TechPression

Tag: Video games

  • Mastercard, Xsolla partner to facilitate payments for video games commerce 

    Mastercard, Xsolla partner to facilitate payments for video games commerce 

    Mastercard and Xsolla, a global company specialising in video game commerce, have formed a partnership to facilitate payments that are hassle-free, safe, and rewarding for gamers. 

    These improvements range from enhanced checkout experiences that make use of credit card loyalty points to simple in-game currency gifting, as well as improved creator payout processes and other areas.

    Through this partnership, Xsolla’s platform will be combined with the technology, network-level expertise, global scale, and trusted connections of Mastercard. The end result will be payment experiences that are more accessible and fully customizable for players, developers, and creators.

    Mastercard and Xsolla have agreed to collaborate on the development of innovative card and account-based solutions and services for the purpose of enhancing digital experiences for gamers in the realm of payments and beyond. 

    Pay with Points is a solution that will be integrated into Xsolla’s Pay Station product, and it will be available to Mastercard cardholders for the very first time.

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    This will allow cardholders to redeem their loyalty points for in-game purchases in a seamless manner, which will serve to launch this game-changing partnership. Additionally, players will have the ability to share an in-game currency with their close friends and family members. They also have the goal of resolving challenges faced by the gaming industry and placing a higher priority on protecting consumers. As part of this effort, the companies will use the authentication and fraud detection capabilities offered by Mastercard to provide parents with more control before their children make purchases with video games.

    Details Mastercard and Xsolla Partnership 

    Blake Rosenthal, Executive Vice President of Fintech Solutions at Mastercard, stated that the company is looking forward to further enabling cardholders to tap into their passions through this new partnership with Xsolla which is shaping the future of commerce in gaming. “Mastercard has been a strong supporter of the gaming community for many years,” Rosenthal said. “We look forward to further enabling cardholders to tap into their passions through this new partnership with Xsolla.” “As mobile devices make video games more accessible, it is necessary to create a gratifying, best-in-class digital experience in order to cultivate a dedicated gaming community and build a payments ecosystem that offers choice across a variety of platforms and dimensions.”

    “The partnership with Mastercard is a testament to our commitment to continuously innovate for the benefit of developers and all players around the world,” said Berkley Egenes, Chief Marketing Officer at Xsolla. “The partnership with Mastercard is a testament to our commitment to continuously innovate for the benefit of developers and all players around the world.”

     “We are able to establish new channels for revenue creation and enhanced lifetime value for developers by combining Xsolla’s Payments Solution with Mastercard’s loyalty capabilities, security solutions, and card and account-based payments technology. Xsolla’s Payments Solution was developed by Xsolla. We are thrilled to make such a significant advance toward our goal of providing a superior and more welcoming gaming environment for all of our customers.

    Later on in this year, players will have the opportunity to use loyalty points earned from participating Mastercard partners to pay for in-game purchases when making purchases.

  • Africa is set to take over the global videogame business.

    Africa is set to take over the global videogame business.

    There was a time when African gamers would go to internet cafes to play their favorite online games. When these games were first released, consoles were the primary means of playing them. Young males were the primary patrons.

    Most characters, materials, and even languages in African-inspired video games may now be played anywhere thanks to the rise of smartphones.

    There is a new trend in the market that is helping to boost the video game industry in the region: multi-functional gaming consoles are becoming more and more popular.

    Gamers in Africa have seen a substantial increase in the last five years because of this. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the gaming market is claimed to have grown at an astronomical rate.

    The gaming industry in Africa is dominated by South Africa.

    South African gaming platform Carry1st commissioned a study in 2021 that estimates the sub-Saharan African region’s total population of players at 186 million, up from 77 million in 2015.

    With 40 percent of the population participating in video games, South Africa is Africa’s largest market for video games, with a population of 24 million players. As a result of this, the video game market in the country is gradually overtaking that of movies and music.

    In a tie for the second position with 27% each, Ghana and Nigeria are both African nations. A combined 22% and 13% of the continent’s population participate in video games, putting Kenya and Ethiopia at the bottom two spots.

    Read Also : Africa is set to take over the global video game business

    In the next years, these numbers are expected to grow exponentially as more investment plans are made in Africa’s gaming business. CRE Venture capital led an investment of USD 2.5 million in Carry1st, a gaming development firm, to support and invest in-game publishing in Africa in May 2020.

    Adding your own personal touch to video games

    Using blockchain technology, game developers are now introducing new components, the latest of which allows players to own characters and assets within the games they play.

    There is a growing number of tech-savvy young people in Kenya who could soon be making money from this sector boom, thanks to a social impact gaming company called Usiku Games Africa.

    We are looking into ways to have money mechanisms embedded into the games where players may earn or spend in a more transparent manner, says founder and CEO of Usiku Games, Jay Shapiro.

    Gamers will still have the pleasure of gaming, but they won’t be able to cash out their winnings as they can in traditional gambling under this new model.

    “African gaming is booming. This is true not only for those who enjoy free-to-play games but also for those who are prepared to spend money on them.

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    It has instead been implemented in the form of long-term savings tools like pension schemes, health care, and education insurance, which helps to strengthen the low savings culture among young Africans and strengthen their financial resilience.

    According to Shapiro, “the fact is that you may lose all you have even if you have a job or income, a little bit of savings maybe,”

    Africa’s digital currency market and video games

    In addition, the gaming sector generates billions of dollars in revenue for countries around the world each year.

    As the continent adopts digital currencies, these figures are expected to expand at the quickest rate in the globe, with 63 million of 186 million gamers now paying for games.

    Another study by Newswagg’s found that 38 percent of the 41.9 million gamers in the world who own cryptocurrency are between the ages of 21 and 38 years old.

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    There are already 5.9 million gamers in Africa and the Middle East who hold cryptocurrency, and this number is expected to rise in Africa due to the continent has one of the most youthful populations by the year 2050. ( 50 percent growth).