InComm partnered with Xsolla to let players fund online gaming accounts with cash at GameStop, the companies announced on November 8, 2018. The arrangement used VanillaDirect Pay and covered more than 3,800 GameStop locations in the United States at the time of the announcement.

Players obtain a barcode through a participating game’s website or app and bring it to a store. After the cashier scans the barcode and accepts the cash payment, the player’s online account is credited. The balance can fund subscriptions or in-game currency without requiring a credit card or conventional bank account.

Cash acceptance connected to online games

GameStop was identified as the first video game retailer to use InComm’s cash-payment platform for this purpose. Xsolla said 52% of its end users preferred paying with cash, making retail account funding relevant to part of its gaming audience.

The announcement described Xsolla as providing payment, billing and publishing tools to game developers. Its partner games, which included Smite, Phoenix Point and PUBG, reached more than 50 million monthly active users according to the figures cited in November 2018.

InComm financial services executive Matt Lanford framed the partnership around bringing online players into retail locations to add funds. Xsolla CEO Aleksandr Agapitov said the model would make cash payments available to players of games from developers of different sizes.

VanillaDirect Pay’s role

VanillaDirect Pay formed part of InComm’s cash-based payment product range. In this arrangement it connected a retail barcode transaction to the player’s digital account, while Xsolla supplied the relationship with participating games and developers.

The partnership expanded cash access within InComm’s wider prepaid and retail payments business, which also included gift card distribution. The store count and gaming audience figures relate to the 2018 announcement.