Why payment strategy belongs at the heart of your successful gaming business

Giving gamers the safety and speed they need

The global market for online gaming is set to exceed $200 billion in 2023¹ and the APAC region has the largest market share with the number of mobile gamers reaching 250 million in 2021.² China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Australia are all in the global top 10 for mobile game revenues.³



The region’s gaming companies are well-placed to grow their businesses in big international markets like the US and UK.

It’s a fast-growing sector with specific characteristics, not least the need to balance speed and ease of use with security. It also embraces a range of revenue and payment models from in-game, in-the-moment microtransactions to seamless, ongoing subscription models.

However your online gaming business is structured, you need to be sure that you provide your gamers with the payment experience they expect, whatever their device, wherever they are located.

Help your players pay the way they prefer

Gaming is no longer just for kids. Nearly 8 in 10 (79%) of the online population, including almost half (46%) of baby-boomers engage with online games.⁴

And if you’re looking to expand into new markets overseas, here are some statistics to consider:

• In the USA, there are 191 million gamers generating revenues of US$47.3 billion.⁵
• In the UK, the market is worth US$3.6 billion, with nearly 9 in 10 of 16-24 year-olds and even 1 in 4 of 65-74 year-olds playing online games.⁶

Whichever markets you serve, make sure the payment methods you offer meet the expectations of your expanding customer base – from cash-based methods for younger gamers without bank accounts, to the world’s most popular payment method, digital wallets such as PayPal.

Many gamers around the world choose PayPal because it offers 3 big advantages:

• No pausing for payments – PayPal payments are fast. No searching for wallets or keying in long card numbers. With PayPal, gamers can stay logged in and checkout faster.
• One account, many places to play – Serious gamers often have multiple subscriptions to different platforms. With PayPal, they can manage their payments in one secure account by setting PayPal as the payment method for all accounts.
• 24/7 fraud monitoring – Players shouldn’t have to worry if they can trust that their payment is secure. With 24/7 fraud detection monitoring, PayPal helps keep players’ purchases secure so they can keep their heads in the game.

Improve conversion and revenue per player with intuitive, seamless payments

In gaming, speed is everything. In-the-moment gamers don’t want to be hindered or distracted by cumbersome payment processes, especially for microtransactions and in-game credit.

That means you need a user experience that keeps players immersed in their game, rather than stepping out of the action to fiddle with their card number.



In-game purchases need to be as intuitive as possible, so look for payment solutions that allow secure, one-click payment. That way, you can improve revenue per player and retention.

That’s the reason 1 in 4 online players prefer PayPal.⁷ From paying for in-app purchases like skins, characters and DLCs, to signing up for Internet tournaments, PayPal works seamlessly across every top platform.

Reduce churn and increase retention with simple subscription payments

Having a subscription model for your gaming business can be a great way to build predictable revenues and enhance player loyalty. But retention is a critical issue for every subscription-based business.

If your gaming business uses a subscription model then one of the simplest ways to boost retention is to make it easy for customers to pay, and keep paying, for their subscription.

Choose a payment solution that can handle all the flexibility of introductory offers, changing subscription rates and automatic renewals. It should also enable customers to pay using their preferred payment method, wherever they are located.

Boost players’ security and trust with tokenisation

If you are in the gaming industry, you’ll know that the sector is an attractive target for fraudsters. It has high transaction volumes and an estimated US$50 billion worth of global, in-game assets.⁸



If your gaming enterprise handles high volumes of payment transactions, or if it stores players’ payment details on internal systems, you can improve security by using a payment service like PayPal that supports vaulting and tokenisation. This means that customers’ payment details are securely stored by the payment platform and can be re-used without individual reauthorisation.

Tackle the growing threat of fraud

Over three quarters of all global cyberattacks target the online gaming sector.⁹ Online gaming was the most attacked industry in 2020¹⁰ and, while overall attacks levelled off in 2021, the types of attacks diversified.¹¹

Card testing and so-called friendly fraud are among the biggest fraud challenges for gaming businesses.

In card testing, criminals test large volumes of stolen card details to see if they are still valid. They typically use bots or computer scripts to make large amounts of low-value transactions.

The gaming sector’s typical profile of high transaction volumes and low values make it ideal for this type of crime and a successful attack often leaves the business suffering high levels of chargebacks.

Friendly fraud occurs when the cardholder disputes a legitimate transaction. Sometimes this occurs when they don’t remember making a purchase or don’t know that a family member used their card to make a purchase. At other times, the purchaser might regret an impulse purchase or have forgotten to cancel a subscription and decides to file a chargeback request rather than admit to a mistake.

However, account takeover (ATO) attacks are the sector’s biggest overall challenge. In 2021, 2 out of every 3 attacks targeted user logins¹² using methods such as credential stuffing, where bots are deployed to constantly try different combinations of username and password. Once accounts are compromised, in-game assets, payment and personal details can all be stolen and sold.

The threat – and the consequences – of ATO attacks is set to grow. Three quarters of players now use game worlds to socialise and connect with others, rather than simply playing the game.¹³

As gamers build deeper online relationships, and inadvertently divulge more personal details, the risk of ATO and identity theft grows greater.

How PayPal can support your growing games business

Maintaining Operational Efficiency with PayPal
The right partner can provide not just payment capabilities but tools to manage fraud, while achieving scale and operational efficiency.

With a single integration, PayPal provides access to the full PayPal stack of tools, technology and data. Businesses have access to multiple payment methods used across the globe and can switch them on as required in the businesses’ target markets. That makes it easy to scale your game world right across the real world.

A Frictionless Customer Experience
PayPal is also designed to provide gamers with the simple, friction-free payment experience they expect, smoothing your business’s path to additional revenue. Coupled with PayPal’s use of better-quality data, more sophisticated risk scoring and optimised payment approvals, your risk of fraud may also be reduced.

Scale into New Markets
With more than 400 million active customers globally, PayPal can support your games business with global scale, local expertise, processing capacity, and data insights. That means PayPal can help uniquely position your enterprise to grow, compete, and thrive in today’s growing online gaming landscape.

To learn more about how PayPal can support your enterprise, click here.