire for variety. Encourage players to check back often by offering both varied daily bonuses and limited-time deals with different artwork. By doing this, you’ll successfully create a loop of regular engagement.
First purchase: The conversion catalyst
Your players are aware of your store, and you’ve not only gotten them to check it out for the first time, but they’ve visited a few times and are intrigued. How do we turn the curious web store browser into a web store purchaser?
To convert repeat visitors into buyers, use unique, time-limited welcome offers that stand out from in-game options. Note that the offer itself isn’t enough – its presentation is also key. Make sure it’s inviting, familiar, and on-brand using tailored game artwork and eye catching designs.
In addition to the welcome offer, make sure your web store UI is user-friendly. Remember, this stage is all about encouraging curious web store shoppers to take action and make a purchase. You’ll need to remove friction to achieve this goal and ensure the experience is both pleasant and enticing. For this “action” stage, make it easy for players to take the first step. Easy login is crucial, so offer a variety of login methods including One Time Password. Design-wise, don’t stuff the page with information – focus on removing distractions.
Repeat purchase: Forming the habit loop
Congratulations! You’ve gotten your player to make their first purchase. Will they now ignore the convenience of in-app purchases and shop predominantly on your web store moving forward?
Not yet. There’s more work to do to make your web store a “must-have” in the eyes of your players. Our publisher partners see 80-100% of purchases on any given day coming from repeat purchasers—the secret lies in creating a seamless experience that keeps players returning to your web store when the next trigger appears. How is that done?
First, remember that this is the “investment” stage of Eyal’s framework. When players feel they’ve invested in their store experience, they’re more likely to become long-term customers. Give players a sense of progress or status to strengthen their commitment to the web store.
A key tactic here is empowering your VIP account managers to provide personalized, exclusive deals to VIP players regularly. This creates a frequent sense of value and exclusivity in the web store and strengthens the relationship with your VIP players.
Additionally, continue delighting players with engaging web store mechanics such as loyalty programs or accumulation bars, allowing them to see a reward path that makes returning and purchasing more appealing.
Final thoughts
72% of top-grossing mobile games are leveraging web stores. DTC has become a key part of the successful game’s monetization playbook, but you can’t simply create one and hope for the best. Help players form habits by going beyond raising awareness for a store or getting a single transaction. By implementing this strategy and focusing on the four key milestones—trigger, action, variable reward, and investment—publishers can delight players and create a strong, self-sustaining habit loop that draws them back to the store time and again.
2024 Was A Breakout Year for DTC – Here Are Our Highlights
I couldn’t be prouder of our team. What we’ve accomplished in 2024 has been remarkable – building the DTC platform trusted by over 1/3 of the top grossing publishers, scaling our platform to $200M in transactions, and having some fun along the way.
As I wrote in our Manifesto, when we launched Appcharge we were sure of one thing: we were going to bring positive change to the mobile games ecosystem by helping publishers own their audience, and by doing it right. Almost two years later, I’m confident in saying we’ve achieved that goal already, and we’re only getting started. Our $26 million series A round is testament to this and will allow us to scale our obsession of launching world class monetization and payment products for leading publishers.
But while we look ahead to the future, with the year coming to a close I wanted to also reflect on our achievements from the past 12 months, highlighting the key product updates on the Appcharge platform.
New web store features launched
We continuously added features over the year to help our partners maximize their web store revenue and retention. These include:
Post purchase offer
This feature enables publishers to show a pop-up with an irresistible offer immediately after a player completes a purchase. This tactic has boosted our publishers’ revenue significantly – up to 12% in some cases.
Time-limited offers
Time-limited deals, accompanied with countdown timers, are a tried and tested method for increasing web store revenue. In addition, this feature allows publishers to batch schedule offers in advance, instead of scheduling offers one by one. This enables them to align their web store offers with their internal calendar and scheduling logic and saves time.
Password-Less Login
We’re obsessed with making web store experiences that delight players. Removing any friction from the login process is a key part of this, which is why we added password-less login. Within 3 seconds and just 2 taps, players can load their profiles and check their in-game currency balance — making this the fastest & easiest way to log into the store.
Daily Bonus
Our daily bonus feature is helping our partners increase both revenue and retention. A customizable interstitial pop-up that players receive upon opening the web store, it rewards them with a game resource such as in-game currency. Right after the player claims their reward, a timer appears on the pop-up showing that the next reward can be unlocked on the next calendar day.
Offer Availability Controls
If a player loves a certain offer, why limit them to a certain amount once they’ve maxed out? This feature, which was requested by one of our partners, lets publishers set the number of times players can redeem an offer [such as twice a day], and then select a time and date for replenishing it. Since releasing this feature, we’ve received great feedback and seen a notable increase in repeat purchases.
These features are just a snapshot of the innovation happening at Appcharge. Every addition comes from deep collaboration with our partners and a shared commitment to growing their businesses.
Strengthening our payments solution
We made numerous improvements to our checkout solution, focused on perfecting the user experience and delivering market-leading conversion rates for our partners. These include:
New Payment Methods
Can your Polish players pay with Blik? How about your Brazilian players with Pix?
We make sure publishers always make players feel seen by providing their preferred payment methods. I’m proud of our payments team who worked tirelessly to add a wide range of APMs to the web store checkout.
For example, we recently added Venmo as a payment method for U.S. users, and it has already processed a significant number of transactions for our partners.
Coupons
Discount coupons have shown themselves to be a powerful tactic for driving web store traffic and conversions for our partners. The most effective way to leverage these is using online communities and VIP account managers to share coupons with players.
New mobile checkout SDK
Several publishers we work with requested a solution to support their sideloading distribution strategies. This is another very interesting layer in the DTC ecosystem, allowing publishers to distribute their games directly to players, outside the iOS or Android ecosystems.
Our development team got to work, and built a first class SDK that allows publishers to integrate a native in-app payments flow in their game for Unity, iOS, Android and Cocos.
What features does it offer?
Fully customizable checkout look & feel
80 currencies, 500 alternative payment methods
Player price & currency localization
Real-time financial data connected to your system, and analytics in your Appcharge dashboard
We’re always looking for new ways to help our current and future partners grow with the expanding DTC economy.
As I reflect on the past year, I’m reminded of the opening words of this article: we set out to bring positive change to the mobile games ecosystem. The journey isn’t over, and 2025 promises to be even more exciting.
With an ambitious product roadmap and a team of mobile gaming veterans that continues to exceed expectations, we’re ready to scale new heights together. Thank you for being a part of our story, and here’s to another successful year for the industry 🦄
Should You Go DTC Now Or Wait For App Store Regulations?
Editor’s note: this article was originally published on Mobidictum’s website.
Mobile game publishers are at a crossroads. With increasing regulatory scrutiny on app stores and changing policies, game studios face a choice: wait for more policy shifts or embrace a flexible direct-to-consumer (DTC) strategy now. The answer from industry leaders is clear—act today.
App Store Changes: Uncertainty Ahead
Recent regulatory actions have already made waves. The EU’s Digital Markets Act, for instance, pressured Apple to allow external payment links in the region, offering new revenue opportunities for developers.
Yet, the future remains uncertain. Ongoing battles, like the high-profile Epic vs. Apple and Google case, keep the landscape shifting. In-game promotion of external web stores remains problematic; many publishers operate in ‘grey’ areas, finding workarounds while being careful not to irk the gatekeepers in fear of penalties.
But relying on regulators to deliver a perfect solution is risky at best to games businesses.
While some developers wait for clarity, leading studios are moving forward, investing in adaptable DTC strategies and adding web store revenue to their income streams.
The Rise of DTC: Publishers Leading the Way
According to Appcharge’s latest report, 72% of top-grossing mobile games already operate a web store, and they’re seeing tangible results. Consider the social casino category, where every top game now has a web store.
Publishers like Playtika have demonstrated that even modest shifts to DTC channels can create big gains. In 2023, Playtika’s DTC revenue climbed to 24.9% of its total revenue, driven by the success of its Slotomania and Bingo Blitz stores. The result? Lower fees, higher margins, and more flexibility.
DTC strategies are not just about bypassing app store commissions. They offer publishers control and flexibility to engage players directly. From tailored offers to loyalty programs, publishers can build richer player experiences and, in turn, increase long-term player value.
Building Revenue Resilience
Adopting a DTC strategy isn’t just a defensive move; it’s an opportunity to build a more resilient business.
Appcharge, a leading web store provider that processes $100 million per year and powers over one-third of top-grossing mobile game web stores, found that a well-executed DTC strategy boosts revenue by 25-35% on average.
This revenue does not cannibalize revenue from in-game sales – it adds to the overall pie. For example, while overall revenue was slightly down in Playtika’s latest earnings report, their DTC earnings were actually up. The same is true for Huuge, who’ve doubled DTC revenues year-over-year and signaled more investment ahead.
Playtika’s DTC platform revenue of $173.7 million increased 1.3% sequentially and 5.1% year over year.
Challenges Are Surmountable
However, going DTC isn’t without challenges. Compliance complexities, managing new payment systems, and successfully creating a new habit among players are critical. But these hurdles are surmountable with the right tools and partners. For example, finding a good Merchant of Record provider alleviates the whole burden of global compliance and payment operations.
In terms of instilling new player behaviors, high-ARPU genres like strategy and social casino games have thrived by leveraging their existing foundations in VIP management and loyalty programs to drive DTC adoption.
The Time to Act is Now
As app store regulations continue to evolve, the window of opportunity is wide open. Waiting for policy changes could leave studios playing catch-up; those who move now to implement adaptable, multi-channel strategies are setting themselves up to be market leaders.
It’s clear from the data that DTC web stores are no longer the “next big thing” but the norm. By acting today, studios can unlock new revenue, take ownership of their players, and future-proof their businesses against unpredictable shifts in the app economy.
Announcing our $26 Million Series A, Led by Creandum With Support From Supercell, Play Ventures & Other Leading VCs
This is a powerful endorsement of the vision we started with in 2022: to give mobile game publishers the tools to connect directly with players on their own terms.
Ultimately, this delivers a net positive impact for everyone: publishers have more control and financial resilience, and players get better value for money and a fun experience. That is what drives us to develop new solutions to push DTC forward.
Why Now?
The genie is out of the bottle – publishers no longer need to lose 30% on all sales of in-game items.
The ongoing antitrust battles against Apple and Google have amplified the importance of direct-to-consumer (DTC) across the industry, sparking a much-needed conversation about control and autonomy for publishers. Regardless of the legal outcome, DTC has emerged as a powerful strategy for publishers looking to take charge of their revenue and deepen their connection with players. Testament to this is the waves of demand we’ve seen for our platform from top publishers, which has been truly remarkable.
At the same time, many publishers are finding it harder than ever to scale their user acquisition (UA) efforts post-ATT while remaining profitable. With rising costs and a crowded market, even the biggest companies are feeling the squeeze. By significantly lowering costs and increasing revenue through DTC sales, we give publishers a stronger financial foundation—a bigger war chest to fuel future growth and keep their games thriving. We’ve seen the impact of this firsthand—we process $200 million in DTC sales annually and have seen 3x growth in the last quarter.
We know we’re onto something big.
Why Do Top Publishers Choose Appcharge?
The Appcharge team
As I wrote earlier this year in our Manifesto, great products are built by people who truly get the needs of the niche they’re serving.
Our people?
We’re a team of game makers who understand the unique challenges of this space because, well, we’ve lived through them ourselves at companies like Rovio, Huuuge Games, Moon Active, and Playstudios. We understand what it takes to build and scale the world’s highest-grossing games—this informs every feature we build and all strategic monetization advice we offer our publishers.
When our team shares wins in our company’s Slack channel like the one you see below, I’m both filled with pride and pumped for what’s to come.
Mobile Gaming’s New Golden Era
This new funding marks our next step in driving the DTC movement forward. Web stores have become ubiquitous—our recent industry report confirms this trend—but the DTC space still has so much room to grow.
Appcharge Web Stores are already seen by top publishers as a leading solution, equipped with powerful engagement mechanics like Accumulation Bars, Coupons, and Daily Bonuses. And following requests from partners, we recently launched our in-game payment SDK for Unity, Android, and iOS. With sideloading rising as a viable distribution channel, we want to provide publishers the tools they need to succeed and meet players wherever they are.
We’re excited for the year to come—we’ll continue strengthening our platform and innovating in line with our publishers’ needs, for instance, with AI tools to help them get the most out of their web stores and new payment methods to continue delighting players wherever they are.
Final Thoughts
This is a good opportunity to say thank you.
A huge thank you to our world-class team, our investors for helping us get here, and our innovative publishers who continue pushing boundaries and moving the industry forward with us.
We’re just getting started 🦄
We Analyzed Web Store Adoption Across Top Grossing Mobile Games – Here’s What We Learned
The last couple of years has been quite the ride for us game makers.
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) monetization has been embraced by publishers everywhere, amidst a tide of antitrust regulatory changes which have shifted the market wide open and paved the way for more choices for publishers and users alike.
From a personal perspective, we’ve grown our partnerships considerably, now counting ⅓ of the top grossing mobile games as partners and building the market’s most robust DTC platform.
But despite our own growth and the general hype surrounding web stores in the mobile games industry, there is little data that gives concrete evidence of this overall trend.
We wanted to change that.
Our team ran a thorough analysis of the top grossing charts and found that on average, 72% of top-grossing games operate a web store.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at web store adoption across top grossing game genres, namely the social casino, action, strategy, and casual categories, and unearth financial data to assess the impact of DTC strategies on games businesses.
Web Store Adoption Rates: Industry Data
A quick note on our analysis: We used data from Sensor Tower’s August 2024 report to identify top-grossing iOS games in the U.S. We then researched and tracked which of these games have web stores – many were not easy to find, as often publishers only invite a select group of VIP players.
We had to pull some strings to get the full list together, but we were able to gather enough data to offer an accurate, albeit conservative, view of adoption rates and trends. Now, let’s dive in.
Social Casino Games
Social casino has long been one of the most lucrative gaming categories. It has high spenders who are smartly nurtured and monetized with tactics including loyalty programs, VIP customer management, and in-person events.
100% adoption rate
With the context above in mind, it comes as no surprise that all of the top 20 grossing social casino games have web stores.Some interesting points:
These games belong to 10 different publishers, showing web store adoption is spread out across the top publishers and not confined to a handful of outliers.
Publishers with multiple web stores include Playtika and Product Madness.
Appcharge is proud to be the preferred partner of many of the games in this list, powering their web stores and helping them scale their DTC strategy.
Understanding the data
Why do we think web store adoption has taken off in this genre? Here’s a few factors:
Big spenders: Social casino games have very high ARPU. This means a publisher can still see a meaningful boost to their margins by shifting just 10% of paying users to a web store – making the effort of launching a store worthwhile.
Strong foundations: The top social casino games have strong direct-to-consumer foundations already, namely via VIP account management, rewards programs, and social media community management. This makes it easier to promote web stores and encourage high LTV users to do their shopping on them.
Culture of innovation: The top social casino publishers are renowned for their sophistication and data-centric approach. They pounced on the web store opportunity early and have had more time to gather data and optimize their strategies across their portfolios.
What results are social casino games seeing?
While web store data is scarce at the moment, we can look at two public companies for useful guidance: Playtika and Huuuge Games.
Playtika
In their Q2 2024 earnings report, Playtika reported generating DTC revenue of $173.7M, up 1.3% sequentially and 5.1% year over year.
In their 2023 Annual Report, Playtika reported generating $639.4M in DTC revenue, up 5.4% compared to 2022.
DTC revenue accounted for 24.9% of Playtika’s total revenue in 2023
Slotomania and Bingo Blitz – both of which have DTC web stores and feature on the top grossing casino games list – generated approximately 46% of Playtika’s revenues for the year ended December 31, 2023.
Playtika decreased their cost of revenue by $17.2M in 2023, which includes an approximate $16.8M decrease in platform fees and a greater percentage of revenue generated from their DTC platforms
Payment processing fees and other related expenses for in-app purchases made through Playtika’s DTC platforms are typically 3-4%, compared to the typical 30% platform fee.
Huuuge Games
In their latest earnings report, Huuuge reported generating $72M in DTC revenue in Q3 2023
In H1 2024 DTC revenues accounted for 10.1% of total revenue (up from 4.2% in H1 2023), “exceeding their expectations”
They added that they are investing further in DTC channels and expect more long-term upside
Casual Games
Casual games are one of the highest grossing categories in the whole industry. Puzzle games – a single subcategory of the casual genre, for example – saw $2.89 billion in consumer spending in Q2 2024, ahead of social casino’s $2.886 billion.
30% adoption rate
On the surface, we might be surprised then that just 6 out of 20 of the top grossing casual games have web stores. These 20 games are a medley of subcategories: puzzle (the Candy Crush series), match-3 (Empires & Puzzles), solitaire/simulation (Solitaire Grand Harvest), Board Game/Simulation (Phase 10: World Tour), and casual casino (Coin Master).
Understanding the data
If casual games as a category generate so much in consumer spending, why aren’t more publishers launching web stores?
Low ARPU: Casual games have a high number of paying users, with relatively low ARPU and average transactions. This represents a challenge: to set up and scale a web store, casual studios need to migrate a large number of users from the in-game shop to the web store.
By contrast, we have partners in the social casino category who saw massive transaction volume on their web store, having migrated just 10% of their top paying players.
In other words, it’s much easier to achieve meaningful ROI on your web store when you have high ARPU. The majority of casual game publishers are therefore on the fence about investing in DTC web stores.
Impulsive buying behavior: Many IAPs in casual games are impulsive – players run out of moves mid session and want to immediately purchase extra resources in order to continue playing. Speed and frictionless UX are key to these transactions.
Web stores, by contrast, require users to exit the game, log in, browse items, and make a purchase, which is less appealing to many casual gamers.
Despite these challenges, casual game publishers can still win with web stores – we’ve seen some of our casual gaming partners migrate 10% and more of their total revenue to web stores.
Strategy games
In Q2 2024, the strategy genre was 1st place in consumer spending, reaching $4.149 billion – up 12% year-on-year. Let’s see how this correlates to web store adoption.
80% adoption rate
Understanding the data
16 of the top 20 grossing strategy games have web stores. A few interesting points:
Established games: Many of the games that launched web stores have been around for 5+ years, such as PUBG MOBILE, Rise of Kingdoms, and Game of Thrones: Conquest™.
High ARPU: Aside from being well established games, they also have high ARPU. PUBG Mobile, for example, had the highest ARPU of all mobile games worldwide in 2022, with other strategy games Pokemon GO and Clash of Clans ranking third and fifth respectively.
Global adoption: Adoption among strategy games is evenly distributed between western and Asian publishers.
What results are strategy games seeing?
According to Ed Wu, SVP of Pokemon GO, their users have “they’ve taken it up quite a bit”, referring to their web store.
This is corroborated by Semrush data, according to which the Pokemon GO web store draws in approximately 2.6 million monthly visitors.
Action games
According to Sensor Tower’s Digital Market Index report, action games were the fastest-growing genre for consumer spend in Q2 2024, up by 50% to $843.6 million and ranking seventh overall. Let’s see whether web store adoption mirrors this growth.
75% adoption rate
Understanding the data
With 15 out of the top 20 action games offering online web stores, this category has a 75% adoption rate. A few interesting points:
Diverse Game Types: The adoption spans various subcategories, including sandbox, strategy, MOBA, FPS, and RPG. This diversity indicates that the decision to implement web stores is not limited to a particular subgenre but is a strategic choice across different types of action games.
High ARPU: These games have high ARPU, making web stores an effective monetization channel. PUBG Mobile, Roblox, and Clash of Clans ranked first, second and fifth respectively in the ARPU charts from 2022, while Call of Duty Mobile already passed $3 billion in revenue.
Competitive and Social Games: Many of these games are multiplayer or competitive, where frequent transactions for cosmetic items, battle passes, or power-ups are common, making web stores and the extra value they provide an attractive option for paying users.
The Road Ahead for DTC in Mobile Games
Web stores are no longer the “next big thing” – they’re already the norm, especially in high-ARPU genres like social casino and strategy games, where a small percentage of players can drive substantial revenue.
As someone who’s worked closely with top mobile game publishers, I’ve seen firsthand how web stores can transform revenue models and give publishers greater control over their sales channels.
That said, not every genre is set to adopt web stores at the same pace. Casual games, with their lower ARPU and reliance on impulse-driven IAPs, face unique challenges.
But I’m optimistic that as the complexity of execution and friction in the UX is reduced through solutions like Appcharge, more casual game publishers will see the potential to shift players to DTC sales.
And the genres that are already widely adopting web stores, including strategy, social casino, and action games, will go from strength to strength as they optimize their DTC strategies and solidify new player habits.
The road ahead won’t be the same for every publisher, but for those ready to innovate, web stores offer a path to higher margins and a closer connection to their players. At Appcharge, we’re here to make that transition as seamless as possible.
October 2024 Google Ruling: A New Era of Opportunity for Mobile Game Publishers
Game over for Google’s monopoly? Maybe not quite yet. But the game has definitely changed.
The recent ruling in Epic v. Google has forced Google to open up Android to rival app stores, breaking a long-standing barrier for mobile game publishers.
For the first time, third-party app stores can access the entire Google Play catalog, while developers gain the freedom to choose their own payment methods.
It’s a significant shift that signals more distribution options, more competition, and, crucially, higher margins for publishers.
But what does it all mean in practice? And how can publishers make the most of this new landscape?
Opportunities: More Choice, More Control, More Revenue
The headline is clear: this ruling unlocks freedom for publishers to break away from Google’s forced billing practices. No more mandatory 30% fees—developers can finally choose their own payment methods (such as Appcharge’s mobile checkout SDK) and control how they monetize their content.
But the real opportunity goes beyond just payment freedom. With full catalog access given to alternative app stores, lower fees, and fewer restrictions, publishers can now actually diversify distribution of their games.
Players have a choice for downloading games – many will prefer sticking to their tried and tested platform, but more tech-savvy players who seek great deals could turn to alternative app stores.
This opens the door for a future where publishers aren’t boxed in by a single platform’s rules and can build balanced, multi-channel strategies—leveraging third-party stores, DTC web stores, and direct app installs to reach players more effectively and maximize profitability.
But Challenges Still Remain: Compliance and Distribution
That said, the path ahead isn’t entirely straightforward. Let’s start with compliance. The freedom to choose different payment systems means navigating a web of new standards, tax regulations, chargebacks, and payment rules. Publishers will need to be strategic about which stores they partner with and how they maintain compliance, without getting bogged down in red tape.
Another crucial piece of the puzzle is distribution. We’re still in the early stages of DTC after all. Alternative app stores and game publishers alike will need to figure out how to prize users away from traditional app stores for downloading games.
But it is possible – look at Epic Games as a case in point. As of 2023, the Epic Games Store has distributed games to over 230 million PC users, marking an increase of 36 million users since 2021, while their mobile installs passed 10 million after just 1.5 months. Their distribution tactics for PC games included securing exclusive rights to several high-profile games and offering free games as part of its marketing strategy.
What Comes Next?
For publishers, the takeaway is clear: it’s time to rethink monetization and distribution strategies. We’ve already seen web stores evolve from the “next big thing” to the norm. With the new era of alternative app stores emerging, we’re even more confident that success will belong to those who are ready to embrace a multi-channel approach.
As we discussed with one of our clients earlier today, the opportunity isn’t just about saving on fees; it’s about building a diversified, resilient business model that can withstand future shifts in the app economy.
At Appcharge, we provide a complete solution to help you do just that:
Our Web Store Builder lets you create a custom store that provides a direct line to your players using industry leading monetization features.
Our Web Store Checkout provides conversion-maximizing checkout flows and takes compliance off your plate entirely – we handle everything.
Our Mobile Checkout SDK enables a seamless in-app payment flow with access to 500+ payment methods and full Merchant of Record services, making it easy to bypass traditional app stores entirely.
Without These 4 Key Compliance Credentials, You’re Risking Your Game’s Revenue and Reputation
I’ve spent the better part of my career building secure platforms for mobile games, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that security and compliance are non-negotiable.
When you’re selling directly to players on web stores or in-app—especially VIP players who expect the best—there’s no room for error.
That’s why, at Appcharge, we didn’t treat compliance like a checkbox. It’s something we’ve prioritized to from the start.
Whether it’s ensuring that financial transactions are locked down, or that player data is kept private and secure, we’ve made sure our platform meets the toughest standards out there.
In this post, I’ll take you through the four key compliance credentials we focus, and why they matter so much for mobile game publishers like you.
4 Compliance and Security Credentials to Protect Your DTC Sales
1. Security First: SOC 2
SOC 2 compliance is critical for securing your player data and maintaining platform reliability. Appcharge is SOC 2 certified, meaning we passed an onerous 6 month review and audit from third party experts. This ensures the highest standards of security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.
Why it matters: Leading mobile game publishers need to ensure that their direct-to-consumer (DTC) activities are always secure and available—especially when dealing with high value VIP players. SOC 2 compliance provides peace of mind by confirming that Appcharge is equipped to handle your game’s sensitive data without downtime or breaches.
2. Proactive Protection: Penetration Testing
Regular penetration testing is part of Appcharge’s commitment to protecting publishers and player data from cyber threats. Partnering with cyber security companies, we proactively test and strengthen our system against real-world cyber attacks.
Why it matters: In a DTC environment, even one security breach can damage player trust and lead to loss of revenue. Our ongoing penetration testing ensures your web store is continually fortified against vulnerabilities, keeping player data—and your reputation—safe.
3. Prioritizing Privacy: GDPR Compliance
Appcharge adheres to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), ensuring that all personal data from players is protected with the utmost care. We enforce strict data encryption, consent management, and regular audits to keep your players’ information secure.
Why it matters: VIP players expect their data to be treated with respect and confidentiality, especially in a global market. By complying with GDPR, Appcharge reassures your players that their privacy is a top priority, keeping them loyal and engaged with your game and web store.
4. Financial Security: PCI – Level 1
As a DTC platform handling high volumes of transactions, PCI compliance is non-negotiable. Appcharge passed a rigorous process to obtain PCI Level 1 certification, ensuring all cardholder data is processed in a secure environment. Our financial systems are routinely audited and tested to identify and resolve potential vulnerabilities.
Why it matters: Payment security is crucial to avoid breaches that could lead to chargebacks, fines, or worse—losing the trust of your highest-paying players. With Appcharge’s PCI Level 1 compliance, your financial transactions – whether on a web store or an in-app SDK – are fully protected so you can focus on growing your business.
Make or break
We’re proud to be the DTC partner of ⅓ of the top grossing mobile games and don’t take this responsibility lightly.
Whether it’s the financial security ensured by PCI, the rigorous data protection from SOC 2 and penetration testing, or the privacy guarantees required by GDPR, we’ve created a platform that lets publishers focus on growth while we handle the compliance.
If you’d like to get more insights on mobile game monetization, web stores, and DTC, join hundreds of other industry leaders receiving our monthly newsletter, Monetization Unlocked. Click here to sign up.
Alternative App Stores Lead the Conversation at Gamescom 2024
Gamescom 2024 may be behind us, but one trend is clear: alternative app stores are redefining the mobile gaming landscape.
The Rise of Alternative App Stores
This year’s Gamescom saw a surge in interest around sideloading and alternative app stores, from the much-anticipated Epic Games Store to established platforms like Huawei AppGallery and Aptoide. Even new players and OEMs are stepping into the space, signaling a significant shift in game distribution.
These platforms are challenging the dominance of traditional app stores, offering publishers new ways to reach players and monetize their content.
What This Means for Game Publishers
Much of the mobile games industry has already caught up to the DTC Web Stores hype (judging by the high adoption rates across various categories). But with the rapid expansion rate of sideloading and alternative app stores, publishers should be ready to meet the opportunities this new wave of DTC will bring.
In other words, publishers should become better acquainted with the major platforms’ current policies, such as when and where sideloading is supported. Additionally, publishers should explore integrating 3rd party payment services (hey 👋) for their game’s in-app payments – so they’ll have an adequate game version ready for distribution via new app stores.
Key Players in the Alternative App Store Market
Epic Games Store: Known for its developer-friendly revenue-sharing model, it continues to attract attention from top-tier publishers. Platform fees: 12%
Setapp: The new app store on iOS offers users a $12.49/month subscription for full access to hundreds “carefully selected assortment of apps” for both iOS and Mac. Platform fees: 10-30%
AltStore: Ideal for indie apps that “aren’t allowed in the App Store for one reason or another”. Platform fees: €1.50/year for AltStore users
Amazon Appstore: Amazon’s Appstore is another important player, especially in markets where Amazon devices like Fire tablets and Fire TV are popular. It offers a different distribution channel with its own set of promotional tools and revenue opportunities. Platform fees: 30%
Huawei AppGallery: With its expansive global reach, Huawei’s store is becoming a strong contender in the mobile app market. Platform fees: Not specified
Samsung Galaxy Store: A significant alternative app store for Android users. It comes pre-installed on all Samsung devices and offers unique opportunities for developers to reach a vast audience. Platform fees: 30%
Aptoide: An independent app store offering developers more flexibility and fewer restrictions. Platform fees: 25% or less
The Future of Mobile Game Distribution
The momentum behind alternative app stores and DTC sales is creating a more competitive market where publishers have greater control over their distribution strategies, leading to better terms, more diverse revenue models, and ultimately, a richer ecosystem for players.
Appcharge’s Role in This New Era
We’re thrilled to be part of this industry shift.
Whether through our web store builder, web store checkout technology, or SDK for in-game payments, our tools and services are built to help game publishers thrive in the DTC landscape.
Don’t take our word for it – Appcharge was voted Best Payment Service Provider at the PocketGamer.biz awards at Gamescom 2024!
We’re proud to already be working with ⅓ of the top grossing mobile games – and we’re just getting started. 🚀
Follow us on Linkedin to stay up to date with our news, articles, and product updates.
Appcharge Named Best Payment Service Provider at PocketGamer.biz Mobile Game Awards
We’re thrilled to announce that Appcharge has been voted the Best Payment Service Provider at the PocketGamer.biz Mobile Game Awards, held during gamescom 2024!
This award is a huge honor for us, and it speaks to the hard work and innovation our team has poured into scaling our payment services for game publishers.
We’ve been on a mission to help the world’s leading mobile game publishers sell directly to players, and this recognition shows that we’re on the right track — but we’re just getting started.
We want to extend a massive thank you to our partners, clients, and everyone who voted for us. Your trust and support drive us to continue innovating and delivering top-notch payment solutions.
Stay tuned for more exciting developments on the horizon!
This Game Developer Had to Pay $23M After Misreporting Taxes – Here’s How to Avoid The Same Fate
In 2023, Epic Games’ finance team got a call from Tokyo’s Tax Bureau. They just discovered that between 2018 and 2020, the company failed to declare its income from microtransactions in Fortnite in Japan.
They fined Epic and made them pay the consumption tax (AKA sales tax/VAT) retroactively – a total of $23 million.
So, while the subject of sales tax may not inspire mobile gaming executives to jump out of bed each morning, failing to comply with sales tax requirements will certainly keep them up at night.
With that said, what does a mobile gaming leader with direct-to-consumer (DTC) ambitions need to know about staying sales tax compliant – and avoiding a hair-raising phone call from a foreign tax authority?
First, a little context
Before jumping into our key insights, it’s worth explaining when exactly tax on digital goods becomes a responsibility for mobile game publishers.
Apple and Google handle this on your behalf when you sell in-game items within their payment ecosystems – in return they take 30% of your margins.
But the moment you begin selling to players on web stores, outside of the Apple or Google ecosystem, you take on full responsibility for VAT/sales tax compliance.
It’s a massive headache, but the juice is worth the squeeze, with publishers such as Playtika earning 25% of their total revenue from direct-to-consumer sales.
How to Stay Sales Tax Compliant
To stay sales-tax compliant, there’s a long list of responsibilities and processes you need to follow:
1. Understand Your Global Tax Obligations
Start by researching regional tax laws on digital goods wherever you have customers. Tax laws can vary significantly from one region to another. For example:
The U.S state of Delaware has no sales tax at all
Some states, like Tennessee, have digital sales tax rates of up to 9.75%
In Australia, there is an annual sales threshold of AUD 75,000. Businesses below this threshold are not required to register for Goods and Services Taxes.
These are but 3 examples of unique governance, but many more exist – and the burden of understanding due process and proper reporting rests on you, the seller.
2. Set up entities in relevant jurisdictions
In many countries, you have to establish entities and set up local bank accounts to register your business on the ground.
In the U.S. you have to establish entities in approximately 27 different states. This can take months and costs a lot of money (lawyers, bank accounts connected to the entity).
In the EU, you just need to register one local entity.
In Japan, foreign businesses must establish a local entity and register for consumption tax if their taxable sales exceed JPY 10 million in the previous fiscal year. Additionally, the business must appoint a local representative to handle tax matters.
3. Register with the tax authorities
You have to register with the tax authorities in almost every state or country you’re selling in. Yes, you read that right – whether you’re selling to players in the U.S, Japan, Germany or almost any other country, you need to register with the local tax authorities. Lawyers and accountants will be needed, which can be costly.
4. Calculate the right taxes for every transaction
For every transaction, your game has to calculate and show users how much VAT/sales tax they owe and will be charged. In some countries, like the U.S, there are multiple layers of sales tax you could be liable to pay on digital goods, depending on the location of the buyer. The tax tiers include federal, state, county, city, and a category defined as ‘special’.
For example, if a player in Dallas, Texas, buys an item in your web store for $10 USD, you’d have to calculate:
State: 6.25% ($0.65)
City: 1% ($0.1)
Special (Dallas Mta Transit): 1% ($0.1)
To accurately calculate the correct amount of tax for each sale and reduce the risk of human error, publishers should use a tax automation service such as Avalara, or use the services of a Merchant of Record such as Appcharge.
5. Implement Accurate Tax Collection
You as the seller are required to charge and collect the tax payment from players for every transaction. A couple key points here:
You have to keep the collected tax payment separate in a sub account, in the currency it was received in.
You need to send the buyer a receipt, invoice, or payment request.
6. Report tax promptly and accurately
Every month or quarter, you have to file tax reports in all the relevant tax authorities whose regions you’ve done business in – even in areas with 0% sales tax. To do this, you need to build a system that pulls transactional data from your game, and exports it to a spreadsheet with a detailed breakdown that includes, for each transaction:
The user’s specific location
The local currency
The amount of sales tax charged
It’s a huge amount of data to manage, and it has to be accurate – so make sure you meticulously maintain your records to avoid potential penalties.
Note that you’ll need to submit this data in different formats in various countries and states, for examplein Saudi Arabia you will have to issue the invoices in Arabic, and in South Korea you will have to share all the invoice details (which is not required in the US).
Tax Compliance For DTC Sales: A Worthwhile Headache
With great opportunities come great responsibilities. To recap, in order to sell digital goods globally via your web store while avoiding serious penalties (or even worse – jail time), you need to:
Keep track of complicated, often changing global sales tax/VAT regulations
Establish dozens of local entities
Register with local tax authorities
Calculate the correct sales tax for every transaction
Efficiently collect the sales tax from every transaction
File numerous tax reports every month or quarter
This doesn’t just represent a major operational burden – but also a financial one. You need lawyers and accountants to help with the process, in addition to a team of finance specialists to run this whole operation. It’s a lot, but it’s doable if you have the resources – and the rewards are certainly worth it.
Doing All Of This At Scale Is What We Do At Appcharge
If it sounds overwhelming to do it alone with in-house resources, you can and probably should consider using a Merchant of Record like Appcharge. We do this at scale for some of the biggest mobile game publishers in the world and we’d be happy to help you too.
As a comprehensive solution for direct-to-consumer sales for mobile game publishers, we offer full Merchant of Record services – meaning we take the entire tax compliance process off your plate.
Our team manages entity creation, tax authority registrations, calculations, collections, filings, and everything in between to let you focus on growing your web store revenue.
Everyone Faces Fraud in Mobile Game Web Stores. But How Do You Fight It, Exactly?
Managing a mobile game web store can be a rewarding venture, with publishers increasing their margins by up to 25 percent per transaction. But selling outside the Apple and Google ecosystems also comes with its own set of challenges, particularly when it comes to fraud and chargebacks – which have grown by 20% annually.
Picture this: one of your players decides to file dispute claims on thousands of dollars worth of past transactions, for no justifiable reason. This is not a hypothetical scenario – it’s a real case we recently encountered in one of our partner’s stores. What do you do? How do you fight this?
There are typically two options as a publisher: issue an automatic refund, which of course means losing revenue.
Or, collect evidence – such as player activity logs and previous communication with the player – and file a counter dispute file to the bank.
Luckily for this publisher, they had us as their Merchant of Record (MoR) to fight their corner and win them back their money. But this anecdote is just one of many types of fraud that can plague mobile game web stores. From abusive dispute behavior to stolen credit cards, we’ve seen it all. Below, I share what to look out for and our advice for how you too could combat fraud.
Types of Fraud
First thing’s first, let’s establish the 5 most popular types of payment fraud in mobile game stores:
1. Abusive Disputes
One of the most common forms of fraud we see involves players abusing the dispute process. Players submit numerous disputes on payments they’ve been charged for, often due to dissatisfaction with the game or buyer’s remorse. In some countries, disputing payments is as simple as a few clicks in a banking app.
How to spot it: When a user sends a dispute, they must give a reason such as “Item not received”. You can spot an abusive dispute claim in this case by investigating player activity logs. If you see the item in question was added to the user’s in-game profile, their claim is highly likely to be fraudulent.
2. Claims of Unauthorized Payments
Another frequent issue is players claiming someone unauthorized – such as their underage child – made the payment.
How to spot it: If the payment was made using Google/Apple Pay, which requires authentication phases such as FaceID, it’s clear the claim is fake.
3. Creating Multiple IDs and Disputing Transactions
We also encounter players creating multiple accounts – for instance, if they get blocked by the publisher for chargeback abuse, or if they ask to be blocked as they’re addicted to the game, but then regret this and want to re-enter. They then proceed to submit unjustified chargeback claims out of frustration. This can create significant financial losses and administrative burdens for publishers.
How to spot it: A telling sign of this kind of fraud is if you find multiple player IDs, all associated with one email or credit card, that are sending disputes.
4. Using Multiple Credit Cards from Different Countries
An obvious one – fraudsters often use multiple credit cards from different countries to make fraudulent purchases. These cards are usually stolen, and the legitimate cardholders will eventually dispute the charges.
How to spot it: You can spot this kind of fraud by tracing a single user ID to multiple transactions all with numerous different credit cards.
5. Emulator or Bot Usage
Fraudsters are known to use emulators or bots that use stolen card information. These tools can manipulate in-game economies and generate unauthorized in-app purchases.
How to spot it: You can spot this kind of fraud if the same player sends numerous payment attempts in an extremely short amount of time. Your team or Merchant of Record should automatically flag this kind of activity.
Combating Web Store Fraud
Now that we have a better grasp of the popular types of fraud you’re likely to encounter, let’s switch gears to discuss how to combat them.
Fighting fraud without Apple or Google’s support may seem daunting, but there are various tactics that can help you limit fraudulent activity, or at least manage it effectively when it does happen.
What’s more, you don’t have to do it alone. In fact, working with a gaming-focused Merchant of Record like Appcharge means you don’t have to do anything at all: we take payment disputes and fraud off your plate entirely, so you can focus on building a kick-ass web store.
But whether you decide to handle fraud with in-house specialists or let an MoR take responsibility for everything, here are our tips for helping you run a tight ship:
1. Maintain Organized Records of Player Activity
Ensure you have an organized record of player activity in your game, so you have a bank of evidence to help dispute false claims.
2. Monitor for Unusual Patterns
Hire fraud analysts to monitor for unusual transaction patterns and flag transactions that seem suspicious.
3. Use Anti-Fraud Engines
In addition to human-led monitoring,use dedicated fraud engines that leverage AI and machine learning to detect and block fraudulent transactions. Dedicated engines are generally more effective than the fraud technology offered by PSPs. The right engine will also know how to minimize false positive cases – in which transactions are blocked after being falsely flagged as fraudulent.
4. Provide Alternative Payment Methods (like digital wallets) in your web store
In contrast to credit cards, most digital wallets (like Apple Pay) require another form of authentication to complete a transaction. With 5.3 billion users expected to use digital wallets by 2026 – more than half the world’s population – make sure you provide a broad range of digital wallet options to ensure every user gets their preferred method. In doing so, you’ll reduce the amount of fraudulent activity on your web store, increase your conversion rates, and provide a great UX.
New Revenue, New Headaches
Despite the ongoing battle publishers face against fraud, web stores present a tantalizing opportunity. The fact that Playtika earns 25% of their total revenue from D2C sales is testament to this. Other leading publishers, like Huuuge Games, are also seeing healthy growth in D2C revenue, expecting it to reach mid-teens as a percentage of total revenue in 2024. In other words, the juice is definitely worth the squeeze!
While some publishers may choose to handle fraud by hiring in-house specialists, most choose to use Merchant of Record providers to take on full responsibility for all of this.
If you’re interested in learning more about the day-to-day fraud struggles my team handles on behalf of our partners, reach out at appcharge.com, or drop me a message on LinkedIn!
Launching a Web Store That Doesn’t Just Sell, But Thrives: A Go-To-Market Playbook (Part 1)
Launching a web store is one thing. Launching a web store that resonates with your players and transforms them into loyal customers? That’s a universe of its own.
At Appcharge, we don’t just help partners build web stores; we engineer web stores built for lasting success. We leverage decades of collective experience, honed from crafting and launching web stores for some of the world’s biggest games.
Publishers often face three key challenges:
Habit Formation: Instilling a new routine in players’ behavior.
Community Building: Fostering engagement outside the game itself.
Long-Term Interest: Maintaining excitement and relevance over time.
To tackle these, a robust go-to-market (GTM) strategy is non-negotiable.
In the first part of our GTM guide, we’ll zoom in on player communication – the bedrock of any publisher’s D2C ambitions. Keep reading for our battle-tested tactics.
Player Communication: The Cornerstone of Your GTM
The first law of web store success? Direct communication. It’s about reaching both your VIPs and the broader player base. Here’s how:
Chat & Support
In-app chat, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp—these are your VIP nurturing tools.
From my experience helping major publishers optimize their VIP account management, I’ve seen three pieces of advice consistently make a positive impact:
Train your support team to thoroughly understand your web store offers
Empower your support to proactively guide players towards your store
When players ask about your offers, ensure lightning-fast responses to maximize conversions
Social Media
With in-app web store promotion being a regulatory minefield, social media becomes your megaphone. Contests, exclusive deals, direct engagement—this is how you build a community that’s not just following, but participating.
Looking for social media inspiration? Here are four good examples:
A well-curated email list is gold. But how do you build up an audience?
Focusing on in-app methods, you could ask users to provide their email address when they open the game for the first time and create a user ID, or you could use a pop up to entice them to sign up to an exclusive loyalty club, as per the examples above from Rovio and Moon Active.
You could also use out of app methods, for example driving traffic from your social media communities to a dedicated newsletter sign-up landing page on your game’s website. There, you can lay out all the benefits and exclusive content your newsletter provides.
Once you have a system in place for growing your list, you need to define a content strategy.
You could offer exclusive deals, behind-the-scenes glimpses, community spotlights—things that players won’t find elsewhere. Segment your list, craft irresistible subject lines, and don’t forget to A/B test.
Beyond communication
Establishing direct communication with players, whether through emails, social media, VIP account management, or all of the above, serves as the backbone of a sustainable GTM strategy for your web store.
Once you’ve got this down, it’s time to move onto the next crucial pieces of your GTM plan: web store retention and monetization. We’ll cover that in part two of this guide – stay tuned.
And as ever, feel free to reach out to me with any questions about launching a web store that hits the ground running.
Merchant of Record vs. Payment Service Provider: A Simple Guide For Mobile Game Developers
Selling directly to mobile gamers on a web store, outside of Apple or Google’s ecosystem, means you’re responsible for everything needed to sell globally.
That includes processing payments, handling refunds, chargebacks, and fraud, abiding by country-specific regulatory compliance, paying sales tax, and more.
Publishers who wish to outsource some or all of these responsibilities generally have two types of providers to choose from – a Merchant of Record (MoR) – such as Appcharge, or a Payment Service Provider (PSP) – such as Stripe.
But there’s a big difference between these two solutions and what they cover, which is why we put together this guide. Let’s dive in.
Merchant of Record vs. Payment Service Provider: A Quick Comparison
Feature
Merchant of Record (MoR)
Payment Service Provider (PSP)
Provides payment processing tech
✓
✓
Connects to banking network
✓
✓
Offers a broad range of payment methods
✓
✓
Protects against fraud
✓
(For additional cost)
Handles chargebacks and disputes
✓
(For additional cost)
Handles customer service issues
✓
(For additional cost)
Responsible for data security
✓
Depends on service
Ensures tax compliance
✓
✗
Acts as the seller of record
✓
✗
Manages financial liability
✓
✗
Simple integration and setup
Depends on service
✓
Manages broader legal compliance
✓
✗
What is a Payment Service Provider?
PSPs are the middleman between customer bank accounts and payment methods (like Visa or Paypal). They facilitate the payment transaction, and take a fee for this.
PSPs do not serve as the legal seller nor do they assist with various other financial responsibilities shown in the table above.
Examples of PSPs:
Stripe, Nuvei, Checkout.com, Adyen
What you get with a PSP
Payment processing: The core function of a PSP is the technology to accept various payment methods, process payments, and connect to the banking network.
Fraud Protection [for additional cost]: Some PSPs will give the option to pay for fraud protection in addition to payment processing.
Chargebacks and disputes [for additional cost]: Chargebacks are a real financial and time burden for merchants. Some PSPs will offer a service to handle chargebacks for an additional fee.
What kind of gaming company should use a PSP?
Choosing a PSP instead of an MoR makes sense if your game is heavily focused on one market, and therefore doesn’t need to pay fees for international coverage and global tax compliance. Such companies can still supplement the core payment processing functionality of a PSP with additional features like fraud protection and chargeback support, for extra fees.
Another scenario in which a PSP might make most sense is when publishers have already built their own D2C ecosystems, with in-house finance specialists. They might need only the payment processing technology of a PSP and not the whole payment operations stack of an MoR.
What is a Merchant of Record?
A Merchant of Record is a holistic, one-stop solution for your D2C payments.
Your MoR acts as the seller of record in transactions, assuming full financial liability for transactions, including taxes, chargebacks, and refunds.
Examples of general MoR companies:
Fast Spring
Reach
Examples of gaming-focused MoR companies:
Appcharge
Xsolla
What you get with an MOR
Payment processing – An MoR will integrate and maintain multiple B2B payment processors or payment service providers to facilitate payment routing and cascading, reducing the risk of payments being mistakenly declined as fraudulent and resulting in lost revenue.
Fraud protection – An MoR will offer detection of fraudulent orders, manual review of suspicious orders, and custom rules to protect your business.
Merchant Accounts – An MoR will set up multiple merchant bank accounts in countries where you have a significant customer base, enabling you to accept global payments.
Disputes and refunds – An MoR handles payment reconciliation, refunds, and chargebacks, ensuring a smooth process for both you and your customers.
Local entity creation – An MoR will set up local business entities to facilitate merchant accounts, tax registration, payment relationships, and more.
Currency conversion – To reduce any friction from the user’s payment experience, an MoR will automatically convert the prices to local currencies.
Tax compliance – An MoR will calculate, file, and remit software sales tax in the locations your customers reside in, ensuring compliance with local regulations.
All of these things are required to power global D2C sales – the decision is whether you want to outsource everything to an MoR, or combine a PSP (with limited add-ons) with in-house specialists.
What kind of gaming company should use an MoR?
Publishers selling D2C web store items to a global market, who would rather outsource the complexities this entails to a trusted partner instead of hiring finance teams in-house.
Merchant of Record vs. Payment Service Provider: Which Option is Best For Mobile Game Publishers?
The boring answer is that it depends. Both options offer varying benefits, but the choice relies heavily on your company’s specific needs, the extent of your global market reach, and how much of the financial and legal responsibilities you’re willing to manage in-house.
We’ll take this moment before you go to mention that we offer gaming-specialized MoR services that are battle-tested with some of the world’s biggest publishers. Should you wish to get in touch to learn more, you can book a demo via our homepage.
4 Creative Strategies For Driving Players to Your Web Store, Inspired by Pokemon GO, Merge Dragons, Candy Crush & Subway Surfers
Building a beautiful and profitable web store is hard enough, but many publishers find that the real challenge begins after their store is built and published.
That’s because they need to create a new behavior among their users: buying in a web store instead of the in-game store.
If you manage to create this new habit, web stores will be a powerful afterburner to your product revenue.
But changing user behavior is not easy in this context. Here’s why:
It’s quicker for players to buy items in the in-game store vs. an external web store
You can’t promote web stores in your game at all in the US
In the EU you can mention your external D2C web store in-game, but can’t link directly to it without Apple taking a cut.
So, how do you get players to your web store without getting a slap on the wrist by platforms?
In this article, we will look at 4 creative strategies – covering both best-practices and out-of-the-box tactics. Let’s dive in!
4 Creative Strategies For Driving Players to Your Web Store
1. Build a social media community
For your out-of-app monetization to have a solid foundation for sustainable growth, you must build a community to support it.
This could be on Facebook, TikTok, Twitch, Discord, Reddit, or wherever else your players hang out. Some useful references:
Once you have an engaged community, weave promotions for your web store into your posting schedule. Promote time-limited offers and special bundles, along with cool features available in your store, such as gifts-for-friends and loyalty programs.
2. Create an email newsletter
It might sound left-field, but an email newsletter can be a great way to forge deeper connections with your community. You could do a monthly newsletter that features content about your game.
For instance:
Facts about your characters
Interviews with your game designers
Audience-sourced game art
News roundups
Upcoming in-game events
Gram Games are a good example. Since October, 2023, they’ve sent a weekly or biweekly newsletter for their Merge Dragons game, filled with intriguing game facts. These newsletters don’t directly promote their web store, but they consistently draw players to their website where their store is found.
If you manage to create a newsletter your players enjoy reading, you’ll be well-positioned to naturally weave in web store offers and drive traffic to your website.
To ensure as many visitors convert into buyers, focus on optimizing your store with appealing game art, exclusive offers, and gamification mechanics.
3. Run real-life events
If you’re a publisher with a large, dedicated playerbase, running real life events which brings together your community can be a highly effective way to onboard them onto your web store.
Niantic serves as your north star: they drew in 194,000 people to its three real life Pokemon Go events in 2023, each on a different continent.
The augmented reality game is naturally suited to real life gamified events; the results are testament to this and the strength of their player engagement. From the New York City event alone:
35 million Pokémon were caught during the Pokémon GO Fest
Attendees walked an average of 18.6 miles while capturing Pokémon and making connections with other Trainers
Not only can Niantic promote their web store using QR codes and other marketing tools during their live events, but they can increase web store interaction before the event too.
As stated on their website:
“Trainers who purchase their ticket from the Pokémon GO Web Store will receive an exclusive GO Fest 2024 T-shirt avatar item in an exclusive color. Like the GO Fest event badge, the T-shirt will arrive closer to the date of the Pokémon GO Fest event.”
Creating and executing a real life event is no easy task – consider pairing it with popular trade shows like Gamescom, where publishers run an array of fan-focused activities. You can create a separate event for your VIP players who are already in town for the tradeshow, for example.
4. Leverage brand collaborations
With a growing number of businesses looking at games as a channel for brand marketing campaigns, publishers should capitalize on this opportunity to turn their web stores into hubs of exciting and exclusive branded content.
Here’s how that might look:
– Integrate brand collaboration into your game
– Leverage the excitement to offer one-off items in your store themed around the brand
– To maximize conversions, offer exclusive deals and update store game art
– Make sure the brand actively promotes your web store as part of the collaboration terms
To make this concept more concrete, here are a few collaboration references which you could apply the above blueprint to:
Candy Crush Saga x Barbie Movie: they collaborated on an in-game event which introduced Barbie-themed quests.
Fornite x LEGO: over 1,200 Fortnite outfits received an additional LEGO Style, playable in the game’s new LEGO®-themed experiences
Clash of Clans/Royale x Chess.com: Clash of Clans and Clash Royale launched chess-themed seasons, including chess Hero Skins and exclusive cosmetics. In addition, Chess.com featured Clash-inspired chess pieces and the chance to play chess with Clash characters.
Final takeaways
If we look through the above strategies, we can see a theme. Be it a newsletter, social media channel, real life event, or brand collaboration, these strategies all serve to create and nurture a vibrant out-of-app ecosystem around a game that naturally complements web stores.
Until publishers can link directly to web stores from inside their games without losing revenue or getting penalized (don’t hold your breath), leveraging out-of-app channels will continue to be key to driving traffic to your web store.
Mobile Game Monetization: 4 Tactics to Level Up Your Web Store Sales Funnel
As mobile game publishers aim to strengthen their business fundamentals, financial resilience, and autonomy, going direct-to-consumer is a strategic imperative in 2024.
With the biggest publishers in the market steaming ahead in the web store space, it’s time to equip the wider market with the knowledge needed to truly capitalize on this opportunity.
Below, we share battle tested methods for taking users from first time visitors all the way through to repeat buyers. We’ve seen these tactics work wonders for major publishers using Appcharge’s white label web store platform, so you don’t want to miss them. Let’s dive in.
1. First visit
Driving players to your web store for the first time is your immediate priority. To do this, you need to have an online community.
From your community, create awareness of the web store while emphasizing its hyper-clear value.
See the example above. The text is extremely clear, and the banner image repeats the same message: ‘Want to DOUBLE the amount of coins at the SAME price?’
Tip:
Use Appcharge features such as Sale, Special Offer, and Customized Art to emphasize your message and the value of your store.
2. Repeated visit
Our data shows that most first-time purchases occur after 2 to 3 visits to your web store. So, once you get users to take the first step – entering your web store for the first time – your focus needs to be on getting them to come back.
Keep reaching out to your community and sharing the store’s special value, and create a feeling of FOMO (fear of missing out) to drive repeated visits.
This is where gamification elements play an important role. Daily Bonus mechanics, for example, are a great way to entice players back into your web store.
Tip: Use Appcharge features such as Daily Bonus, Daily Offers, and Seasonal Offers to increase retention.
3. First purchase
To encourage players to finish their window shopping and actually make their first purchase, make sure you give an enticing welcome offer.
Too many publishers use welcome offers that are the same as the offers in their in-game store. But to secure the First Time Deposit (FTD), you need to give more. After all, from the moment a player makes their first purchase, they’re more likely to make repeat purchases.
Monetization managers are justifiably concerned by potential game economy leaks by offering too much, but with welcome offers, you can afford to be slightly more generous than usual.
Also, consider making this offer time-limited and availability-limited, which will create a sense of urgency to encourage the purchase.
Finally, make sure your offers are visually appealing: use dedicated art and vibrant colors to maximize conversion.
Tip: Use Appcharge features such as Segments and First Time Offers to make the UX as personalized and relevant as possible to every user.
4. Repeat purchase
The goal of your web store is to drive repeat purchases from your players. To do this, you need to make it a fun and gamified experience that consistently gives valuable offers.
As you add new meta gameplay and LiveOps events to your game, for instance, consider offering updated web store bundles that cater specifically to these new game features.
Also make sure to use real time segmentation, which creates a personalized UX for different groups of users (you define these segments in your Appcharge dashboard).
Tip: Use Appcharge features such as Accumulation Bars and Endless Promotions to encourage repeat purchases.
Web Stores: The Secret Behind the Most Profitable Mobile Games Publishers
From Niantic to Rovio, Moon Active to Supercell, nearly all the major mobile game publishers launched a web store in 2023.
By creating out-of-app sales channels, these publishers unlocked a powerful tool that not only boosts their bottom line, but also deepens player engagement and LTV.
Appcharge’s mission is to democratize the web store opportunity by providing mobile game publishers a powerful, white label platform to handle all their DTC needs.
Book a demo to see how we can take you into mobile gaming’s new DTC era.
The Appcharge Manifesto
When we launched Appcharge in 2022, we knew we wanted to not only bring positive change to the mobile games industry, but also do things differently.
Taking publishers into the direct-to-consumer (DTC) ecosystem is a big responsibility, one that can achieve an elusive win-win combination for players and publishers alike.
A win for players, who get more value for their money plus a fun experience to complement their gameplay; and a win for publishers, who increase their financial resilience, their autonomy, and their game’s retention rates and user LTVs.
Recognizing the sheer value of the DTC opportunity we could unlock for the industry, and the shortcomings of existing solutions in the market, myself and my co-founders sat down and, over many brainstorming sessions, refined Appcharge’s core manifesto.
Our non-negotiables, our principles, and the value we knew we had to unwaveringly provide our customers with. Here they are.
The days of being totally at the mercy of the traditional gatekeepers are over.
It’s not only a right, but also a strategic imperative for mobile game publishers to truly own their audience, to sell to players on their terms, to not lose 30 per cent on every transaction, and to take back what’s theirs.
It feels quite revolutionary in spirit, but it shouldn’t be.
We’re just facilitating what should have already been possible: the right to sell directly to players.
The strategic advantage publishers gain by going direct-to-consumer with web stores is clear.
The biggest publishers like Rovio, Supercell, Moon Active and Scopely have all built web stores in-house, pouncing on the DTC opportunity early.
But here’s the thing: most other publishers can’t afford to build a web store internally. It simply takes too much time and costs too much money, when their manpower needs to be razor focused on existing development and game design tasks.
With the gap already widening between the biggest publishers and the rest – a quick look at the top grossing charts shows the domination of legacy games and studios – it’s clear that the industry needs a more level playing field in the realm of web stores.
That’s why we created a white label web store platform, to enable mobile game publishers of all sizes to access the DTC opportunities that the largest companies are already capitalizing on.
Our team’s background at mobile gaming titans such as Moon Active, one of the most sophisticated publishers in terms of their data centric culture and use of segmentation, helped us crystalize our product strategy and vision:
For a web store to be fun, it must provide a personalized, relevant experience to every user.
And so we set off to build a robust segmentation tool that lets publishers serve their players the most relevant offers and web store UI, in real time.
Whether the user is entering the web store for the first time or they’re a long-time spender, whether they’re entering the store for the fifth day in a row or returning after a month away, we give publishers the tech they need to serve a personalized experience that delights players and maximizes their LTV.
We saw how existing game web stores looked and felt, and we wanted to help publishers do things better.
Too many web stores focused too much on selling, while forgetting a crucial part of the puzzle: fun. No publisher would launch a game that isn’t fun, and we firmly believe that this ethos extends to web stores too.
Players should enjoy spending time in web stores – it should feel like an extension of the game experience. That’s why gamification mechanics are a core feature of Appcharge’s web store builder.
Breaking out of the walled gardens maintained by the gatekeepers is all about retaking control of your games business.
A web store platform that is secretive, vague, or misleading with its fee structure goes against the very ethos of leading publishers into the direct-to-consumer ecosystem.
That’s why Appcharge will always be clear and reasonable with our fee structure.
We’re here to help publishers win, not to empty their pockets.
Great products are built by people who truly get the needs of the niche they’re serving.
Appcharge’s platform was built by product and monetization veterans from leading companies like Moon Active and Rovio, where they had hands-on experience building a web store internally.
And we believe that for a web store platform to truly meet the needs of games publishers, it must be built by experts who’ve been in the trenches of mobile gaming.
This ethos permeates our customer success strategy: we work as an extension of our customers’ monetization team, consulting them in order to push their DTC strategies forward.
Those who try to justify the 30 percent tax taken by Apple and Google point to the payment complexities they take care of.
It’s true: managing payments is a complex, intimidating task.
However, publishers shouldn’t have to sacrifice such a significant chunk of their hard-earned profits just for payment technology and Merchant of Record services.
We believe there is a fairer way, a way that leaves publishers with a feeling that they have a partner to grow with, not a giant to shake them down.
Google Play Proposes Third-Party Payments in the UK – But is it a Good Deal for Developers?
The proposal, if enacted, would enable developers who provide options for both Google Pay and alternative billing to have Google’s revenue cut reduced by 4% to a 26% share (or 11% on their first $1 million)—if users pay through a different payment service provider (PSP). However, if developers do not offer Google Pay as an option, they will be penalised and the standard platform fee would only be cut by 3% to 27% (or 12% on their first $1 million).
Should users choose to pay with Google Pay, the revenue share will remain at a 70/30 split.
The changes would be rolled out for non-gaming apps first, before eventually allowing games developers to be eligible for the new billing rates and options “no later than October 2023”.
Google claims this would help ensure a “smooth transition for developers and to allow for the necessary changes to be made to our systems”. For context: In Q1 2023, data.ai estimates a large majority of worldwide consumer spending on Google Play came from the games category. It’s effectively a cash cow that is often treated differently by mobile platform holders than other categories.
The proposed changes would only impact in-app purchases in the UK, though similar actions have been taken in other countries.
Why Proposes Third-Party Payments Now?
Google’s announcement comes in response to an investigation by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which began in June 2022, to look into “suspected anti-competitive conduct” by the tech giant. A particular focus of the ongoing investigation concerns Google Play’s rules which “oblige app developers offering digital content to use Google Play’s own billing system for in-app purchases”.
At present, the CMA’s position is that it believes the new commitments from Google are “sufficient to address the competition concerns”. While no final decision has been made, pending consultation, the CMA has proposed to accept the changes.
What Do the Changes Really Mean?
Any climbdown from the standard 30% revenue share should be considered significant, as Apple and Google fight tooth and nail to retain the status quo. This latest proposal is another example of platform holders making as small a concession as possible to retain their lucrative cash cows.
But while it may seem like a concession, for developers, the reality is that it will not make a notable difference to their businesses on the current terms. A reduction of 3% to 4% will not cover the costs of using an alternative billing system, where the revenue share is often 5% or more (AppCharge takes a 5% cut per transaction).
PSPs charge such fees to cover the costs of billing, invoicing, fraud, chargeback cover, etc. Such a small reduction in Google’s share means that, should customers use another payment system, it would actually cost developers a greater share of their revenue, not reduce it.
These terms mean that Google Pay keeps its position as the preferential payment method, while creating a challenging environment for alternative options. And of course, in any event, Google will continue to maintain its standard 30% share on all Google Pay transactions, thus effectively retaining the status quo. Of course, if you’d like to discuss potential alternative PSPs for an both in-app and out-of-app solution, you can speak to the AppCharge team.
Rick VanMeter, executive director of advocacy group The Coalition for App Fairness, which champions app store reform, told TechCrunch he believes the proposals would enable Google to “continue taking a massive cut on services they do not even provide”. He added: “This solution will not create meaningful competition and is a bad deal for developers and consumers.”
It remains to be seen whether the CMA will ultimately accept or reject Google’s proposals, and what the future of third-party payments will look like on the marketplace in the UK.
Regulatory Pressure
Apple and Google have both come under increasing pressure around the world over concerns about anti-competitive practices, namely over the exclusive use of their own payment systems in their app stores.
The UK proposal is now following suit with its previous successful negotiations with regulators.
Out-of-App Solutions
While it’s a positive step for Google to introduce alternative billing systems on its UK Play store, the current proposals aren’t a particularly attractive proposition. For developers really looking to take advantage of the $30 billion opportunity in the mobile games market – which is the amount of revenue the App Store and Google Play took last year from in-app purchases – the best solution still remains in utilising web stores.
By bringing your community of players to a web store, developers can offer better deals to players, all while retaining a higher share of revenue. Regulators continue to chip away at the app store monopolies, but the industry is a long way off from a fairer deal for all.
The Mobile Game Web Store Designer’s Playbook
There’s a monumental shift happening in the mobile games industry. Since Epic Games’ lawsuit against Apple centering around a dispute over the right to use its own payment system in Fortnite on the App Store—rather than being forced to use Apple Pay—governments and regulators around the world have increased their scrutiny over potentially monopolistic app store practices.
Specifically, their concerns have focused on the 70/30 revenue split, whether it’s fair, and whether companies should be able to integrate their own or other third-party payment systems. There has been resistance from Apple and Google so far, but that hasn’t stopped publishers from opening their own web stores to skirt around the app store tax. The clock appears to be ticking on the established revenue share model and moving in favour of the creators, not the platform holders.
Web stores for mobile games represent a $30 billion+ opportunity for developers and publishers—the market generated an estimated $110 billion from global player spending in 2022, according to data.ai, with approximately 30% sucked up by platform fees.
But it’s not a simple case of ‘build it and they will come’. Creating a successful web store and getting players to use it requires a thoughtful strategy—but the Appcharge team has you covered. We’ve put together a list of top tips to help you build the best web store possible so you can unlock a new, potentially lucrative revenue stream that’s free of the 30% app store tax (in fact, Appcharge only takes about 5% for powering your transactions).
Web Store Monetization: Best Practices
Price IAPs Differently
For web stores to fulfil their potential, they must differentiate their offers to those available in the in-game store.
On a web store, purchases such as currency, boosters, cosmetics, season passes—anything you have to sell—can and should be priced differently. Without having to worry about losing 30% of each in-app purchase off the bat, developers can give players better deals reflective of a transaction’s true value, which can lead to better engagement and a more enjoyable spending experience.
Developers can also price outside the parameters of the app stores. Previously the App Store capped in-app purchases at $1,000, though these rules have since been relaxed.
Leverage Personalization and Segmentation
One of the best methods of making a shop successful is to surface personalized deals to your players, segmenting them based on their playing habits, their progress, and personal profile.
Everything can be personalized for different user segments: a user’s first time visit experience, prices, types of offers and items, accumulation bar size, and so on.
This creates a better experience for players, who receive only the most relevant offers. In turn, you can maximize conversions and user LTV.
Integrate Gamification Mechanics
To really maximise their potential, web stores should provide a similar experience to what players have in-game. Making purchases should be part of the fun, not just a bland experience for the simple purpose of making a transaction.
Gamification mechanics such as Stamp Cards, Accumulation Bars, Daily Rewards, Coupons, and Loyalty Programs should be incorporated to ensure users don’t just visit your web store once, but make it part of their gaming routine.
Build a Community
As of April 2024, it is not possible for U.S developers to directly link to an external store from inside their app. It recently became possible for EU developers to link out to web stores, however this will lead them to lose 17% should a user click the link and complete a purchase within seven calendar days from the token issue date (plus another 3% if they’re using Apple’s payment tech).
To bypass these taxes and drive players to your web store, an out-of-app community is crucial.
Many of the world’s top publishers excel at building communities around their top games. Perhaps the best example is Niantic, whose Instagram page for Pokemon Go has 2.2 million followers, and whose in-person Pokemon Go events drew almost 300,000 players in 2023.
Few publishers will be able to reach this level of community, but every publisher can begin building en engaged community outside of theirs app, whether on Discord, social media, email newsletters, and/or dedicated websites.
Going direct-to-player with web stores is all about owning your audience. And having a thriving, owned community is an integral part of this. Bringing your most loyal players into a close-knit community outside of the game can not only improve their enjoyment of it, but it provides a chance for you to engage directly with them.
This could come in the form of getting feedback on the latest updates, or having the ability to direct them to special deals on your web store that could get them more bang for their buck thanks to the lack of store fees.
Capitalize on the Shift to Web Stores
Web stores help you design your game economy differently, in a way that offers players better deals and puts more of the revenue generated to where it should go: you, the developer. By implementing the tips in this article—offering better deals, personalizing offers, gamifying the experience, and building a community—developers are well placed to take advantage of this opportunity.
The world’s biggest mobile games companies, including Clash of Clans developer Supercell, Star Trek: Fleet Command publisher Scopely, and RAID: Shadow Legends’ Plarium, are all doing it. Now’s your chance to join them.
Appcharge is helping some of the biggest publishers in the world create and manage powerful D2C web stores, supported by comprehensive Merchant of Record services.
Beyond the App Store: The Future of IAP Monetization
The future of in-app monetization is, well, out-of-app.
With Apple’s deprecation of the IDFA and longstanding refusal to adjust their 30% tax on developers, in addition to an overall drop in game revenue across the board, the mobile gaming landscape has been feeling the strain.
But the industry received a lifeline thanks to Tim Sweeney and Epic Games. As a result of their much publicized legal battle with Apple, it was ruled that app developers can, through communication with users outside of the app only, direct them to their own external web stores to purchase in-game items, bypassing Apple’s 30% commission.
While industry giants have been quietly building out their web stores with in-house resources, the vast majority of studios don’t have the war chest to do the same. And so we launched Appcharge. Our mission? To revolutionize IAP monetization with a direct-to-player monetization platform that gives developers a headstart from the get-go, rather than a handicap.
Keep reading to learn more about the rise of mobile game web stores and how you can use Appcharge to power your direct-to-player monetization strategy.
The growing importance of out-of-app monetization
Looked at solely through the lens of bypassing Apple’s 30% tax, web stores are a no brainer for games. But the need for web stores is made increasingly urgent when you consider three trends that are making monetization of game items all the more crucial in our industry.
The emergence of games-as-a-service model
Gamers have increasingly high expectations of what a game should be; games are expected to constantly evolve, add new features and experiences. On one side of the coin, this puts a strain on the budgets of studios, who need to hire liveops teams.
On the other side of the coin, a natural product of a liveops strategy is greater room for IAP monetization. New battle passes, in-game items, and special offers are hallmarks of liveops strategies – it’s just when you cut 30% off from all transactions, there isn’t much room for error in order for the investment on those liveops salaries to pay dividends.
Webstores represent a major boost to liveops-focused games. Not only do they provide studios with more breathing space and better return on their liveops investment by bypassing Apple’s 30% cut, but they actually facilitate more robust and engaging offers for users. From highly personalized offers to new loyalty programs, webstores serve as the backbone of a profitable and sustainable liveops strategy.
From hypercasual to hybrid casual
The second trend that highlights the growing importance of IAP monetization is hypercasual’s shift to hybrid casual in recent years. Apple’s deprecation of the IDFA essentially killed the hypercasual industry, which relied on hyper-efficient, targeted user acquisition, and quick ad monetization from users with low LTVs.
This model has been jeopardized as a result of Apple’s changes: revenue generated by hypercasual games dropped 10% in 2022 compared to 2021, down to $12.3bn from $13.7bn.
As a result, hypercasual developers are being forced to find ways to add deeper layers to their games, in order to increase user retention and LTV, and add IAP monetization to the previously ad-focused model.
Overall reduction in ad monetization
It’s not just the hypercasual category that’s feeling the heat. Following the IDFA apocalypse, games across the board are spending less aggressively on UA.
Consequently, 2022 saw a reduction in eCPMs compared to the previous year, causing games to earn less money from ads. And it’s unclear if the industry will recover to its pre-IDFA levels of ad monetization in the near future.
In order to survive, games must build out their IAP monetization strategies.
Direct to player: A new era in gaming
A perfect storm
All of these forces, and the Apple-Epic legal case, combined to create a perfect storm for the rise of D2C web stores in mobile gaming.
Industry leaders like Supercell, Niantic, Moon Active, Playtika and Scopely, all of whom monetize heavily from IAPs, already launched web stores for their hit games. Numerous others have followed suit.
The benefits to game developers of D2P web stores are obvious: a significant uplift to their profit from sales of game items. Instead of losing 30% of all revenue to Apple, developers who build their own online stores pocket all of the fee.
Challenges of web stores
However, there are challenges posed by web stores. Firstly, Apple forbids games from advertising their external stores inside their apps – meaning developers need to find alternative ways to inform users. For large, legacy publishers with strong followings on social media, this isn’t such a big issue. For smaller outfits who are still building their brand, it requires some thinking – like partnering with influencers and building a strong community.
It’s also much more convenient for a user to make an IAP within the game, rather than going to an external web store. Because of this, developers will need to find a way to incentivize this change in user behavior. However, given the large boost to their margins afforded by web store transactions, discounts and incentives like loyalty programs can be offered to get the ball rolling and begin changing user habits.
Lastly, using in-house tech to build and maintain a web store, in addition to supporting global payments and compliance, requires time and significant investment. Appcharge’s co-founder actually led the development of Moon Active’s web store and knows first-hand how time consuming and expensive it can be. Giant companies like Moon Active can afford to do this, but most others need a third-party tool that makes it easy to launch a web store.
Enter: Appcharge.
Appcharge: Powering the D2C mobile gaming economy
Appcharge offers a white-label web store platform for mobile game developers. Taking just a 5% cut from purchases, our platform allows for total customization, with developers able to design every aspect of their store, use gamification elements to boost engagement and encourage repeat purchases, set up segmentation to provide the most relevant offers for all users, and seamlessly handle payments and billing.
The best part?
After the initial integration to update the balance in customer accounts, the entire D2P monetization strategy can be managed by live ops and monetization managers – no technical development needed.
Compared to building your own web store, this saves significant resources and allows teams to focus on building out a winning D2P strategy that improves user engagement, strengthens retention, and increases repeat purchases.
The future of IAP monetization is here, and we’re proud to be leading the way.
Unlock Your Game’s True Revenue Potential with Appcharge
Ready to transform your game’s monetization strategy and reap the rewards of out-of-app web stores? Get started with Appcharge today and watch your revenue skyrocket while creating a more engaging and personalized experience for your players.