Commerce Experience in Game Engine

Thanks to a close collaboration with Ready Player Me, we had access to high-quality in-game avatars. Users could customize their avatars' looks, hairstyles, and clothing. This collaboration presented a prime opportunity to introduce e-commerce for digital items, allowing users to purchase items for their online personas.

HiberWorld is a platform where users can play and create user-generated games. With an established and active community, it was the perfect place to implement the new commerce flow.

Together with the product owner and developers, we devised a plan for the commerce experience. This included user flows, technical limitations, and requirements.

The MVP goal was clear: purchase and equip Ready Player Me avatar items without leaving the engine, with integration into an ecommerce system.

My initial focus was on creating the product page to showcase and sell items. I researched competitors, including brand websites and product pages in other video games, to understand how they presented items and information.

Based on our initial planning, the design needed to work seamlessly within an in-game overlay, include integrated login and sign-up, and clearly explain how the items can be used. I also designed extra features like sales, limited offers, and a "Try On" option so users can preview items on their avatars before purchasing.

The product page was crucial as it demonstrated the value and usage of the digital items. It needed to be visually appealing and informative while maintaining a balance between brand neutrality and HiberWorld's aesthetics.

After the product page itself was finished, the developers had something to focus on while I turned my attention to the full purchase flow. Using the predefined flows, I created the necessary pages:

To ensure a seamless experience, I conducted internal usability testing. We discovered users were unaware they needed to log in to purchase items.

I quickly revised the design in Figma, adding a message on the product page about account requirements, contextual sign-up modal titles, and a notification after successful login. These changes seemed to have resolved the issue, as confirmed in the subsequent tests.

After some iterating, we soon had a fully functional commerce experience that allowed users to view, purchase, unlock, equip, and use items without leaving the engine.

The commerce experience launched successfully on HiberWorld, with no major user experience issues reported.

At the time of writing, more than 12 thousand products have been bought or unlocked through the product page since its release in 2023.