Earlier this week, the popular Magic: The Gathering App MageMarket announced they would now offer financing options for those looking to purchase cards right away and pay later.
Made possible via partnership with Klarna, a Swedish banking company, the new financing options would allow Magic players to purchase everything from single cards to full decks without paying upfront.
According to MageMarket CEO Peer Richelsen (@Peer_Rich), their goal with financing is to alleviate the financial stress Magic players feel when preparing for upcoming tournaments – a big part of which is buying the cards necessary for competing.
I deeply care about what people say in the community [and] to go in the right direction.
Despite being created with good intentions, the announcement was met with mixed reviews from Magic fans – leading to an extensive Ask Me Anything (AMA) from Richelsen, and MageMarket removing the long-term financing options as well as any interest-related services.
From the AMA, Richelsen makes a point to address MageMarket’s decision to partner with Klarna, stating that they are “the most up-and-coming payment company in Europe…” and “…from a European point of view, I haven’t heard any bad rep coming from [them].”
As a startup, you try to run as many experiments as you can on your limited time, and there will always be things that are too much, [but] it’s not about how far you can go, but how you can recover from the situation.
Richelsen’s AMA provided great insight into the main motivations behind implementing financing options. MageMarket intends to continue backing their program, while simultaneously making “…changes regarding everything in the future that might have negative impacts on personal finance.”