Skipping platform fees is the easy part of direct-to-consumer game sales - owning the tax, fraud, and payment liability that comes with it is the hard part.
This video breaks down why studios are moving to direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales and what that move actually involves. The pitch is straightforward: selling through a third-party platform means renting an audience, while selling direct means owning the player relationship and the purchase data outright.
What's less obvious is the catch. Owning that relationship means the studio also owns the operational load that used to sit with the platform - local tax collection across markets, chargebacks, and fraud risk. That's a lot to build in-house, which is why studios typically bring in a merchant of record to take it on instead. A merchant of record becomes the legal seller on the receipt, absorbing that liability so the studio can stay focused on the game. Tebex is used as the example throughout.
The video's last point is the one worth catching: a strong merchant of record doesn't just remove risk, it drives revenue. With 77% of global online purchases made through local payment methods, offering a wide set of local options at checkout matters a lot - and pairing that with features like creator codes is tied to a 61% lift in average transaction value.
#D2C #GameSales #MerchantOfRecord #GameDev #GameMonetization
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