More than 2 billion people worldwide play video games. Whether online or mobile, gamers are loyal to the brands that provide them with a seamless gaming experience. Creating that seamless experience requires a sophisticated payment system. That’s why it’s important to consider how your brand can best serve the needs of the gaming industry.
- Increased Revenue
Video games are on a massive growth trajectory, with global sales exploding. The popularity of video games has prompted major players from the entertainment industry and technology to enter this lucrative market. Gamers are also willing to spend their time and data leveling up their gaming experience.
It is a huge opportunity for mobile monetization and user acquisition. Many gamers also have high spending habits, which has helped fuel a robust gaming economy. The industry is so popular that even professional gamers make millions.
Telecommunication businesses are well-positioned to embrace this symbiotic relationship. Their large customer base, wide network infrastructure and complimentary services are a perfect fit for gaming, helping them boost revenue, increase brand gravitas and reach a new audience of digitally-savvy consumers.
Achieving this level of success requires a payment strategy that supports a variety of payment methods and currencies. Global payment solutions for gaming are a good solution to this challenge because it gives merchants access to multiple acquirers.
- Streamlined Payment Processes
With games reaching massive popularity peaks, it’s important to have smooth and seamless payments within the game for additional content. If gamers feel they can’t make the most of a game’s potential due to slow or cumbersome payment processes, they will leave and spend their time and money elsewhere. Gaming companies must ensure that fraud detection measures don’t negatively impact honest players.
High fraud rates can increase payment processing fees, especially for card transactions. It can also lead to higher chargeback rates, resulting in demands for refunds.
Additionally, a lengthy checkout experience can result in high purchase drop-offs and may discourage gaming merchants from offering new payment methods. Providing gamers with a best-in-class digital experience is vital for creating customer loyalty and driving recurring, big-ticket purchases.
A streamlined process can also help reduce fraud and increase the number of authorized transactions by reducing false declines. It is where a specialized platform such as Xsolla can provide a valuable service. Xsolla prioritizes payment options by popularity in a given market and provides the most popular payment methods at checkout.
- Reduced False Decline Rates
Fighting fraud is a top priority for any business, especially in the gaming industry, where fraudsters can exploit gamers’ desire to get more content without paying extra. However, fighting fraud isn’t without cost. The unpleasant reality is that a sizeable fraction of valid transactions is declined because of the fraud filters in place, which are frequently too cautious and neglect to consider each transaction’s context.
Not only does this cause a loss of revenue, but it also hurts reputations consistent false decline rates may encourage customers to shop elsewhere, thinking that there’s a problem with the site or that they’ve been unfairly accused of fraud. Worst case scenario, these customers may go on to complain about their experience on social media, discouraging new gamers from shopping with your brand.
Fortunately, it’s possible to reduce the rate of false declines by creating smarter fraud filters with a keener understanding of the context of each transaction, allowing merchants to identify true risks and lower their rejection rates. In addition, implementing manual reviews can help reduce these rates even further by flagging only high-risk orders for review and allowing medium-risk orders to pass through.
- Enhanced Customer Experience
As one of the most recurring payment sectors, video game companies and merchants must provide top-tier customer support to avoid churn and drive revenue growth. It requires an individualized approach that allows customers to place their issues into context and receive personalized assistance easily.
A multi-channel, real-time strategy is also necessary to provide gamers with multiple modes to contact customer support. It includes IVR, AI Chatbots, email, social media, and more. Additionally, it’s important to offer various payment options to accommodate how gamers purchase games.
Gamers want a personalized experience that ensures they receive the best value for their money. That’s why many gaming companies are implementing feedback systems to receive input from gamers and then develop products that meet these needs. Providing this type of experience will boost satisfaction and CSAT scores. It, in turn, will help improve customer retention and generate word-of-mouth buzz.
- Enhanced Security
A gaming company’s ability to offer a seamless and secure payment experience is crucial. However, merchants must ensure their efforts to guard against fraudsters do not impact honest players. It means establishing a trust relationship with the banks founded on transparency and data to demonstrate they can handle fraud while having low chargeback rates.
Additionally, it entails providing a selection of payment options well-liked by the demographics who play video games, such as open banking and digital wallets, which will enhance the user experience for players and other gamblers.
As the industry develops and evolves, it’s important to watch emerging payment methods, which may become more prevalent than credit cards. The way video game developers handle their players’ payments has a direct effect on engagement and loyalty.
Final Words
With micro transactions, subscriptions and the growing market for in-game digital assets, they need a payment solution that’s fast, simple and secure. It’s a challenge they’re on the lookout for solutions to help them meet as they adapt to the changing market.
