Mastercard Gateway to Process In-Game Payments for Tamatem Plus

Mastercard will process in-game payments for Tamatem Plus, the digital commerce platform and marketplace run by mobile games publisher Tamatem, under a partnership that covers the Middle East and Africa.

The processing runs on Mastercard Gateway. The rollout covers more than 13 markets and starts in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

How players pay

Tamatem Plus gives players two routes to complete a purchase: local web stores and in-game checkouts. Cards are one option. Local payment methods and balances held in telco wallets work as well. Every checkout carries authentication and fraud protection.

Behind the checkout sits a single integration that carries more than 50 local payment methods, alongside a network of more than 30 local storefronts. Consolidating them means a player is not pushed toward a payment type that does not fit the market they live in, and a publisher is not forced to build separate plumbing for each country it enters.

What publishers get

For game publishers, the two companies describe the platform as a direct sales channel to players. That gives them more control over their brand and over the purchasing experience.

As a direct Mastercard Gateway partner, Tamatem Plus will receive technical support around the clock, plus connections to several local and international acquirers.

A payment gateway sits between a merchant and the wider card system. It passes transaction details to an acquirer, which routes the authorisation request to the cardholder's bank and returns the answer to the checkout. A platform selling to players in many countries has to keep more than one acquirer and more than one payment type running at the same time.

Mastercard Gateway is available through Mastercard Merchant Cloud and handles transactions in physical stores, online and inside mobile apps.

A fragmented market

"Gaming companies entering MENA face a highly fragmented payments landscape, with different consumer preferences, payment methods and infrastructure requirements across every market," said Faisal Al Bitar, managing director of Tamatem Plus.

The answer Tamatem Plus offers is aggregation: one connection for a publisher, and a long menu of local options behind it.

Mete Güney, executive vice president for market development in EEMEA at Mastercard, said the company is using partnerships to digitise in-game payments, with the goal of making the process more convenient for players and raising engagement.

Behind Tamatem

Tamatem has investment from the Abu Dhabi Investment Office and support from Abu Dhabi Gaming. Its commerce arm now runs on Mastercard's processing network across the region, beginning with the two Gulf markets where the rollout opens.