Webshops are a hot trend in mobile gaming due to their strong business benefits and recent legal and regulatory changes. Additionally, best practices are beginning to emerge and mobile game companies are using proven methods to drive player traffic to their webshop.

But how do you know if a webshop is the right move for your mobile game? Keep reading and we’ll help you sort it out. If you answer yes to at least one of these questions, then your game is probably a good fit for a webshop.

Does your game have strong IAP revenues and multiple IAP types?

One primary benefit of a webshop is the additional revenue and profits that come from shifting purchases from in-app (Google & Apple take 30% off the top) to webshop (far lower fee around 4-10%). So the more IAPs you have to shift over, the better. If your game is mainly monetized via ads, then a webshop is probably not a good fit. But if the majority of your revenue comes from IAPs, then a webshop should be in your plans.

Additionally, we’ve seen that games with more robust IAP strategies tend to have more success with a webshop. If your game monetizes through many types of IAPs (like currency bundles, season passes, gachas, and loot boxes), then your webshop is likely to be more active and fruitful.

Below are a few examples of games that we found with high IAP revenue, robust IAP strategies, but with no webshop (data via SensorTower for month of Feb. 2024).

Does your game have a solid volume of “whales?”

Whales, very heavy in-game spenders, have always been a big deal in mobile gaming. And webshops are no different. If you game has a minority population of spenders who drive a big volume of revenue, then it’s much easier to shift spend from in-game to your webshop. It’s far easier to move a small volume of players to webshop than a large volume. A game with a good whale population can focus efforts on changing whale purchase habits and see a big webshop purchase uptick for every whale that adopts their webshop. In many cases, whales are the primary focus of webshop strategies and can deliver serious ROI without requiring a heavy lift. Below are a few examples of games with high whale activity that should consider launching a webshop (marked by a very high RPD - revenue per download. Data via SensorTower for game’s worldwide lifetime).

Does your game have a large community and/or social following?

One of the best ways to drive traffic to your webshop is via social/community promotion. It costs nothing and it gets the word out to your engaged playerbase. Social promotion can be highly effective when you couple it with something like a free gift that’s only available via your webshop. So if your game has a big following across Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Discord, etc., then you should definitely consider launching a webshop ASAP.

Below are a few examples of mobile games with big communities that don’t yet have webshops.

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