Building a Real Game Economy — From Virtual Currency to Real Payouts
The conceptual and technical foundations of an in-game economy that handles real money movement: wallets, ledgers, and the compliance layer underneath.
Linq Insights
Technical guides, compliance walkthroughs, and architecture patterns for studios building real in-game economies. Written by the Linq engineering and compliance team.
How mobile studios are legally routing purchases outside Apple and Google to reduce platform fees — the architecture, the compliance requirements, and the wallet setup that makes it work.
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The conceptual and technical foundations of an in-game economy that handles real money movement: wallets, ledgers, and the compliance layer underneath.
How shared ledger design enables players to carry earned credits between titles — the data model, exchange rate mechanics, and edge cases you'll hit in production.
When your game processes real money, you're likely a money transmitter. What that means, which states require licenses, and how to stay compliant without becoming a bank.
Balance displays, transaction history design, insufficient funds flows, and hold UI — the patterns that make in-game wallets feel trustworthy instead of opaque.
Chargeback patterns, account takeover vectors, and velocity-based fraud signals specific to gaming. The rules engine approach and where ML fits in.
Installing the Linq Unity package, initializing the client, provisioning wallets for authenticated players, and handling async transaction responses in MonoBehaviour.
What PCI-DSS Level 1 means in practice, what scoping decisions reduce your compliance surface, and how using a compliant payment infrastructure layer changes your obligations.
How mobile studios are legally routing purchases outside Apple and Google to reduce platform fees — the architecture, compliance requirements, and wallet setup.