In App Purchase for Desktop

Question

Does anyone know of a good In-App purchase framework for desktop applications? I see a lot for mobile, but nothing really to support a generic windows application.

Ideally, we want something which can handle all of the purchases, content management, etc. and all we would have to do is ask the server which in-app items the user has purchased, and then get a url to download the necessary assets to the desktop. If it had a c# api, that would be a plus.

Thanks,
Liron

Accentuate

Do you need public or private "app store"? – Execrative

Doesn't really matter if it's public or private. Basically we need to enable the user to purchase virtual goods from inside the app, accept their payment through CC/PayPal etc., have some fraud protection, and be able to query a server to determine which items a particular user has purchased. – Accentuate

Answer 1

Some desktop games are using Google In-App Payments to monetize by selling virtual goods.

http://www.google.com/payments/payment-options/digital-goods.html

As an example have a look at Bastion:

http://supergiantgames.com/?p=1231

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/oohphhdkahjlioohbalmicpokoefkgid

Demerit

Answer 2

I believe Steam provides a framework for in-game purchasing of downloadable content.

Likeness

Steam seem to be pretty difficult to get any information from. They don't do anything with your app unless you submit to them a mostly working version and then they approve it. I tried to send them a direct email asking what support they have here, but no one responded. – Accentuate

Answer 3

Windows 8 will be released with a "Windows App Store" that includes a comprehensive payments SDK.

Executioner

But it will only work for apps written for the new Metro UI, not for classic desktop apps. Since OP didn't mention Metro, it's likely that this won't be applicable. – Foldboat

There's nothing that I have seen in the beta documentation that indicates the new payments SDK or the Windows App Store will be "Metro"-only. – Executioner

Hmm, you may be right. I thought I had heard that at some of the //build/ sessions, but I'm having trouble finding confirmation of that now. This article does say that desktop apps can show up in the Windows Store while linking back to their existing e-commerce site, but it doesn't actually say they can't use the new payment SDK. – Foldboat

Do you know if this payment SDK would be able to handle apps for multiple target platforms (PC/iOS etc?). It would be nice (although unlikely) to be able to just have one payment component which we include in whatever apps we develop regardless of their target. – Accentuate