Shopify – the Ontario-based online giant lets you set up online stores in order to sell your goods with equal support for organizing products, customizations, payment gateway integration, tracking and responding to orders all within few clicks away. The same company is now helping gaming developer giants like Activision Blizzard Inc, Electronics Arts Inc & Take-Two Interactive Software Inc and various other companies to monetize their e-commerce with a new SDK (software development kit) called Unit Buy.
Using “Unit buy” the players have an option to choose and purchase branded products related to the games they are playing without leaving the game which equates like ordering from a regular traditional retail store. During the game itself, you can directly order products of your choice which will be based on the real scenario of the game being played.
Basically, the Unit Buy SDK helps gaming developers to add commercial entities to games made with the Unity game engine which can be used to connect with the in-game purchase experiences with physical products in Shopify. In addition, the SDK also assists in order to fetch information about a single product or a collection of products, create an in-game shopping cart where customers can select product options and quantities & generate a checkout for a single product or an entire cart.
To showcase the same Shopify has developed its own game, “Northside” where players explore islands to try and find other players and purchase pins related to the characters. Numerous other games equipping the same would include products like customized apparels, showing off gaming accomplishments or a particular scene taken while in progress with the game.
Apple pay which is a mobile payment and digital wallet service let you make payments using an Apple device are now joining hands with Shopify in order to integrate payments which will work across mobile platforms, consoles and PC platforms. The primary benefit would be for the games on Apple devices as other sellers can design a digital storefront without having a product of their own.
This sort of arrangement by Shopify would be beneficial for new game developing companies and existing giants as an excellent platform to sell their branded products and services. More users will get attracted and engagement in the game would increase which would simultaneously boost awareness among masses and loyalty for a particular game.