Mobile Game Web Stores: Should You Build or Buy Your Tech?

Going direct-to-consumer with a web store is a pivotal strategy for mobile game growth in 2024. But should you build your tech in-house, or use a white label web store platform?

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on Appcharge’s blog.

In 2023, nearly every major mobile games publisher launched a web store. There’s a reason for this: by carving out a direct-to-consumer sales platform, publishers bypass the traditional 30% fees on all transactions. In doing so, they can provide users with exclusive and generous offers while significantly increasing profit margins.

It’s a much-needed win for publishers, who are feeling the squeeze due to challenging industry trends, and it’s also a win for players, who receive far more value for their money in the offers presented to them in web stores.

With these tailwinds, we expect to see a surge in web store adoption in 2024 from both medium and large sized publishers. Which begs the question: how do you actually create a web store?

There are two options: building your web store in-house from scratch, or using a white label, out-of-the-box web store platform.

By the end of this guide, you’ll understand the pros and cons of each approach and be a step closer to executing your game’s web store.

Let’s dive in.

What’s behind a successful mobile game web store?

The list shown above demonstrates just some of the key components of a mobile game web store.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of building a web store in-house from scratch, before looking at the alternative approach — leveraging a white-label platform where the tech is already taken care of.

Building your own game web store from scratch

Various gaming giants have built direct-to-consumer web stores in-house, including Rovio, Supercell, Moon Active and Scopely. What are the main benefits of this approach?

The pros of building your own web store

Ownership and control

Building a web store in-house means your tech and tools are yours and only yours. You’ll always be in full control, eliminating any risks posed by the reliance on a third-party vendor, and keeping communication internal — especially useful if you have a big team.

In addition, your web store will become part of your studio’s core IP, adding value to your company.

Complete customization

When you have a team of in-house engineers and product designers building your web store from scratch, you’re able to mold your store whatever way you’d like to meet the specific needs of your game.

That’s an attractive proposition for many developers, but it comes with a cost. Dedicating a team to not only take a web store from 0 to 1 but then maintain and customize it constantly once it’s live is a major commitment, both in time and money.

Higher margins on sales

White label web store solutions take anywhere from 5% to 15% per transaction. While still a far cry from the traditional platforms’ 30% cut, some developers may deem it worth the investment to avoid fees altogether by building their web store in-house.

This means they can pocket the highest possible margins per transaction. However, that must be weighed against the considerable cost of hiring a dedicated team of engineers and product designers to build and manage the store.

The cons of building your own web store

It’s an (expensive) burden on your core business

Some studios with enough manpower can put together a team from their existing workforce to at least build an MVP of a web store.

But to build a robust web store, equipped with all the functionality and features that keep players coming back and making repeat purchases, you’ll need to hire a team of specialist engineers and product designers.

We’ve seen large publishers dedicate 10 to 15 people to building a web store. Not only is it a lengthy process to hire the right people, but once you have them it also takes considerable time to build, launch, and manage the store.

That’s a burden on your core business — you’ll have less time and resources to spend on improving your game design, LiveOps, and marketing.

Being your own Merchant of Record is a headache

When you start selling to players outside of the traditional App Stores, which take care of all Merchant of Record services as part of their 30% cut, you need to manage all this entails by yourself.

Becoming your own Merchant of Record means hiring experts to handle local taxes, currencies, exchange rates, invoicing, billing and fraud prevention. This newfound responsibility also introduces the risk of exceeding chargeback limits, potentially resulting in penalties or even the blocking of your game by payment providers.

If managing these financial intricacies seems overwhelming, opting for a third-party payment solution is a prudent choice.

Management is an ongoing burden — and you’ll be one step behind

A successful web store isn’t completed once it’s been launched. Just like a mobile game, it is a living, breathing entity that requires constant iteration and optimization.

If you build your web store internally, every change to your web store — from new artwork to new gamification mechanics — will require development work. Ultimately, this slows down your time-to-market for every iteration and creates operational overheads.

In addition, you’ll always be one step behind in releasing the latest web store features and incorporating the most advanced tech.

The white label platforms that are spearheading web store innovation for the games industry will be first-to-market for all the latest advancements.

Building your own web store: a brief summary

Building your own mobile game web store is a huge investment in time, effort, and money. But building in-house does give you the ownership, control, customization, and margins per transaction you need to make top-grossing games.

If you have the team size, the expertise, and the financial resources to make it happen, as well as the capacity to execute with speed and quality, then it’s a smart move to build out your own game web store.

The problem?

Well, you’re looking at a minimum of five highly-skilled (and very expensive) software engineers just to get you started.

Once you’ve found them, they need to become closely intertwined with the game development, LiveOps, and game monetization teams, ensuring that as new features, events, and offers are added to the game and product roadmap, the web store is able to support these initiatives simultaneously.

All the while, you need to ensure all of this effort is supported by robust Merchant of Record services to handle the complex world of payments — which also requires hiring specialists.

It’s a tall order to execute, but done right, it pays off. But is it worth it? Well, it depends on what the alternatives are.

Using a white-label web store for your mobile game

Using a white-label platform, instead of developing your own technology, can be an incredibly efficient and powerful way to build out your mobile game web store.

The pros of using web store tech for your game

When chosen smartly, ready-made and purpose-built web store technology can supercharge your mobile game’s bottom line profit. Let’s take a look at four of the top reasons why.

Maximize your profits

Hiring a team of specialist engineers and product designers to develop just a ‘vanilla’ or MVP version of your web store can take around 4 months and is expensive.

Fortunately, in the same way, you can bypass the traditional app stores’ 30% fees by launching a web store, you can also bypass the aforementioned development costs by leveraging an out-of-the-box platform, which has done all the heavy-lifting for you.

Not only does this save you significant development costs, but it expedites your time to market so you can start selling items faster. More on that below.

Faster time-to-market

With a seamless API integration using a white label platform, you can get a web store to market in a matter of weeks. One based on battle-tested technology and with all the features you need to succeed. Compare that to the time it takes to actually begin earning from an internally built web store — remember you need to assemble a team of specialists, develop a platform, and ship it — you’re saving a huge amount of time. And time is money.

Payments taken care of

Payment infrastructure is one of the biggest headaches faced by publishers who opt to build web stores in-house. A white-label web store platform like Appcharge handles all of your Merchant of Record needs, which is a game-changer for any company facing the prospect of hiring experts to handle local taxes, currencies, exchange rates, invoicing, billing, chargebacks, and fraud prevention.

Easy updates and optimization

The right white-label web store platform makes it easy to update your store with new designs, artwork, gamification mechanics, special offers, and more.

Given that most games these days operate as live services with dynamic LiveOps and frequent optimization, it’s crucial that you can update your web store frequently and without unnecessary hassle to keep up with this cadence.

The Clear Advantage of White-Label Web Store Platforms

The choice between building an in-house web store from scratch and leveraging a white-label platform is pivotal.

While the allure of ownership and control, customization, and higher margins may tempt some to pursue the former, the reality of the investment in time, effort, and resources required is undeniable.

Building a mobile game web store in-house demands a significant commitment, from assembling a team of highly skilled engineers to navigating the complexities of becoming your own Merchant of Record. The ongoing maintenance and iterative development further add to the operational burdens.

On the other side of the spectrum, the white-label web store platform is a clear winner. Choosing this path allows game developers to maximize profits by avoiding hefty development costs, with platforms like Appcharge receiving just a 5% fee per transaction.

The speed-to-market is a huge advantage, with seamless API integration enabling a rapid launch compared to the prolonged timeline of in-house development.

In addition, using a white-label platform that takes care of Merchant of Record needs, including taxes, currencies, chargebacks, and fraud prevention, removes the headache of managing payments.

And last but not least, the ease of updates and optimization you experience with a white label platform ensures your web store remains dynamic and aligned with the evolving demands of players.

In conclusion, while building your own web store may offer a sense of control, the pragmatic choice lies in embracing the efficiency, expertise, and cost-effectiveness of white-label web store platforms.

As we anticipate a surge in web store adoption in 2024, the advantages of maximizing profits, faster time-to-market, and simplified operations make the case for choosing a white-label platform compelling for savvy game developers aiming for success in the direct-to-consumer landscape.