Wargaming’s Multiplayer Enthusiasts Can Now Buy Virtual Gold with Bitcoin

February 10, 2016 By: Mike Dautner

Multiplayer giant Wargaming has partnered with leading Bitcoin payment processor BitPay, and now accepts Bitcoin payments for their online gaming platform.

“Gaming has been one of bitcoin’s most promising markets, as we’ve seen from a year of working with merchants and technology partners in the space. Today we’re happy to announce the addition of one the most prominent names in online gaming: Wargaming.net,” said BitPay in a blog post earlier last week.

Wargaming is a very popular strategy based online gaming platform and so far have released 15 gaming titles including, World of Tanks, World of Warships, and World of Warplanes.

While there are a handful of gaming platforms who accepts Bitcoin by now, Wargaming is the first popular massively-multiplayer online (MMO) gaming platform to introduce payment via the cryptocurrency.

While the multiplayer games released by Wargaming are free to play, players can buy virtual gold in order to purchase in-game add-ons like “power-ups” in order to enhance their gaming experience. The option to make these fringe in-game purchases via Bitcoin would likely open a whole new segment of revenue channel for Wargaming.

Commenting on the collaboration between BitPay and Wargaming, a Marketing and Communications Officer from BitPay, James Walpole, said that “With bitcoin, Wargaming is taking a new step to reach the growing base of users playing its MMO games in the United States. As a native digital top-up method, bitcoin will give Wargaming’s customers an alternative to filling out credit card forms and a simpler, faster way to get the virtual gold they need.”

“We’re excited to help bring bitcoin to Wargaming’s players,” he said.

BitPay also pointed out in the blog post that the integration of BitPay’s processing technology with Wargaming is “one of the first implementation of the Payment Protocol standard. It means that Wargaming’s customers can buy the in game currency, the virtual gold, much faster and broadcast the Bitcoin transaction to the Blockchain in less time, claimed BitPay.