Web shop pricing and bonus currency: what top games give

What top games give on the web

Few studios publish their web pricing rules, so the evidence comes from the stores themselves and from vendors who have catalogued them. The table lists what is on record as of September 2026.

Every published example gives extra value at the same price. None lowers the cash price; even Epic’s 20% came back as credit to spend in Epic’s own store.

Bonus currency or cash discount: the mechanics

A web purchase can reward the player in two ways. You can give more currency for the same price, or charge less for the same currency. A bonus keeps the full price. The extra currency costs you nothing in cash on the day. It becomes a cost only if the player uses it in place of currency they would otherwise have bought later.

A discount lowers the price. You collect less cash on every sale, including sales to players who would have paid full price anyway.

The table below works through $100 of player spend. It is an illustration, not a benchmark. It assumes a total web payment cost of 5% of the price (processing, fraud, tax handling), close to the headline rates some merchants of record publish (Paddle lists 5% + 50¢); your figure depends on your provider and markets (see hidden fees). It ignores sales tax and VAT, which come off every route.

On these assumptions a 10% bonus collects $9.50 more per $100 than a 10% discount. Two effects narrow that gap over time, and a CFO should model both.

The first is replacement. If a player buys currency to meet a fixed in-game need, 1,100 gems for $100 means they buy about 9% fewer gems later (100 ÷ 1,100). For that player the bonus works like a 9% discount, paid in later months and only while they keep playing. If a player spends a fixed monthly budget, the bonus replaces nothing and costs no cash.

The second is the economy. Extra currency moves players through content faster. That is a design cost, not a payments cost, and it is the reason to test bonus levels rather than copy a competitor’s.

Reported revenue can move the other way from profit, depending on how you present each channel. Publishers commonly book store sales gross, with the store fee in cost of revenue. Web sales through a merchant of record are often booked at the net amount the merchant of record pays you. On that presentation, moving spend to the web lowers reported revenue per dollar of player spend while gross profit rises. Stillfront describes its direct sales as “negative for net revenue but accretive to gross profit and gross margin” in its Q2 2026 report. A currency bonus leaves the price, and so the revenue booked per sale, unchanged; a lower web price reduces it. Net revenue vs gross margin works through each presentation.

Price parity: what each platform says

On the sources we checked, only Microsoft will require a matching offer, and only from 22 October 2026 for games that use Xbox network services. The others limit how or where you can say the web is cheaper.

The 3.1.3(b) condition catches web-exclusive items. A bonus is more of the same currency the app already sells, so it sits inside the rule. A bundle sold only on the web contains items the app does not sell as in-app purchases, and the guideline text does not clearly cover spending those in the iOS app. EA sells web-only bundles for FC Mobile; how Apple treats them is not public. Check exclusive items against 3.1.3(b) before you build a catalog around them.

Price claims under consumer law

Once you advertise a saving, consumer law decides whether the claim is fair. In the EU, the Omnibus Directive added a rule that any announced price reduction must show the trader’s lowest price in the prior 30 days:

The Commission’s guidance says Article 6a covers goods only and “does not apply to services (including digital services) or to digital content”. Virtual currency sold on a web shop falls outside the 30-day rule. The same guidance adds that the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive “also covers any price reduction announcements or other types of practices promoting price advantages regarding digital content”, so a misleading “save 20%” banner can still breach EU law.

EU consumer authorities set out their expectations for virtual currency in March 2025. Their key principles say the real-money price of in-game content must be shown, practices that obscure the cost (such as mixing currencies or requiring several exchanges) should be avoided, and terms that let a trader “unilaterally modify the value of in-game virtual currencies” should be avoided. For a web shop, that means showing the price in money next to the currency amount, and not quietly shrinking bonus packs later.

Loot box odds

Apple’s rule applies to any app selling randomized items:

The guideline governs the app, not your website. If the web shop sells the same boxes, publish the same odds there. Players compare, and a box with odds shown in the app and hidden on the web invites complaints and chargebacks.

Pricing checklist

1. Start with a bonus, not a discount. Published currency bonuses run from 10% to about 16%, and Xsolla recommends 5 to 10%. Test two levels against a holdout.
2. Model the bonus at your real payment cost and at 0%, 15% and 27% Apple link fees before promising it for a season.
3. Show the real-money price beside every currency pack and keep pack sizes stable once advertised.
4. Check every web-exclusive item against Apple guideline 3.1.3(b) before it goes on sale.
5. Have counsel approve any “cheaper than the app store” wording for each market.
6. Publish loot box odds on the web shop wherever the game discloses them in-app.