Buy now pay later (BNPL) services are gaining traction, and a particular BNPL provider has unveiled a collaboration with a gaming firm to facilitate financing for in-game acquisitions.
Affirm has teamed up with gaming trade company Xsolla to permit individuals to utilize Affirm for financing in-game purchases of $50 or greater through payment plans. Affirm provides interest-free biweekly payment options, or extended monthly installments that may accrue interest.
This will function similarly to existing instances where Affirm is accepted. For eligible in-game content, players can select Affirm at checkout, where Affirm will conduct a credit evaluation, allowing players to choose a payment plan suitable for them. This service is currently operational in the US and will soon be available in Canada and the UK.
Gsolla remarked that it is already collaborating with “thousands” of game developers for its offerings, but a comprehensive list of games and in-game materials was not made available for this Affirm partnership.
One aspect to bear in mind while utilizing a BNPL service is that, moving forward, some credit report agencies have announced intentions to incorporate BNPL loans into their reports. According to Motley Fool, 56% of consumers have utilized a BNPL service at least once, a rise from 38% in the previous year.
This marks the latest expansion of BNPL into fresh territories, following Klarna’s widely discussed agreement with DoorDash enabling individuals to finance their burritos. As many are aware, life is costly these days, and the option to pay off in-game DLC through a payment plan might be appealing to the significant cohort of young individuals who are cutting back on video game expenditures lately.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Epic Games as a company collaborating with Xsolla for this initiative. It has been revised to remove those details.
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