For those who like to venture into businesses related to video games, they know that today online games have come to attract a large number of young audiences who day by day show their skills and face trying to be the best and competing with players in everything the world.
There are countless online games, from those that only require a browser to those that need to download and install the software necessary to run the game.
Among all the games, some of the most prominent are WOW, League of Legends and the currently famous Dota 2. Within the game classifications we have those that require a monthly payment to be able to play and those that are free but in which you have the possibility of buying virtual goods to customize your characters or to have more advantages in the game.
To acquire virtual goods it is necessary to have a Paypal account or an international credit or debit card, which can be VISA or Mastercard, recharging our accounts in the game with real money we can buy all those virtual goods that we want.
The Business Opportunity
Although many of the players are of legal age and have credit or debit cards, there are a large number of people who do not have access to them; This is where the business opportunity presents itself. If we have the facility to acquire a debit card or open a Paypal account we can start with this new business.
Let’s take the Dota 2 Free To Play game as an example, this game is an updated version of the classic DOTA although this time it is being supported by the video game company Valve. To play Dota 2 it is not necessary to pay a single penny but you do have to have the company’s software called Steam installed.
As we mentioned, Dota 2 is completely free to play with people from all over the world but we have the possibility to customize our characters in the game by buying new clothes and adding attributes to make it look much better. To acquire these clothes and accessories it is necessary to have credit in our Steam account and to recharge credit in our Steam account it is necessary to have a credit card or a Paypal account.
When we have our affiliated debit card we can buy any virtual good in Dota 2 and in any of the games provided by Valve on its Steam platform, these goods are interchangeable, that is, you can transfer them to any other player for free just by being connected in the game.
How does the business work?
We are going to develop the business idea With an example: in Peru there are many Dota 2 players who do not have the means to associate a card or a Paypal account and acquire virtual goods but if they have cash, we the Virtual Goods company do have that facility and we can buy any virtual good from Dota 2.
We contact the interested party who wishes to acquire a virtual good and we proceed to buy the virtual good that our client wants, after buying we wait for him to make his deposit in cash and we proceed to exchange the good he wants through our accounts. The price at which we sell the virtual good will not be the same as in the official store but will have an additional surcharge that will represent our profit.
This mode of “reselling virtual goods” is not only applicable to this game but also to many others. Zynga games are already known on Facebook that allow you to acquire coins to expand the facilities; also browser games like Travian where by inserting coins you can grow much faster, etc.
It is only necessary to start looking for a niche in which to start and try to make a place among the competition. Is there competition? As in any business, there are mostly independent people who apply the same techniques that we are mentioning.
Recommendations for implementation
Although we have an opportunity due to the purchasing facilities that we have, we should not exaggerate in the prices offered to our clients, it is proven that a client who acquires virtual goods makes a purchase again periodically, thus we will ensure more permanent clients and fixed income.
A good marketing and dissemination campaign will help us to expand our customer network, we can use the virality of Facebook to promote ourselves and make it our main customer service channel.
Let’s be very careful when choosing our payment channels, there are many unscrupulous people who wait for any opportunity to take advantage of entrepreneurs. Let’s take the necessary measures and avoid future problems.
More ideas to start:
