Esports Mogul to monetise its gaming platform by implementing Razer Merchant Services payment gateway
Esports Mogul (ASX: ESH) will expand its previously announced partnership with hardware manufacturer Razer, by integrating its Razer Merchant Services payment gateway into Mogul Arena, considered to be the world’s leading online eSports tournament platform.
Mogul Arena enables users to compete in online gaming tournaments while serving as a matchmaking platform with full automation for major eSports titles.
Integration with Razer’s Razer Merchant Services is expected to deliver a range of positive commercial effects including driving more users and greater activity to Mogul Arena and inducing greater offline-to-online transactions as part of the company’s intended monetisation strategy.
Looking into Razer Merchant Services
Razer Merchant Services is southeast Asia’s largest payment gateway provider that powers online transactions of household brands Starbucks, Expedia and Sephora for millions of southeast Asian customers daily.
By integrating Razer Merchant Services into its platform, Esports Mogul will be able to accept in-game purchases and other transactions from users, many of whom are based in southeast Asia, currently the world’s fastest-growing consumer gaming market.
According to Esports Mogul, all transactions facilitated by Razer Merchant Services will be compatible “no matter the currency” and means the ASX-listed eSports company joins the likes of Sony PlayStation, Facebook Gameroom and Wargaming as part of a club of companies that are already using Razer Merchant Services to monetise their games and distribute digital content in Asia.
“This is an exciting leap for Esports Mogul as we enter the final stages of our monetisation strategy and begin to create new relationships with Razer Merchant Services. As Razer Merchant Services is a service owned by Razer Inc., this is just another step in working alongside Razer and our partners and we are eager to see the positive outcomes from this integration,” said Gernot Abl, managing director of Esports Mogul.
“Razer Merchant Services already runs one of the largest e-payment networks in southeast Asia, and this will allow us to not only implement our monetisation strategy but also leverage Razer Merchant Services’s technology, content, customers and partners,” added Mr Abl.
Razer connection
In June of this year, Esports Mogul surprised the market by announcing a close-quarters partnership with Razer Inc., an Asian based hardware manufacturer with a significant market presence and a significant supplier of gaming hardware, accessories and peripherals to both professional and casual gamers.
Razer also agreed to become a significant shareholder in Esports Mogul after leading an oversubscribed placement that raised $4.41 million.
At the time of the deal, both companies confirmed that they would focus their energies on “charting new initiatives to accelerate the proliferation of electronic payments” including promoting Razer’s zSilver virtual currency.
Today’s news builds on the company’s ultimate target of developing a fully-fledged eSports tournament platform that allows gamers to communicate, engage and compete for various prizes.
Given that Razer Merchant Services is operated by Razer, it is expected that the service will serve as a significant caveat that will assist Esports Mogul in widening the reach of its Mogul Arena platform and raising its addressable audience going forward.
The eSports trailblazer said the coming months would likely generate several significant developments with respect to payments integration and declared that it will unveil its commercial plans in due course.
However, as an early sign of upbeat confidence at Esports Mogul, the company said that in the coming months, Esports Mogul will unveil its “full monetisation and subscription features with confidence that they will drive greater users and activity to the platform.”
Mogul Arena is currently available in English, Thai and Vietnamese languages with plans to roll out a localised language function in Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Indonesian shortly to broaden its market reach.
Today’s announcement follows this month’s eSports gaming extravaganza that was held at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, the accelerated growth of the sector highlighted by the recent record US$24.8m prize pool at one tournament in the US recently.
Repost from: SMALL CAPS.