As all things are heading to a more globalised system, the gaming industry is no exception from this reality. If you fail to cater your games/products to the global audience, your business will literally miss the world. That said, here at OffGamers, we offer video game entities a safe and convenient platform to distribute their digital products and services. Currently, OffGamers has been hosting over 300 localised payment gateways and have garnered over 10 million registered users, all dedicated in helping our gaming business partners to grow and populate their brand. Piqued your interest? Here’s how we connect your product and services to the world.

Part 1: Breaking The Ice

Let’s chat. If you feel that OffGamers’ vision aligns with your product and services’ objectives, then we are more than willing to help. If you like what we do, you can hit us up at bdt@my.offgamers.com where we can set up a meeting to discuss how we should progress with the collaboration. Generally, the early stage of the meetings would include the exchanging of business decks and other legal necessities like the KYC compliance. And once we’ve got the agreements down and the consensus of all relevant parties, we’ll then begin with populating your products to our website.

Part 2: Setting Up Your Product and Services’ New Home

Once we’ve received the necessary media materials—like images and banners—from your end, we will begin creating your product to be placed on our website with relevant details and content. And if your products have support for direct top-up, our website’s API is more than capable of integrating DTU services. Plus, we have a team of specialised experts that manages the backend for it.

Part 3: Announcement to The World

Our team will also churn out the necessary press releases to various news outlets to announce our partnership. This will provide your product and services exposure to the relevant industry leaders that will most definitely help you gain recognition in the gaming industry. Simultaneously, the product page for your products will be made live and would be accessible to our customers around the world.

Part 4: Branding and Marketing Your Product

Aside from the press releases—which are more catered for business entities—we also have a dedicated team that helps your product market your products to gamers worldwide. We have a dedicated team that ensures your products are expertly marketed to various social media platforms in a unique and interactive way. Plus, as gamers and professionals, we understand the best of both worlds which will help to promote your products with trendy campaigns that resonate with our audience.

Part 5: Feedback and Reporting

At the end of every campaign we will have extensive reports on the campaigns’ performance, sales and outcome. These are valuable indicators as to whether your products are performing as it should, while also determining whether there are any holes in our marketing and sales that need to be patched. Therefore, we can assure you that with us, your products will enjoy continuous improvement—both on the sales and marketing end—as we will consistently monitor its performance on a monthly basis.

As of 2020, the video game industry is approximately worth up to $159.3 billion but spending money on video games definitely doesn’t have a nice ring to it, especially when compared with spending cash on books or other necessities. Hence, if you’re in the video-game industry, it's a harsh reality that your business has to face that video games are still seen as taboo by many. And as a major game distributor ourselves, OffGamers is always seeking new and innovative ways to help our game suppliers and ourselves to increase our revenue in this challenging industry. Here are some of the best marketing methods we have tried or are in the middle of trying which we think can be very effective in improving our customer’s spending on video games.

1. Selling More Than Just Products

If we were to just sell game keys, codes and top-ups, we would just be like any other game distributors out there. What sets us apart from our competitors is that we want purchasing customers to come back. As such, for every purchase OffGamers’ customers make, they will be rewarded with our exclusive OffGamers points that can be used to redeem store credits in the future.

2. Regional Support

Video games are globalised and there are still many platforms out there like Blizzard still does not have the available currency for countries like Malaysia. Here at OffGamers, we do our utmost to cater to all customers around the globe by having multiple region-based products. This will allow customers to purchase at a slightly lower price and is inviting as the prices are localised.

3. Promotions and Discounts

Promotions and discounts are pretty much bread and butter for all businesses. This still holds true for the gaming industry as we see major gaming platforms like Steam host countless seasonal events like their well-acclaimed Summer sales. Every month, OffGamers will also host its very own monthly campaigns that field our best-performing products, entailed with better deals and rewards.

4. KOL Involvement

KOLs might be seen as many as sell-outs but they are also eye-catchers that provide interesting content when they stream or play video games. For instance, Twitch stars xQcOW has garnered over 400+ million views and has a sizable fanbase in the gaming industry. By getting some of these big names to promote our services or games, we are confident that they would be able to influence their followers to consume our products.

5. Multiple Payment Support With Awesome Customer Support

Having a limited amount of payment support is one of the few deal-breakers for customers. Online services that only provide support for PayPal will lose potential customers as opposed to its competitors that have online banking and e-wallet included in their system. Additionally, the importance of an accessible customer support is also imperative to an online service. What we’ve integrated into our business ecosystem is that OffGamers customer service is available 24/7 in three different languages; English, Chinese and Malay. Therefore, on the off chance that customers were to encounter any issue, they would not be completely lost as there will always be someone to attend to them.

Marketing has changed a lot, instead of promotional ads being placed on roadside billboards or television, marketing has found its new home on the Internet; more specifically on social media platforms. As such, OffGamers have been integrating social media when marketing their products and services. For instance, the social media platforms that OffGamers is currently using for their campaigns and events include, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube which we are able to cater to the relevant audience.Plus, here’s how we populate our content on these platforms.

Placement of Seasonal Campaigns’ Ads

On a monthly basis and for special occasions like Christmas and double date events, OffGamers will host campaigns that feature generous discounts and promotions. These events will be promoted on OffGamers’ official Facebook and Twitter page stating the campaigns’ benefits and rewards. And when the events are concluded, extensive reports will be carried out, detailing the performance of the campaign. As such, the OffGamers team would have a sound understanding of what might help or hinder future campaigns.

Social Media Content That Focuses On Audience Interaction

A campaign without any interaction with its audience can seem a little dull. From time-to-time, OffGamers would have events that emphasise on audience engagement. An example to illustrate this would be the Genshin Impact Primogems (a form of in-game currency) giveaway where we ask players to comment, tag their friends and like OffGamers’ social media page for a chance to earn these gems. This interactive campaign will not only help gauge if the product is performing well but also gives insight to whether the audience base of OffGamers is active or not.

Content Variation On Different Social Platforms

Content diversity is also very important when it comes to marketing. We can all no longer get away with just putting up a social post or a tweet shouting our campaigns. Despite the adage “less is more”, customers want more. Hence, OffGamers will distribute its promotional content in various media. On the OffGamers’ blog, there will be written content detailing all important aspects of the campaign with backlinks that lead back to the promo page. Live streams are also one of the marketing tools for OffGamers. Be it on Facebook Live or on Twitch, OffGamers has a variety of KOLs that will help promote the campaign during their streams. As for videos, the primary platform that OffGamers use would be YouTube but currently has been leaning more towards TikTok as the audience and content there are more recent and current.

Final Note

A brands’ presence on social media is imperative in the current digital climate that is ever-changing, OffGamers believes that the effort in helping its partners’ products grow on social media is a progressive and ongoing process.As such, the process is also a continuous learning adventure that might require change in how OffGamers market products on these social media platforms. Nevertheless, despite social media marketing’s volatility, as gamers themselves, OffGamers will always try to be ahead of the curve or better yet, set the social media trend among the gaming community themselves.

Populating and distributing your gaming content on a platform foreign to your company can be a huge ordeal. This is understandable as there are many factors that a business product owner would need to consider before setting their products in a new home. That said, OffGamers has gone through great lengths to ensure that their business partners have a seamless experience distributing their products. For one, OffGamers have a set of parameters where its business partners can enable/disable to help them optimise their whitelisting and blacklisting of countries. The parameters include:

Limiting Access by IP Address 

There are numerous countries that have imposed restrictions to certain video games or its in-game products. For instance, there are many countries/regions that have restricted distribution rights for video games and its in-game purchases, and therefore, setting these restrictions are crucial to the success of the distribution. By doing so, OffGamers will know where the customer is accessing the page from and can prevent or allow them to access the content, as per the product owner’s requirements.

Mobile Number Verification

When accessing certain products, OffGamers has the ability and the authority to request a mobile number authentication for verification purposes. This process is done through an OPT code where OffGamers will be able to locate the registered phone number. All of the mentioned authentication processes are powered and handled by a security site called Shasso.

Payment Gateway That Is Country-based

Aside from imposing network restrictions, game distributors that use OffGamers’ platform can also opt to select the payment options available to the customers.Therefore, if there are certain banks or currency that game distributors want to avoid or add to their products, OffGamers has the ability to make the inclusion and exception.

Address Verification

Before registering for an OffGamers account, one of the particulars that is requested is the customers’ billing address. This information will allow OffGamers to indicate where the customers are residing and if the address they provide does not correspond with their account’s phone number—their phone number is from a different country—OffGamers will be able to detect this discrepancy and prevent the customer from making the purchase.

Email Domain

Aside from mobile phone number and physical address. OffGamers can also limit customers’ access to certain products through their email address domain. For instance, if the customer’s email address has an (.sg) domain, OffGamers will know that this customer is currently residing or natively from Singapore. With the email domain being specified, the customer would not be able to view the product page from OffGamers website based on their registered domain. Additionally, OffGamers can also restrict certain promo emails of specific products sent to these email addresses based on the domain their email addresses are registered under.

Final Note

Understanding that many game distributors would want to limit their products for specific countries due to regional laws or policies, OffGamers is more than equipped with the necessary tools to cater products to specific audiences. Essentially, game distributors can also choose which parameters above that they want to enable for their products to optimise for the best distribution experience.

Being requested for information, especially personal ones, is never easy. One can understand why many customers are apprehensive when they are asked to reveal

certain information but little do they know that this info will actually help safeguard them from potential threats.

What is eKYC?

eKYC is an abbreviation for 'Electronic Know Your Customer' and are electronic documents that have the same goal as traditional security protocols in verifying your identity. However, the main difference for eKYC documents is that all the documents are digitized without the need for physical papers. Additionally, most eKYC processes have integrated the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to better its effectiveness such as facial recognition.

eKYC Process with OffGamers

Like many businesses that have financial transactions with their customers, OffGamers has also implemented the use of eKYC documents to adhere to the Anti-money Laundering Law (AML) of different countries. As such, first-time customers who wish to make an account with OffGamers would have to submit their:

Phone number which OffGamers will also use their Automated Phone Verification System to verify the number

The customers' updated email address

Updated payment information

When a customer uses a payment method that requires eKYC verification, OffGamers will send out an email entailing the need for the customer to verify their detailsThe customers will then need to press the “Verify Now” button and upload their identification and credit card information together with a scanned selfie photo for the facial recognition system to do detail matching. A QR code will also be prompted where the purchasing customer will need to scan the code with their mobile phone and will insert the details that the page requests. Once all information has been submitted, OffGamers’ Compliance Team will conduct a detailed review to ascertain the information’s authenticity.

Why Are The eKYC Documents So Important?

As mentioned earlier, the eKYC documents in nature are very personal and customers may not feel comfortable in sending these documents. However, this is a due diligence that is required for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT) compliance. By implementing the eKYC process, businesses are able to securely identify that the account is not being used by a malicious third party, as most of the money-laundering activities’ modus operandi are assisted by the falsification of identity and the phishing of emails and signatures. On the off chance that the bank account of a customer is being compromised, the business owner would then be able to immediately contact the customer about the safety breach.

The Reluctance of eKYC Among Customers and Addressing It

Having been accustomed to getting things done instantaneously on the digital sphere, delays and extra steps can be seen as a burden to many users; more so if it requires customers to provide extremely personal information. This is understandable since customers are the ones paying for the product/service and being checked for potential fraud can be infuriating. However, it is because customers are paying and it is OffGamers’ responsibility to ensure that the entire business transaction is compliant with the eKYC process. Plus, there are still many out there that might not be aware of the importance of eKYC or might not have experience in sending in the required information details, potentially leading to unwanted friction between OffGamers and its customers. Fortunately, OffGamers’ Customer Experience Team is readily available to smoothen things out. Any enquiries that OffGamers’ customers have regarding the eKYC will be answered in a professional manner with relevant explanations. The eKYC user interface on OffGamers site is also designed to be user friendly with also added content describing the purposes of the eKYC documents and the potential financial threats it can prevent.

Final Note: OffGamers and Security

As much as it is inconvenient for most parties, OffGamers has a responsibility to ensure that its customers are having a safe and secure shopping experience. OffGamers has also done its due diligence on all aspects of financial security—technical, physical and administrative. All of OffGamers’ online operations are protected with firewalls and encryption that provide protection against potential security threats like data misuse, disclosure and alteration. That said, maintaining a safe online shopping environment is a joint responsibility to which customers are also required to play a hand in providing the necessary information for the security process to work.