Console gaming is having a bit of a renaissance. After several years of slow, delayed releases or games that didn’t seem any more impressive on consoles versus on PCs no matter how good the specs should have been, the newest generation of consoles have been an impressive change. The PlayStation 5 in particular has swept the market and become almost impossible to find. The Xbox Series X and Series S have not been far behind.
No matter what types of games you like to play, whether it’s open world adventure games, first person shooters, RPGs or anything else, PlayStation and Xbox have a huge variety of options, both as new games and in their libraries. One thing that these console systems are lacking, however, is a wide range of payment options.
Going to the store to buy a game is becoming less and less of a thing as digital downloads and game streaming libraries grow in popularity. Yet, it seems as though Microsoft and Sony haven’t quite realized that with so much of their gaming business done online it would be a sensible decision to cater to those customers by offering more payment options to make things as convenient as possible.
Consoles aren’t alone in this. So much of our daily lives are handled online, the majority of the population has gotten used to paying for things using digital methods. An increasing number of businesses across a variety of industries have embraced this transition by offering a range of online payment methods. One industry that console systems should look to for inspiration is the online casino industry.
Payment options
PlayStation currently accepts debit and credit cards and PayPal for transactions in the PlayStation Store and their subscription services PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus. Xbox accepts the same payment methods, although in some regions they also allow for cell phone payments. There is nothing inherently wrong with these options, they are well-established methods and are safe and secure. The only issue is the lack of choice that many people have come to expect.
PayPal is the most well-known and established payment app. Nowadays though, there are many more options to choose from. Digital wallets, or e-wallets, have become one of the most popular ways to pay for things online and in person by using an app on your phone. Apps such as Apple Pay or Google Pay are among the most commonly used because they are easily linked to a cell phone.
With a digital wallet, there are multiple ways to add funds. They can be linked to a traditional bank account and can essentially act as a digital debit card. They can also be used as a standalone account that you simply deposit money into when needed. This makes them a great way to monitor your spending and protect your bank accounts from fraud.
Paying in cryptocurrencies is the newest form of digital payment. It has been slower to go mainstream, most likely due to the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market and the number of different cryptocurrencies there are. When businesses accept cryptocurrencies as a payment method, it is typically only the ones with the best reputations and biggest user bases, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Online casinos as an example
Online casinos need to have secure, efficient and consistent payment systems in order to survive — no one is going to trust a casino with their money if they don’t know whether or not they’ll be able to withdraw their winnings! They also understand that the easier it is to make a deposit, the more people will choose to do so, which explains why they offer such a huge range of payment options. PlayStation and Xbox should look to the online casino industry for examples of how to offer a variety of payment methods.
Alongside offering a multitude of payment options, online casinos also offer their new customers welcome bonuses. According to the Canadian casino portal Playcasinos.ca; Casino bonuses are usually in the form of free spins or deposit matching. A similar program could easily be implemented for console systems to encourage gamers to try new games or to get them to try different payment methods.
PlayStation and Xbox are the best established and most successful console systems we’ve seen so far. They’re unlikely to disappear any time soon. They could become even more successful and popular if it was even easier to pay for games and services on their platforms. Adapting to the payment methods of the future is a great way to ensure that they remain relevant in an ever-expanding video game market.