- Microsoft Store-managed consumables
- Developer-managed consumables
Best practices for offering in-game currency
When you offer an in-game currency ecosystem backed by consumable products, provide 3 to 6 or more offer tiers that increase in value. To be most effective, the value of each tier and especially the added value of the higher tiers must be clear and understandable to the end-user. The base tier should be inexpensive and set the base real world currency to in-game currency value. Your higher product tiers should have the base value of in-game currency (relative to their price) and a bonus percentage amount that increases each subsequent tier. Each tier should be configured as a separate consumable product in Partner Center to allow the different tiers to be granted from 5x5 redeem tokens, promotional pricing, and sales. This configuration also makes it easier to manage and track refunded purchases by using the Clawback service). Each consumable product should grant a quantity of1 to the user’s balance, and then when consumed, your service translates that quantity to the equivalent amount of in-game currency for the productId.
Example consumable tier configuration for base value and higher tier bonus amounts:
It’s also a good practice to include a small allotment of your in-game currency to season pass owners, deluxe edition game bundles, and monthly subscriptions if supported by your title. If participating in Game Pass, your title can provide a monthly allotment of consumable currency to active subscribers as a perk. These recommendations help users become familiar with the value and benefit of your consumable economy and the value associated with it.
Sales and promotions of consumable in-game currency
If you plan to run a promotion or sale involving your in-game currency, the following methods are proven to be effective at engaging with customers, providing them increased value, and increasing revenue during the promotion. You can provide a static percentage discount on the pricing of all tiers, but offering your higher tiered content at a higher discount percentage generates higher incremental revenue over the promotional timeline than static discount pricing. For example, offering a 10% discount on the lowest tier, but increasing to 30% discount on the top tier provides great value to users who purchase the higher tiered option in greater numbers. Sales also drive better game usage post-sale as the users have a vested interest in the game by using the consumable currency that they purchased in high quantity. Using discounted pricing on the consumable products also allows visibility of the promotion from the Store app and helps drive user engagement. To schedule a promotion and discount of your consumable products, contact your Microsoft representative for additional information. Alternatively, you can also discount the in-game items that the user purchases with your consumable currency. The benefit of being able to configure the promotion through your own services and doesn’t require coordination or scheduling with the Store or Microsoft representatives. However, visibility would be more limited to draw in new users depending on advertising and outward communication.Configuring a consumable product in Partner Center
When creating a new consumable for your title in Partner Center:- To allow users to see and browse to the product in the Store app and on Xbox.com, set the consumable to Has its own store listing under Consumable Setup. Otherwise, users can only access the consumable from within your game’s UI.
- For Microsoft Store-managed consumables, set the Quantity field in Properties to be the value added to the user’s balance each time the product is purchased. If implementing your own service to track and manage consumables, we recommend a default quantity of
1. Then translating the equivalent in-game currency amount for the product multiplied by the quantity consumed. For more information, see (see Managing the user balance on your service vs. the Microsoft Store). Otherwise you should set the total in-game currency amount the user gets such as ‘600’ for the $4.99 tier product in the example under Best practices for offering in-game currency. - List the base and bonus currency of the product in the product’s title (Ex: 500 (+100 bonus) Coins)
- Store images should include a graphic of the currency that grows larger or denotes a larger amount for the higher tiers (Example: a pile of coins that gets larger the higher the tier or increasing size of treasure chests with coins). Alternatively (or additionally), store images could include text that indicates how many currency the product grants on purchase (Example: “600 Coins,” or “500 (+100 bonus)“)