Tebex sits at the crossroad of gaming and digital commerce by offering infrastructure that allows studios and developers the means of managing their monetization of their games effectively. They take on responsibility for streamlining the operational complexities of providing payment processing, managing fraud and ensuring regulatory compliance that allows game creators to only focus on building great games and improving player experience.

Tebex does not position itself as a traditional payment processor; rather it provides an operational layer that takes responsibility for managing the transactional side of running a gaming company. While there are many different types of games with different ways of monetizing those games, the vast breadth of games and ways to monetize gaming illustrates the diversity of the gaming universe that Tebex supports.

Tebex's “Merchant of Record” function is one of the most important aspects of the Tebex solution. As the Merchant of Record, Tebex assumes legal and financial responsibility for all transactions processed through the Tebex system including tax management, dispute management and compliance obligations. By consolidating these activities within one company, it allows studios and server owners to reduce the burden of managing these liabilities, especially those studios and server owners without the staffing to operate their own financial infrastructure.

Gaming Solutions offered by Tebex

D2C Monetization

The monetization method of Tebex’s D2C direct-to-consumer revenues model enables developers and studios to build a direct transactional relationship with their players. By removing the control from third-party platforms, developers can take control of how purchases are shown and experienced in their games. Additionally, by integrating commercial elements more closely with gameplay, the transition from playing to purchasing is less abrupt, which may change the way players interact with in-game economies.

Tebex supports multiple monetization formats, including digital goods, downloadable content and access-based offerings, and it is versatile, meaning that it can be integrated across various game formats (e.g., from mobile to cross-platform) and support the delivery of a consistent purchase flow for developers to provide to their players. Tebex also features regional payment adaptability, helping ensure that players can make use of their own geographically relevant payment methods without any additional disruption. This will be especially important where access to global payment systems is limited or sporadic.

In addition to being a mechanism for conducting transactions, the platform provides capabilities to support the entire life cycle of a player’s lifetime value. This includes subscription management and methods of supporting ongoing engagement rather than just purchase transactions alone, as well as the handling of any compliance or tax-related activity associated with the monies received as a result of these types of transactions.

Server Monetization

Tebex has expanded its services to include the monetization of game servers, where many of these types of transactions take place outside of traditional publishing companies. The owners of these servers can put in place methods to charge their users for access to their servers, purchase digital items or other in-game purchases and subscriptions directly to the players of their server. Purchases made by players can take place inside the game, or through an external website, depending on how the server is set up.

Tebex’s platform is designed to work with a server’s existing infrastructure or system. The integration can be done in a very flexible way, including through API based methods, and allows server owners to maintain control over how the monetization of their server is represented, while Tebex will handle the transactional backend processing. This separation of the monetization presentation from the transactional processing allows the server owner to keep their identity and design intact, but still benefit from structured monetization options.

Tebex manages all compliance and regulatory issues with respect to these transactions including tax calculation and dispute management. Anti-fraud systems are also built into the process, reducing a server operator’s potential financial exposure. Subscription management is automated and includes automated billing and renewal cycles without the need for manual management.

Operations

Tebex serves as an ongoing operational base for game monetization. As game developers grow, however, the number of transactions, regulatory obligations, and financial risks also increases. Tebex helps developers by taking over those functions and let them choose what systems they need in-house.

As a Merchant of Record, Tebex assumes full responsibility for transaction processing, managing tax obligations, and resolving disputes between developers and players, so studios do not have to worry about the legal or financial risks involved in these functions. This includes everything from invoicing and billing to managing compliance with local laws, which can differ greatly by geography.

By centralizing responsibilities for the operational elements of monetization, Tebex allows studios to eliminate reliance on both external service providers and internal resources when managing their game finances. Tebex also has automated fraud prevention & chargeback management built into the platform, which reduces operational overhead for both developers and Tebex. This allows developers to increase their monetization activities and still use the same process to manage all their financial transactions without taking development resources away from creating their games or assisting players.

Player-Centric Community

Tebex’s community approach works with players, creators and the overall game ecosystem. Monetization and creating trust within continual play are interconnected. By taking care of the transaction’s operational process, Tebex gives the studios the opportunity to concentrate on building these relationships without causing friction through mismanaged purchasing processes.

With elements for creator participation built into the Tebex platform, studios can easily engage creators as this has become an important part of many video game communities. There are built-in systems to manage revenue sharing, attribution and payment so studios do not need to have multiple administrative procedures to involve creators. This results in consistency in how creators are paid, while still maintaining oversight over the use of their intellectual property.

Tebex has included features that connect a player’s purchase to their community identity through the use of rewards, recognitions systems and integrations with third party platforms. By doing this, a player’s transaction builds on their standing or visibility within the community as opposed to being separate and isolated from the financial transaction. Lastly, moderation and risk management tools are built into the setup, which helps protect both players and the integrity of the game environment in addition to encouraging long-term engagement.

Lee McNeil – Director

Lee McNeil is the Director of Tebex. He is a British entrepreneur based in the United Kingdom. He built the company into a globally used service supporting millions of creators and players across gaming communities. McNeil founded Tebex around 2012 to help game server owners generate revenue through donations and in-game purchases. Under his leadership, Tebex processed over $500 million in creator earnings worldwide before its acquisition.

“Tebex uses smart pricing, mobile-first checkout, and local payment methods – so wherever the drive to buy exists, they turn it into a purchase, not a bounce, globally“