Peak seasons are crucial to almost every industry, from tourism to retail to logistics. During peak seasons, extraordinary numbers of customers flock to businesses, driving demand higher for hotels, goods on sale, and quick shipping. The gaming industry is no different, with peak seasons manifesting in periods of high traffic and competitive digital commerce strategies. While peak seasons can bring great returns, they also pose significant challenges. The strain of surging traffic can cause even the most established online businesses to buckle; for example, Steam's payment system once crashed during a Halloween sale. High traffic isn't the only opponent to seamless peak season sales. Limited payment methods and poor payment experiences can turn initial excitement into frustration and result in abandoned carts. In this blog, we'll break down the payment pitfalls of peak seasons and how to avoid them with the help of comprehensive solutions like Xsolla Payments.

Understanding peak seasons in gaming

Peak season in gaming is different from peak seasons in other industries. For example, peak seasons in gaming might not have anything to do with the time of year at all. Peak season in gaming can occur during a highly anticipated game's release. Additionally, events outside of gaming can impact game sales and cause peak seasons, such as film or TV spinoffs like the Fallout TV series, which brought over one million players to Fallout 76 in a single day. While some peak seasons in gaming are more challenging to predict, the usual peak seasons, like Summer and Winter sales, are still great to rely on for driving new revenue. However, failing to prepare for peak season can cost you new players, harm your reputation, and halt the momentum of your game in the popular culture zeitgeist. Exploring the "peaks" of peak season in gaming Believe it or not, peak season mishaps aren't all that uncommon in the gaming world. With the number of global gamers surpassing 3.24 billion, massive spikes in gaming traffic are increasingly common, especially when a highly anticipated game comes out. For example, upon the release of Black Myth: Wukong, Chinese Steam traffic increased by 50% as the action RPG surpassed 10 million sales in the first three days of its release. With player counts and demand for games reaching such staggering heights, it's easy to see how any failure in payment processing—no matter how brief—can cost a game significant profits. How poor payment experiences affect peak season sales A solid payment strategy can help you avoid lost revenue, customer frustration, and cart abandonment during peak season. A recent Visa survey found that half of all gamers had previously abandoned a game checkout due to limited payment options, concerns over payment safety, and a slow/unresponsive website. Source: Game on: The rise of online video gaming and the intersection of paying and playing, Visa Consulting & Analytics Besides payment friction, gamers who purchase in-app digital items and packs are often vulnerable to risks like fraud and hacking. Hence, a payment strategy that prioritizes security is essential for peak season. How to improve your peak season payment strategy Managing heightened player expectations during peak season requires a flexible yet secure payment strategy. Here are some winning tips to ensure your game sells when it matters the most.

• Bolster security. Ensuring your payment partner's security standards are up to date protects your reputation and sales. To make your payments more secure, consider platforms that comply with the latest industry recommendations while implementing features like fraud protection, encryption, and tokenization.
• Know your market. Understanding the market in which the peak seasons occur is crucial to your preparations and strategy. Review your payment processes before critical moments like a game's launch or a big sale event. Analyze the payment preferences of your target market to ensure your current payment strategy can support your desired customers.
• Continuously optimize. Monitor your sales performance and make adjustments based on your analytics. Customer feedback can be a crucial tool in improving and optimizing your payment system, so listen to the players and select a payment partner who can support their preferred payment methods.

For more on developing a winning payment strategy, check out our blog on the top ways to streamline your gaming business.

Traits of an ideal peak season payments partner

If you're ready to win the peak season and watch your revenue grow, here are some qualities to look for in a payments partner.

• Experience as a Merchant of Record. A Merchant of Record can help ensure your sales comply with local regulations and manage your taxes no matter where your players are. Gaming-specific merchants of record like Xsolla are even better, especially if they have a global reputation gamers trust.
• Global reach. During peak season, gamers worldwide may want to access your game. Xsolla Payments unlocks instant access to 700+ payment methods serving 200+ territories around the world, opening up your game to new global players.
• Cutting-edge anti-fraud. Put your players at ease with a trustworthy checkout equipped with the latest anti-fraud features and designed with gamers in mind.
• Flexible, sustainable checkout integrations. Long or complicated checkouts can cause players to abandon purchasing your game or in-game items. A payments partner with various checkout integrations can ensure you employ the optimal checkout for your game during the crucial peak season.
• Expert localization. To expand your game's reach and attract even more players during peak season, ensure your payment partner supports comprehensive localization to appeal to audiences of all languages.
• Revenue-boosting solutions. The Xsolla suite of products boasts several high-quality solutions that can instantly deploy to boost revenue, including Instant Web Shop, Instant Game Sales, Instant Launcher, and Instant Cloud Gaming.

As a payments partner with all the above qualities and a deep understanding of the games industry and its peak seasons, Xsolla is the perfect payment partner to help your game reach new players and thrive in sales. How to improve your peak season payment strategy A solid, seamless payment system is crucial to reaching players worldwide. The examples below demonstrate how a top-notch payment partner can take your game to the next level.

• Gaijin Entertainment's War Thunder surpassed its growth goals by all expectations by partnering with Xsolla, growing 200% in revenue and 300% in successful payments.
• Warner Bros. expanded its reach into new territories with Xsolla, increasing transactions in Lord of the Rings Online by 20% in only three months.

Ready to conquer the peak season with a trustworthy, experienced, and professional payment partner? Xsolla is here to help your game succeed.

Boost your peak season performance with Xsolla

While the gaming industry is growing steadily, it's more important now than ever to align your game with a payments partner that can handle the traffic and security needs of unprecedented peak seasons. Xsolla is the perfect partner to help you reinforce your payment strategies with best-in-class fraud protection, flexible integration types, expert localization, global reach, and experience as a merchant of record. Talk to Xsolla's team of industry experts to see how Xsolla can elevate your game's checkout for peak season, or try our demos to see Xsolla Payments in action. If you aren't a Partner yet, register for an Xsolla Publisher Account today to start improving your reach and revenue with Xsolla's solutions.