eWallets and digital payments have become a norm nowadays. We’re paying for things using apps and smartphones with increasing frequency; even things like boarding passes and tickets are increasingly digital. Wouldn’t it be nice if all these items were stored in a single app or platform? That’s exactly what Google is offering with their Google Wallet app.
Google Wallet was announced at Google I/O 2022 back in May. While you may be wondering – didn’t Google Wallet already exist? The simple answer is yes. However,, Google has reworked the platform from the ground up to support more than digital wallets. The app now houses not only your credit and debit cards, it can support loyalty cards and even your boarding passes for travel.
The best part? Google Wallet is now available in Malaysia. Users in Malaysia will be able to add their credit cards from CIMB, Hong Leong Bank, Hong Leong Islamic Bank, and Public Bank o Google Wallet. HSBC and HSBC Amanah will be joining the fray soon with their credit card offerings. The same can be done with a majority of debit cards as well. These cards can then be used to pay for online purchases on platforms like Shopee with a single click. In addition, users will be able to add their boarding passes for AirAsia flights at launch with Malaysia Airlines to follow suit.
Adding items like credit cards and debit cards to Google Wallet is simple. If you already have eligible cards attached to your Google account, these cards will be automatically imported to Google Wallet. Users will just need to enable contactless payment for these card on the app. Otherwise, all you have to do is click the “add card” option and follow the steps on screen after which the card will be added and tokenized for use. Cards attached to Google Wallet will be verified by the issuing bank before it can be used on the app.
Adding your flight boarding passes is equally as easy. With the airasia SuperApp, it’s as simple as clicking the “add to Google Wallet” option when you book tickets on the app. When you do, you’ll be able to see your ticket in Google Wallet.
Transactions done on Google Wallet are secured using industry standard tokenization. This means that every transaction done with a card on Google Wallet will be completed by a unique, device specific alternate card number which is associated with a dynamic security code that changes with each transaction.
This works on top of Android’s native security features such as its lock screen passcode and biometric verification. Using these features, you will be able to prevent unauthorised access. If you lose or misplace your android phone, you will be able to remotely lock or wipe it from Find My Device.
Users in Malaysia can download Google Wallet from the Google Play Store today.
The gaming industry is booming, and Asia is its centre. But it’s also becoming more competitive. And with payments increasingly being baked into the player experience, getting this fundamental element right is even more critical.
The growth of gaming over the past three years has been rapid, and there are no signs that this trend will slow down any time soon. Like many digital shifts, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a pre-existing trend as consumers spent more leisure time at home, on smartphones or games consoles.
For gaming publishers, this has obviously been a huge boost to the industry. Globally gaming industry revenue is predicted to grow from USD$178bn in 2021 to USD$269bn in 2025, an increase of 51% in just five years. And this is especially true in Asia, which leads the world in its number of active gamers. Almost half of all gaming revenue came from Asian markets pre-COVID-19 and this percentage has been maintained despite the growth of gaming globally in the past two years.
The Role of Payments
Another major trend in gaming is a shift in the way that consumers pay for them. The old model of buying games outright in a single one-off purchase is now outdated in the majority of cases; subscriptions and in-app purchasing have become the norm for games on all platforms, from mobile games through to many of the major titles on the most popular consoles.
Source: StockVault
This trend has given publishers much greater scope when it comes to monetizing the games that they produce. But it also means that payments are now a much more integral element to the overall player experience than before, and therefore need to be considered much more carefully.
When thinking about payments in gaming, there are three primary factors that need to be considered:
Invisibility – Ultimately players don’t want to go through the process of making payments when it means interrupting the game they are playing. So any payment needs to be as quick and painless as possible to encourage them to do it frequently.
Security – But at the same time, any game’s checkout process must be safe. Games have been proven to be atarget for scammers in the past who have viewed the industry as an easy target.
Choice – The payments landscape is becoming more diverse, and in-game payment options need to reflect that. Consumers are increasingly unprepared to spend money online if they cannot use their payment method of choice, particularly those that have developed into regional payment preferences.
Let’s look at these in more detail, particularly what they mean for gaming companies in the Asian market.
The impact of poor UX, card declines, and inefficient risk management
As we have already stated, one of the key criteria for the success of payments in gaming is that transactions such as subscriptions and in-app purchases are seamless to the point of being invisible. A clunky user experience with multiple verification steps is one way checkouts can fail in this objective.
Multi-step authentication processes, high lag times or time-outs, or hidden costs can make a payments experience frustrating to such an extent that the consumer abandons the transaction and in extreme circumstances could stop them playing the game altogether. And research does suggest that APAC consumers have the highest rates of cart abandonment in the world generally, meaning gaming companies in the region must focus on giving players a best-in-class payment experience.
Even more significant can be the impact of payment declines. If a player cannot complete a transaction because their card payment is declined then this completely de-rails their gaming experience. A declined transaction not only has a negative effect on revenues for gaming companies that lose the individual transaction in the short term but also the frustration this causes players may render the game unplayable in the long term, costing the operator recurring payments from loyal customers.
Partnering with a payments partner that minimises abandoned transactions and their associated costs is critical. Some of the criteria gaming partners should consider include:
Does the payments company connect me to local acquiring and enable smart routing to maximize acceptance rates?
Does the payments company prevent mass declines of legitimate transactions and limit false positives through industry and regional expertise in risk management?
If a legitimate transaction is declined due to human error or oversight e.g. a card used for a recurring transaction expires, does the payments company have capabilities in place to recover the transaction?
Fighting fraud
Unfortunately, gaming platforms have long been a target for fraudsters. This threat has increased in the past two years as bad actors were better able to hide in plain sight due to the increase in player numbers more generally. Card-not-present fraud (where a fraudster uses stolen card details to make a transaction) and friendly fraud (where a consumer uses their own card details to make a legitimate transaction and then claims a chargeback) are both frequent in gaming, including in APAC.
Another practice gaming publishers should be aware of is carding, where a fraudster steals credit card information and tests its usability by making one or a number of small transactions at a relatively insecure platform, before moving on to making more substantial transactions elsewhere. In-game purchases have been a traditional target of these types of fraud.
Offering seamless gameplay via in-app purchases and subscriptions without compromising the safety of the platform or players must be a priority. A risk management platform with real-time, highly configurable, fraud detection and scoring engine capabilities is the optimal solution to maximise protection.
Diversifying Checkout
The APAC region is a diverse landscape when it comes to payment preferences, with local digital wallets being particularly popular. And it isn’t only the region as a whole that has marked payment preferences; within APAC, individual countries have their own local payment methods that have proved to be popular with consumers. So for gaming companies with ambitions to expand their player base throughout the region, having more options to enable players to pay is essential.
This is particularly true because we know that there are several key payment methods that are important to consumers in many APAC countries. AliPay and WeChat are obvious examples in China, but countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia all have diverse payment landscapes that do not rely on card transactions.
According to research conducted by Mastercard, 94% of consumers in APAC are thinking about trying an alternative payment method for the first time in 2022 and 84% said they already had access to more payment methods than they did in 2020. This includes crypto; 45% of APAC consumers are considering using crypto for payments in 2022 vs. only 12% that said they had used crypto to make a payment in 2020.
And globally younger consumers tend to be less reliant on traditional payment methods such as debit and credit cards than older generations. More tech-savvy and less loyal to financial institutions such as banks, these consumers will happily switch payment methods to ones that offer a better user experience. As gamers tend to skew towards younger demographics as well, having a diversified checkout is even more important.
It’s an Exciting Time for Gaming in Asia Pacific
And APAC continues to lead the world when it comes to the sizes of the gaming industry market. But there is a route to making the most of the opportunities a booming industry provides, and that begins with payments.
Working with a payments partner that doesn’t offer you a one-size-fits-all solution and instead can tailor a customized platform that suits your business strategy and needs is essential in today’s market. This is especially true in a region such as APAC with so many individuals, and unique markets. Gaming businesses
This article was written from a sit-down interview withYuval Ziv, President of Nuvei Corporation.
The world we know is ever-changing. With the advent of digital technologies and rapidly adapting legislation, it’s become even more challenging for businesses to grow across borders. Where it once was a matter of having an international website, it’s now a question of localisation and adaptation. This reality rings true even when handling international payments and transactions. However, companies like Nuvei provide a unique proposition of a single, modular interface to manage most, if not all, of the challenges of digitalisation when it comes to payments.
Paypal, VISA, iPay88, Stripe and even Apple Pay are some of the world’s most popular payment methods right now. However, when it comes to accepting these payment methods for businesses, it can be a long, tedious process. What’s more, there is also the added complication of regulatory compliance and knowing the lay of the land.
These hurdles don’t just delay global rollout and expansion. They, can, at times, be the factors that cause businesses and companies to lose momentum. In other words, they can be the straws that break the camel’s back. That said, a business’s aspirations should never be limited by uphill battles. Collaboration and onboarding of the right solutions will always be at the heart of any foolproof strategy. However, too many partners can also create more problems.
A Single Turnkey for Most Hurdles
The need for a single turnkey solution is more than just apparent; it’s imperative. That’s where Nuvei has chosen to develop its single API which brings together everything businesses need when it comes to payment solutions. The API is continually being developed by their in-house team of developers as the company continues to grow even through acquisitions.
In fact, Nuvei has most recently acquired Paymentez, Mazooma and Simplex. These acquisitions expand the reach and scope of services offered by Nuvei. The added features and services that they bring will be integrated seamlessly into the existing Nuvei API. Businesses that have deployed the API will then get an update which will give them access to these new markets and services. The company’s internal development team allows them to have the agility needed to bring new products to market as well as the freedom to adapt near instantaneously. What’s more, its core platform remains unchanged and flexible throughout.
It is this agile and adaptable approach that makes a viable single turnkey solution. With a continually evolving marketplace and changing legislative environment, partners need to be able to help alleviate some of the burdens of business without becoming a burden themselves.
Payments are just the beginning
Let’s just face the hard truth, dealing with payments across markets can be a headache. Aside from legislative and technological hurdles, the biggest choice a company can make is which payment platform they choose to support. This reality changes from country to country and perhaps even from region to region within a country. There is no single answer that can accurately predict the proliferation of a payment gateway or service.
Source: Nuvei
That said, a business partner which can provide you with these insights would be invaluable. A business partner that can provide you with insights, as well as access to all the possible payment platforms, is pivotal. Nuvei is poised to be able to do this with access to numerous payment gateways as well as provide you with the insights needed to grow your business effectively. Of course, we’re talking about payment platforms here.
Take for instance, in Malaysia, we have Touch ‘N Go Wallet, Boost, GrabPay and ShopeePay. Each of these platforms is able to not only process digital payments but also bring a large number of potential customers. Choosing between them, if you really need to, could be the difference between success and failure. Without looking at any insights, you think that accepting TnG’s eWallet would be a safer bet when it comes to payment methods. However, factors such as time in the market as well as adoption could be different. In this case, both GrabPay and TnG’s eWallet are front runners perception-wise. That said, we can never 100% that the other methods may not be greater than what’s reported. Getting a dashboard where this information is available would allow businesses to make informed decisions.
Source: Nuvei
“Every market, every user has their payment method… if we enable a merchant to collect or accept payments by only the minority or some of the payment methods, you will cause a merchant to lose users.”
Yuval Ziv, President at Nuvei Corporation
Nuvei’s platform not only allows businesses to see these vital insights but also gives them the freedom to adopt and choose between the payment methods available in the country and region. The flexibility and freedom for businesses to not only accept but also implement their preferred service through a single helps them grow on their terms with access to impactful insights.
Dealing with More than Just Implementation But Remaining Flexible
Today’s marketplace is no longer simply about market access or payments either. It’s about growing while mitigating risks and adapting to new realities as they emerge. Conventional solutions tend to always lock businesses into a single, inflexible mode of operations but it goes without saying, that a one-trick pony can be detrimental when it comes to business growth. In addition, streamlining allows business cost reductions that can be channelled elsewhere.
Source: Nuvei
“The first challenge working globally… is understanding the user’s preferences and then enabling all of those payment methods in our checkout experience.”
Yuval Ziv, President at Nuvei Corporation
If that is true for general business practices, what more for payment solutions. Businesses are flung into a landscape where they will need to keep tabs on regulatory changes as will undoubtedly affect them. If the business has services rooted in the gig economy, it has the added complication of pay-outs.
These complex day-to-day activities can’t be avoided even if we try to. Businesses require visibility and peace of mind when they happen. Nuvei doesn’t just provide businesses with access to payment methods, its single, modular API brings along payment orchestration. Using this, merchants and businesses are able to integrate payments received and pay-outs into a single platform where they have eyes on everything. The platform is also able to generate unified reports that will allow businesses to get a complete picture of their business health.
In addition to this, Nuvei is constantly updating its business insights and practices. They have teams that are constantly monitoring markets for updates in legislation and impactful insights. The company not only updates their API with these new developments but also reacts to ensure that its client’s businesses remain unaffected. In fact, they also act to help mitigate and manage risk when changes happen and also when required by the client.
Peace of Mind in an Ever-evolving Landscape
There’s nothing better than having peace of mind when it comes to a business’s day-to-day activities. That’s essentially what Nuvei is promising with their Payment platform. However, the company has its eyes on the future as they continue to grow. With the emergence of digital banking and open banking worldwide as well as the continued influence of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain, the company is committed to ensuring that its platform remains one of the most flexible and robust.
Their platform already supports payments via cryptocurrencies and supports clients in the NFT space. In fact, the company sees the emergence of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain as opportunities. Implementation of blockchain and tokenization to increase the security of the platform could be in its future. However, for now, the company remains committed to providing a turnkey solution for customers when it comes to payment management, acceptance and orchestration.
