Custom stores for player segments (Legacy Economy)

Important

Economy v1 APIs are in maintenance mode and will not be receiving any new features, only bug fixes. The v1 APIs will be maintained for the foreseeable future. See the Economy v2 Overview to learn more about the next version of PlayFab Economy!

In our Stores and Sales tutorial, we demonstrate how to set up a store and make a few items available to a player at special or alternate prices.

In our Player segmentation quickstart, we provide an example of how to group your players into segments, based on player information or behavior.

This tutorial describes how to combine these features, and produce alternate stores available only to players from defined player segments.

  1. Let's begin with some example segments. In the screenshot shown below, we've provided some segments that are segmented-store-testing friendly. Game Manager/Players/Segments/Example Segments
  2. Next, we'll reuse the Equipment Store created in the Stores and Sales tutorial, and add player segmentation. You must create each store separately and give it an identifiable name. Each store should have content that is customized for that segment.

Tip

Using the DUPLICATE feature on the Stores screen, you can duplicate stores quickly, and then modify the Store Id, Store name, and other parameters to make the new store unique.
The following screen shot shows our customized stores.

Game Manager/Economy/Catalogs/Stores

  1. Finally, edit the Equipment Store, and fill in the SEGMENT OVERRIDES section at the bottom (this section is only visible if there are defined player segments).

Game Manager/Edit Store/Segment Overrides

Best Practices for store segmentation

  • Store segmentation is public information:

    • There are many ways for players to gain information about alternate stores.
    • Players naturally transition between segments, and they'll see those changes when they transition.
    • Players discuss content on forums, community sites, wikis, etc.
    • In the PlayFab API, store information is public unless you disable those APIs with our API Access Policy.
    • You should assume that players will be aware of other stores and their details.
  • Provide varying content, not varying pricing:

    • Players will feel cheated if:
      • Prices go up or down when they transition segments.
      • Prices described on wikis are different than their own.
    • The only exception to the pricing rule would be first time purchases:
      • You must secure the client API methods with our API Access Policy to prevent multiple purchases, or make repurchasing less meaningful through game design.
  • Content should be relevant to the segment:

    • Whales are willing to spend large amounts of real money and are likely to buy expensive bundles if the value is worthwhile.
    • First time buyers may be given a good deal, but can only be (usefully) obtained once.
    • End game players may only be interested in a specific subset of items.