Six Videogame Enthusiasts and a Virtual Trade Startup
There are six of them and they come from completely different worlds. They study management, law, finance or work in programming, but they have one thing in common: a passion for videogames and a desire to make them accessible to everyone. This is the mission at ExGame, an innovative e-commerce project that refines and reworks the concept of trade, allowing various users to exchange used videogames online using a virtual currency. Its founders are Tommaso Baglioni and Alessandro Longo (Business Economics and Management students at Bocconi), Leonardo Arrighi (an Economics and Finance student at Bocconi), Filippo Baglioni and Francesco Bindi (a Università di Siena Law graduate and student) and Marco Esposito (a computer science researcher and programmer).
"Because we're all big fans of videogames, we know about all the problems," explains 23-year-old Tommaso. "The idea was hatched on the day I wanted to give away a game to get another one: I was fed up with always losing the opportunity cost. In addition, even in the case of a hypothetical trade, it would still be difficult to find a person interested in my game, who also had a game that I was interested in." Exgame solves this problem: the platform eliminates the classic steps of negotiating a sale and transferring money between users. "Games aren't exchanged for other games, each user has a wallet of stars that can be "spent" to purchase a game from another user," says Tommaso. "The value of stars is already calculated, and an algorithm selects the most suitable seller based on a combination of criteria, including geographical proximity. After finding it, the seller simply needs to send the product and pocket the corresponding stars." These aspects allow for savings in time and money, while at the same time optimizing purchasing means. "We are firmly convinced that through cooperation between gamers and the lowering of costs that results from it, our users can rediscover the carefree pleasure of playing videogames."
ExGame is incubated by Speed MI Up, an initiative by the Milan Chamber of Commerce and Bocconi University (with contributions from the City of Milan), which helps and supports new entrepreneurs develop their business ideas.