Promo codes

How it works

General information

Promotions with promo codes are a marketing tool designed to boost purchase conversion rates and increase the average check. Once a promo code is applied to an order, the user can receive:

• a discount applied to the entire purchase or specific items
• bonus items, including:
  • virtual currency packages
  • game keys
  • virtual items
  • bundles

Key features:

• Flexible bonus configuration. You can set up a single bonus type (discount on purchase, discount on selected items, or a bonus item) or any combination of them.
• Setting the total number of redemptions within a campaign.
• Setting the number of redemptions per user within a campaign.
• Multiple generation of promo codes.
• Applying regional restrictions for campaigns and items linked to a promo code.

Limitations:

• Only one promo code can be applied to the purchase.
• To receive a discount or bonus item, the user must pay for the purchase.
• Discounts are not applied to prices specified in virtual currency. For items with both real and virtual currency prices, discounts apply only to the real currency price.
• If game keys are used as a bonus item, the key will be sent to the user via email or to the entitlement system after redemption. If the campaign runs out of keys, the user will not be able to redeem the promo code.
• If regional restrictions are applied to a promo code campaign, users from those regions won’t be able to redeem the promo code.
• If a promo code includes at least one bonus item with a regional restriction, a user from that region won’t be able to redeem this promo code.

Example: A shield and sword are offered as a bonus with the promo code. The shield has a regional restriction and is available for purchase only in the US. If a user outside the US enters the promo code, an error will be returned in the response to the Verify promotion code or Redeem promo code calls. The user won’t be able to obtain any of the items from the promo code.

User flow

Rules for applying discounts

If several promotions are valid for an item at the time of purchase, discounts are applied to the item one by one. The order in which discounts are applied doesn’t matter.

Example:

The price of a virtual item is $10. In Publisher Account, the following promotions have been created for the virtual items:

• Black Friday discount promotion with a discount of 10% from November 4–30
• Sale discount promotion with a discount of 20% from November 15 – December 15
• promotion with a promo code for a 5% discount from November 4–30

If the item is purchased on November 20, both discount promotions and a promotion with a promo code are valid.

The total cost of the virtual item is then calculated as (($10 - 10%) - 20%) - 5% = $10 × (100%-10%) × (100%-20%) × (100%-5%) = $10 × 0.9 × 0.8 × 0.95 and will be $6.84.

Set up campaign with promo codes

Set up in Publisher Account

To create a new campaign with promo codes:

1. In your project in Publisher Account, go to the LiveOps > Promotions section.
2. On the Promotions tab, click Create promotion.

3. Specify Promotion name.
4. In the Promotion type drop-down list, select Promo code.
5. In the External ID field, specify a promotion ID used for managing promotions via API calls.
6. To apply a discount to any item or the entire cart when a promo code is redeemed:

1. 1. Set the Discount on purchase toggle to On.

1. 2. In the Discount amount field, specify the discount percentage.

7. To apply a discount to specific items when a promo code is redeemed:

1. 1. Set the Discount on selected items toggle to On.

1. 2. In the Discount amount field, specify the discount percentage.

1. 3. In the Item type drop-down list, select the type of item that will be discounted upon promo code redemption.

1. 4. Select the items.

8. To provide bonus items when a promo code is redeemed:

1. 1. Set the Bonus items toggle to On.

1. 2. In the Select bonus items drop-down list, select the type of an item to be granted to a user upon promo code redemption.

1. 3. Select the items to be provided upon promo code redemption.

1. 1. For virtual items, specify the quantity for each item.

1. 1. For game keys, specify when the platform will be determined:
      • To pre-assign a specific platform (e.g., Steam), select Select DRM during code generation from the Type of DRM selection drop-down list. Then, select the platform from the DRM drop-down list.
      • To let the user choose, select Player selects DRM at redemption from the Type of DRM selection drop-down list.

1. 4. Click Next.

9. Configure promo code redemption limits:

1. 1. To limit the total number of promo code redemptions across all users within a campaign, set the Limit total number of redemptions toggle to On and specify the maximum number of redemptions.

1. 2. To limit the number of promo codes a single user can redeem within a campaign, set the Limit total number of redemptions per user toggle to On and specify the maximum number of redemptions per user.

1. 3. To limit the number of times any unique promo code can be redeemed across all users, set the Limit number of unique promo code redemptions toggle to On and specify the maximum number of redemptions for the promo code.

1. 4. Click Next.

10. Specify the campaign’s validity period: a time zone, start date, and end date. To create a campaign without an end date, check the No end date box.
11. Click Next.
12. Review the campaign settings.
13. Click Save and exit.

To add promo codes to a campaign:

1. In your project in Publisher Account, go to the LiveOps > Promotions section.
2. In the row with promo code promotion, click ••• and choose Edit promotion in the drop-down list.

3. Go to the Codes tab.
4. To generate codes automatically:

1. 1. In the Code string format drop-down list, select Auto-generated.

1. 2. Specify the number of codes to generate and click Generate.

5. To add codes manually:

1. 1. In the Code string format drop-down list, select Manually entered.

1. 2. Enter the promo code and click Create.

1. 3. Repeat the previous step to add the required number of codes.

6. Download a CSV file with the codes (optional).

To make the campaign available to users, you must activate it. To do this:

1. In your project in Publisher Account, go to the LiveOps > Promotions section.
2. In the row with promo code promotion, click ••• and choose Edit promotion in the drop-down list.
3. In the drop-down list in the upper-right corner, select Activate promotion.

Set up via API

To set up and manage campaigns with promo codes via API, use the following calls:

Set up promo code usage in your application or website

Promo code usage on your UI

3. Ensure that items are correctly granted to the user upon promo code redemption.

1. If you have already implemented an in-game store in your application or on your website, no additional setup is required. Items linked to a promo code are granted to the user in the same way as a standard purchase.

Promo code usage on website created with Xsolla

To display the code entry field on your website:

1. Open your project in Publisher Account and go to the Storefronts > Websites section.
2. In the Sites section, select your site and click Open Site Builder.
3. In the main area of the builder, choose a place where you want to add a new block and click Add block.
4. Select the Promo codes block.
5. Customize the block appearance (optional):
   • Edit the block’s header and description text.
   • Set a custom background for the block.
   • Change the button style.
   • Edit the text for the coupon redemption button.
6. To apply changes, publish the website:

1. 1. In the upper-right corner of the site builder, click Publish.

1. 2. Check the boxes next to the pages you want to publish.

1. 3. Click Publish.

Last updated: February 13, 2026