My 9-year-old nephew loves to play Roblox and Fortnite. After finishing his homework, he runs to his dad, my brother, and asks him for his favorite gaming console . The boy spends endless hours immersed in the colorful, parallel, digital gaming universe. Eventually, he asks dad for money to boost his Spider-man avatar or buy extra features.
Luiz is already intelligent enough to add a credit card number on payment checkout, but of course, my brother doesn’t trust his child to do so. Fortnite offers Boleto Flash® as a payment alternative, so Luiz goes to the checkout, and after three steps, he sees the barcode or a Pix QR code for payment. He asks his dad to scan the QR code from his mobile and voilà – payment done in seconds, through boleto, on a Saturday afternoon!
Not all users are kids like Luiz who can’t complete a purchase on their own for many reasons – in fact, many gamers are fully grown adults, but some are either unbanked or don’t have a credit card. The gaming market is dynamic, and companies should think of UX not only in the gaming experience itself. Providing a fluid, frictionless and easy payment at the checkout is equally important.
Aleksandr Agapitov, CEO of Xsolla, said that the user’s payment experience is integral to the success of competitive gaming:
“At every stage of a game’s lifecycle — from initial concept and development to year-over-year operations and support — payments are equally important.”
When Everyone Plays, We All Win
When Xsolla entered the market back in 2005, their first product enabled video gamers in Russia to buy in-game goods with cash. At the time, they enabled thousands of players who had been left out of the gaming experience because they didn’t have the payment methods required.
Xsolla expanded its business throughout the years by offering small and medium payment alternatives across Russia. They turned into a video game powerhouse and allowed all players within the industry – from gamers to influencers to enterprises.
Read more: The importance of local payments for the gaming industry in Brazil
Such as Xsolla’s unique perspective of embracing and providing opportunities for everyone – as one of their mottoes is “when everyone plays, we all win,” it comes as no surprise that they have chosen a payment service provider to match with their values when operating in Brazil.
How Xsolla Operated in the Brazilian Market Before Partnering up with PagBrasil
Before working with PagBrasil, Xsolla offered the traditional boleto bancário – a popular payment method in Brazil for consumers and businesses, issued in the form of a PDF file right at the time of purchase.
Boleto bancário is one of the alternatives for the unbanked and underserved users. However, this payment option has many glitches. Boleto’s payment confirmation can take up to four days, is not mobile-friendly, it does not have real-time payment confirmation, automatic refund, or reminder emails. This process discourages consumers from paying their boleto right away. It is basically an ancient creature that somehow managed to coexist with us to this date.
We know how much online gamers value fast and convenient payment options in the gaming world. Businesses that aren’t operating up to the market’s expectations may lose growth opportunities. Xsolla understood that and decided to embed PagBrasil’s exclusive payment option, Boleto Flash®, to its Brazilian users.
Boleto Flash® – The Game Changer
Boleto Flash® is the digital adaptation to one of Brazil’s most popular payment methods. The solution offers payment confirmation in less than an hour or instantly when paid with Pix; it is also a seamless payment process. It offers automatic refunds, reminders via email and a SMS, flexible expiration date, customization with logo and company name, and many more benefits.
When Xsolla implemented Boleto Flash® in their payment checkout in Brazil, the results were impressive – in their own words. Right after the first month of processing payments with PagBrasil, they saw a 30% revenue increase.
Read more: Boleto Flash® Plays an Important Role in Increasing Businesses Revenue
From May to October 2021, conversion rates increased by 15%, helped by continuous enhancements PagBrasil made available for this method during this period.
In August, PagBrasil embedded Pix as a payment option in Boleto Flash® — Pix is the instant payment success in Brazil – at the time, conversion rates were 65%, and they rose to 76% in December. Overall, boleto conversion rates doubled when Boleto Flash® was made available at Xsolla’s checkout.
The before-after comparison of Xsolla operating with PagBrasil has tripled revenue, and the transactions have almost tripled too – conversion comparison went up to an astonishing 92%.
Why Conversion Rates Are Important
Alternative payment methods boost sales, and conversion rates deserve particular attention from the merchant, as they are crucial to increasing revenue. But what is a conversion rate?
Unlike e-commerce conversion rates, the payment conversion rate is the percentage over the generated transactions; in other words, it is the percentage of payment attempts that turned into revenue. In practice, as much as 50% to 60% of transactions made with boleto or other alternative cash payment methods never reach completion, which means losing sales.
Xsolla’s Success Goes Well Beyond Revenue Increase
André Almeida, Xsolla’s account manager and Head of International Business Development at PagBrasil, reported their satisfaction and excitement with PagBrasil’s results, which goes beyond boosting the company’s profit:
“They are delighted with the closer relationship we have developed with them. Here, at PagBrasil, we specialize in creating experiences that are uniquely tailored to the expectation of our partners.”
Aside from the outstanding results, another point of satisfaction is about PagBrasil’s transparent fees. Inflated currency conversion rates on international settlement are standard practices that significantly impact a business’s profit in a multinational company operating in Brazil.
In general, 90% of e-commerce merchants pay more for payment processing than they actually need to. PagBrasil wants to ensure that the cross-border merchant understands precisely what they’re paying and the value they are getting in return, never getting surprised with hidden fees, such as currency exchange.
The Gaming Market in Brazil
Brazil holds the leading position in Latin America and is 13th in global ranking. It’s estimated that 70% of the Brazilian population plays games, mainly mobile games. 63% of Brazilian gamers spend money on online games, and just like my nephew Luiz, they like to boost their avatar, buy trendy skins or update to premium features, and so on.
“Our data shows that the Brazilian player is willing to pay, and the games that are now available on the market are developing more advanced monetization strategies,”
explained Rodrigo Russano Dias, the head of PR and Social Media at Nimo TV Brasil to Meio & Mensagem.
Read more: Brazilian Gaming Market May Grow Nearly 6% by 2022
Gamers Leaving Credit Cards Behind for Alternative Payment Methods
A WorldPay study says that “alternative payment methods are used by 51% of video gamers across the globe, compared to 46% that use credit and debit cards.”
Alternative payment method isn’t just a buzzword, and it reflects on digital businesses revenue as well. That’s because the credit card is costly to merchants due to the credit card anticipation fee for installment (a common practice in Brazil), authorization fees, transaction fees, and merchant service charges.
Alternative payment methods reduce these painful expenses that merchants pay for card companies, significantly lowering average ticket sales, which are common on in-game transactions.
Epic Games and Xsolla worked together to integrate Fortnite’s payment flow with Xsolla’s available alternative payment methods, greatly expanding their global reach. The game is now a worldwide phenomenon, collecting many fans, especially in Brazil.
Xsolla knows that, with its “smart network” of payment service providers on a region-by-region basis, they changed how Fortnite gamers paid for their in-game purchases. In 2016, when Epic Games first came to Xsolla, many players couldn’t make payments in the Unreal Engine Store.
PagBrasil and Xsolla’s partnership revolutionizes the in-game experience and makes them more fluid, accessible, faster, and hassle-free, even for young gamers like Luiz.
Read more: Brazil in 2022 – An Overview of the Market
Learn More About PagBrasil
PagBrasil is specialized in providing frictionless and unique payment experiences to B2B and B2C businesses.
Our payment solutions are innovative and designed for the Brazilian market. Accept local credit cards and PagBrasil’s exclusive solutions, such as Boleto Flash®, PEC Flash, Débito Flash™, and PagBrasil Pix. If you wish to learn more about our payment solutions, get in touch with our team!
