Razer is trying something completely new. It is introducing not one, but two digital currencies in zGold and zSilver. The two are mutually complementary currencies, and can be used to buy games and Razer products. That said, it gets a bit messy when dealing with the two.
zGold is the currency that can be bought using real money. It functions more like topping up a digital wallet, similar to what Blizzard is doing. This gold then can be used to buy in-game items from participating developers. For now, that happens to be Paladins, Smite, CrossFire, and Lost Saga. Two online retailers have also signed up to accept payment for Steam keys in zGold.
Every time someone uses zGold to buy something, they also earn zSilver. This second currency can be used to buy Razer products from its online store, and nothing else. According to Razer, zSilver can also be earned by using its Razer Cortex and Arena platforms.
Items bought with zSilver will not be cheap, and it looks like most of it will be discount coupons for the Razer store. There’s also Blackwidow Chroma, Mamba Chroma, and Kraken 7.1 on the catalogue. Sadly, there’s no big ticket item like the Razer Blade for people to aspire to.
It’s difficult to say how this will pan out for Razer. The digital currency thing has been tried before, and it usually doesn’t last very long. However, the idea of zSilver as a loyalty point programme is relatively interesting. It works out for airlines and banks, so there’s no reason it shouldn’t be applicable to gamers.
Razer has set up an entirely new site to support this plan. The zVault is where news and information about these new digital currencies will be published, and also contain the catalogue for zSilver redemption.
