Why – Despite Intense Competition – PayPal Remains the No.1 Choice for Gamers

The payments industry is a big business. Once the purview of traditional banks and credit card companies, there is an arms race among tech companies to get into a position to facilitate transactions online. Want proof? Just look at what Apple is doing with savings accounts and credit options like Apple Pay Later. Just about every Big Tech company has flirted with the idea of moonlighting as a payments company, with varying degrees of success.

But there is one brand that tends to dominate above all others – PayPal. Even despite the intense competition it faces, PayPal has somewhere in the region of a 50% market share in online payment processing. Its ubiquity is highlighted by the fact it is used in nearly every country and overseas territory on Earth. Its role as a method of payment for gamers has been widely highlighted in PayPal studies, with the company estimating that 1 in 4 gamers use it as their preferred method of payment.

PayPal casinos are popular 

Of course, we can’t overlook the fact that PayPal is perhaps the most dominant method for online casino players. Players will opt to play at online casino real money PayPal sites above all others for a variety of reasons, including the security offered, the payout speeds, and the relative anonymity of using an e-Wallet. Of course, many of those factors are just as relevant for non-casino gaming. But there is a particular affinity for PayPal among casino players.

Still, we should also point out that PayPal has an ace up its sleeve in terms of first-mover advantage. In business, first-mover advantage is the advantage that a company or product has by way of being first to the market, as well as holding a dominant position in the market. Uber and Netflix are usually cited as examples of businesses with first-mover advantage. The same can be said for PayPal.

Consider the following prospect: You are launching a new gaming app, and you must now choose a payment provider for your app. Do you choose some niche newcomer or the market leader? You would choose the latter, as you know that most of your customers will have access to PayPal. As such, you are playing the percentages.

A simple but effective UX

First-mover advantage aside, there are many other reasons that keep PayPal at the top, including its ease of use. This is often overlooked in terms of payment products, but the fact you can send money from A to B using only an email address was one of the cleverest innovations in modern commerce. Of course, modern evolutions of PayPal have made it even easier with one-click checkouts, but the point still stands; you aren’t filling in forms with your personal data and financial details.

Of course, there is also the global reach of PayPal. If you interact with video game platforms, chances are they aren’t headquartered down the road from your home. Gaming is a global industry, and players will want to use a payment system that is frictionless when payments move across borders. With a presence in over 200 countries and territories, PayPal fits that bill.

Finally, we should qualify all this by stressing that PayPal is not perfect. If you are exchanging currencies on the platform, for example, you are going to receive relatively poor exchange rates. Its recent foray into cryptocurrency investing also feels somewhat half-baked. But there is so much about PayPal that is perfect – instant payments, no need for personal info, brilliant UX, security – and that will ensure that it remains the most popular payment method with gamers for a long time to come.