Questions to ask your MoR provider: 6 critical categories every game developer must consider

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Questions to ask your MoR provider: 6 critical categories every game developer must consider

July 14, 2025•7 min

When evaluating potential merchant of record (MoR) partners, you must go beyond surface-level checklists. The right MoR doesn't just process payments. It's a cornerstone of your global business operations. And it's especially important to understand what to look for when comparing newer companies to long-established providers. To help you identify a trustworthy and future-proof MoR, we’ve compiled a detailed set of questions and optimal answers across six decision-making categories: global reach and local expertise, operational and legal infrastructure, platform maturity, monetization capabilities, transparency, and long-term support value. If you'd like to understand more about what an MoR does for your gaming business and why you need an experienced gaming-tailored MoR, check out our blog: ”Maximize your game’s success: Why you need a gaming-specific MoR”

1. Global reach and local expertise

Key decision factor: The scalability of the MoR with your game across diverse markets, payment preferences, and compliance needs. Why this is important: A reliable MoR should bring both reach and nuanced understanding of local markets to help you unlock true global revenue potential. Questions to ask:

Which countries and territories do you support?
Which payment option types do you work with (e.g., bank cards, digital wallets, mobile carrier billing, cash-based payments, instant payments, flexible payments, prepaid cards, etc.)?
How many local payment methods do you offer, and do they include local and emerging options (e.g., UPI in India, PayPay in Japan, Pix in Brazil)?
How localized is the checkout experience in terms of language, currency, and tax presentation, and for how many markets is this available?
How much experience do you have handling region-specific compliance, tax reporting, and regulatory frameworks?

What a top-tier MoR partner should deliver: A good merchant of record should make it easy to accept payments from anywhere in the world, not just with bank cards or popular digital wallets, but also with local payment methods that people actually use. This includes things like paying through mobile carriers, flexible payments, bank transfers, cash, prepaid cards, and gift cards. A strong MoR also makes sure the checkout experience is localized, with the right language and currency for each user. On top of that, they take care of taxes by staying registered and making sure taxes are filed and paid correctly in all the places they do business, demonstrating their commitment to both operational breadth and regulatory responsibility.

2. Operational and legal infrastructure

Key decision factor: The platform's ability to truly work as the legal seller and take on real liability, and not just using partial workarounds. Why this is important: Only platforms with robust legal infrastructure can give you peace of mind and shield you from complex regulatory obligations. Questions to ask:

Are you the legal seller of record in all supported territories?
Do you manage and assume responsibility for all global indirect taxes (VAT, GST, sales tax), including registration, collection, remittance, and reporting?
How are refunds, chargebacks, and customer disputes handled? Do you provide a full-service team or shift the burden back to the developer?
What jurisdictions do you operate from, and what implications does that have for my global compliance and risk exposure?

What a top-tier MoR partner should deliver: A merchant of record acts as the legal seller in all supported regions, managing global tax compliance, regulatory risk, and local obligations so you don’t have to. The MoR's in-house team should handle all refunds and chargebacks end-to-end. Better yet, an MoR with offices worldwide can further offer flexible jurisdiction options to suit your business needs.

3. Platform maturity, stability, and features

Key decision factor: The MoR platform's ability to be production-ready at scale and offer rich features. Why this is important: Mature platforms demonstrate proven scalability, reliability, and have deep integration options for all your needs, not just beta-stage tools. Questions to ask:

How long have you operated as an MoR for commercial-scale partners?
What products and solutions do you offer beyond just payments?
Do you support developers on multiple platforms (web, PC, console, mobile)? What SDKs and APIs are available?
What is your average platform uptime? Can you show reliability metrics?

What a top-tier MoR partner should deliver: You’ll want to choose an MoR with plenty of real-world experience, ideally one that’s been working at a large scale for over 10 years. They should support all types of game developers (web, PC, console, and mobile) and offer a full set of tools, like payments, subscriptions, fraud protection, analytics, and monetization. Look for an MoR that provides strong SDKs and APIs for popular game engines like Unity and Unreal, and that has a proven track record of reliability, with uptime above 99.9%.

4. Monetization and conversion optimization

Key decision factor: The MoR's ability to help you grow revenue, not just process payments. Why this is important: In addition to payment acceptance, MoRs should be monetization enablers, helping you convert, retain, and expand your player base. Questions to ask:

Do you offer conversion-enhancing features like Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), adaptive checkout, promotional tools, or A/B testing?
How customizable is the checkout UI/UX to align with my game brand, audience, and monetization flow?
Do you support alternative app store billing (e.g., User Choice Billing for Android, alternative billing for iOS)?

What a top-tier MoR partner should deliver: The MoR should offer features that help boost conversions, like smart checkout flows, built-in tools for promos and player communication, LiveOps support, and Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options. Checkout should be fully customizable, allowing you to change its look and feel to match your game’s brand and resonate with your audience. And of course, it should also support alternative billing methods, including User Choice Billing on Android and compliant alternatives for iOS.

5. Transparency and reporting

Key decision factor: Your ability to fully access the bigger financial picture, like user data, business intelligence, and performance analytics. Why this is important: Straightforward, transparent, and unified reporting is key for agile operations and financial control. Questions to ask:

What kind of real-time analytics do you provide? Can I segment performance by country, method, time, game, or project?
How transparent is your revenue share model? Are there any hidden fees or setup costs?
How are payouts handled (frequency, currency support, thresholds), and are there any delays?
Is there a single dashboard or portal where I can track and manage data, taxes, and financial operations?

What a top-tier MoR partner should delive: A strong MoR should provide a single, real-time dashboard where developers can easily track things like revenue, taxes, payouts, fraud, chargebacks, and overall performance, broken down by country, payment method, project, or time period. Their revenue share model should be clear and transparent, with no hidden or unexpected fees. All activity is recorded in reports and logs, and payouts follow a regular schedule, support multiple currencies, and are handled reliably across all regions and partners.

6. Trust, support, and overall ecosystem

Key decision factor: The ability to rely on the MoR platform as a true growth partner in the future. Why this is important: An MoR should be more than just a vendor. It should be a trusted extension of your publishing and growth team. Questions to ask:

How many gaming partners have you supported—and at what scale?
Do you offer live onboarding, dedicated account managers, and regional support teams? In other words, how quickly can I expect answers to my questions?
Beyond payment processing, can you help with go-to-market strategy, compliance guidance, or growth consulting?
Do you have customer stories or case studies that are similar to my game genre and audience?

What a top-tier MoR partner should deliver: A strong, transparent MoR will have worked with thousands of game developers, from small indie teams to major global publishers, across all major platforms and regions, and will proudly share a list of its partners. Their team should provide hands-on onboarding, dedicated account managers, and localized support to ensure fast and helpful responses through multiple channels. In addition to payment services, they freely offer strategic advice for launching games and driving growth and share case studies tailored to the game’s genre, audience, and monetization model, helping developers move forward with clarity and confidence. A reliable MoR will make these success stories and resources easy to access.

Why these questions matter

When choosing between newer MoRs and legacy multi-platform commerce providers like Xsolla, these questions reveal:

Whether the MoR is truly a seller of record or a frontend workaround
How operationally prepared, reliable, and globally compliant the partner is
Whether the company or platform adds long-term business value through a gaming industry-tailored suite of products and solutions