Digital River and Playxpert are pitching a tool for game developers to build e-commerce solutions inside their game worlds.
The two companies are combining their products to make it easy for developers to build online games where you can buy things that you see in the world, such as a better sword, with real currency. Many of today’s online games don’t even have stores where gamers can buy things, or they have stores that exist in the lobbies of the games but not inside the world where the play takes place. More gamers are demanding convenient in-game stores.
Digital River, based in Minneapolis, is a publicly traded e-commerce company with 1,500 employees, while Playxpert is a startup in Sandpoint, Idaho. Their solution is targeted for Windows-based PC games. Playxpert’s True Overlay tool lets players do things like access the web, watch videos, do web research, and chat without leaving the experience of the game. Digital River has an e-commerce system with secure payment technology.
The companies say that one of the unique things about their solution is that gamers can use it to sell their own wares within a game.
For more on the game market, check out VentureBeat’s GamesBeat 09 conference on Tuesday in San Francisco.