easy as possible to connect with as broad a database of partners that you want to connect with.
HOW EASY IS IT TO MAKE THE SWITCH TO VAULTN? The nice thing about this system is that because it’s an open API, you can basically connect any existing system to it. You can still continue to use the same processes that you are using right now if you don’t want to switch, but you have the chance to automate them. So instead of, let’s say, having 50 price lists that I send to 50 different email addresses, or having 30 different Excel files with codes that I send from A to B, I can now automate this. By setting up a process that takes me the same time as sending one email, essentially, I can then have it automated for a limited number of partners. After setting it up manually, which cost me the same time as what I’m doing right now, every other step afterwards is automated, so I no longer have to deal with any of the overhead. It’s going to allow me to have a much broader distribution network and partner base if I want, but at the same time it also allows me to maintain the same network, the same partnerships, but make them a lot more efficient in the sense that I will need to spend less overhead.
YOU SAY THE OLD WAYS ARE COSTING THE INDUSTRY BILLIONS: 15% IN GLOBAL SALES. HOW’D YOU COME UP WITH THAT FIGURE? We basically made an estimation specifically on the PC market based on sales volume, traffic sources and so on that we see going into unauthorised sales. We see that those are eating into profits and into maintaining prices. It’s basically creating price erosion if you know you can go and pick up the title somewhere for a lot less on the grey market. Our aim is to provide control to the publishers so that they have the ability to understand where their products are. They have the ability to say ‘Okay, I want my product to go exactly here, under these conditions, for this net price, and I don’t want it to go elsewhere.’ That’s essentially what the platform allows.
YOU ALSO SAY IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO CHEAT THE SYSTEM? Essentially, it replicates the commercial conditions that you impose on any other partner. So if you’re saying ‘Hey, you can sell to UK individuals because that’s where your storefront is strong’, then I can
enforce that. That’s the only place that you are allowed to sell. And I can enforce, for example, that you cannot take keys out in bulk. If I have another partner that is doing physical distribution in a place where I need them to be able to take out in bulk, I can assign those rights to them as well. So it depends on your commercial partnership, but you can enforce both regional controls, but also other conditions that apply to a specific partnership. Those have to be compliant with regulations, so I would have problems limiting that within the EU, for example, for reasons of regulatory compliance, but I could in theory give you European keys, but only allow you to sell them in Benelux, as an example. At a later stage we’re looking to add more and
more layers, together with the publishers and storefronts, in order to protect the business and to ensure that a user is going to get a genuine product, is going to go to the correct licence key, the right fees are paid to everybody, and it’s going to be delivered at that moment, in real time, correctly, so that the user has a great experience and can start playing their title whenever allowed.
WHAT STAGE ARE YOU AT WITH DEVELOPMENT? We’re currently in MVP stage, we call it, so we’re working on the initial product. We’ve done an API-only based release, where we’ve worked with different partners from the publisher, distributor, retailer, e-tailer, storefront side, and we’ve gotten a
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