Today the youth-oriented cash payment service Rixty announced that it had completed its projected nationwide rollout into 10,000 retail locations. This includes the more than 9,000 Coinstar kiosks located in retail stores nationwide in addition to over 1,000 retail locations where Rixty prepaid cards can be purchased. Chains selling the Rixty prepaid cards will include the Cumberland Farms and Hess chains.
Rixty's payment service is designed to let unbanked or security-conscious users convert spare change or cash into a form that can easily be used to pay for virtual goods online. Game publishers that will support the Rixty service at its launch include Perfect World Entertainment, Ijji.com, GamesCampus, Ntreev USA, Ndoors Interactive, ourWorld.com, and Three Rings Design.
While Rixty will also be usable for purchasing certain physical and digital goods (like music) online, the service is primarily intended for use with virtual worlds and online games. It is also targeted primarily at younger users who have a hard time controlling their own spending online due to a lack of a personal credit card or bank account. Rixty is promoting its product as something empowering for young people who otherwise might constantly be bugging mom and dad about online purchases.
Rixty announced its partnership with Coinstar in late March of this year, believing that younger users would be eager to convert a household's loose change into a balance in an online Rixty account that could be spent on online games. Now that the service has rolled out nationwide, it's time to see how it performs against the myriad prepaid cards and other services that are also competing for the loyalty of unbanked users who want to buy virtual goods.
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