The choice of top-up method affects Delta Force directly with regards to how fast and safe the transaction goes, not to mention the processing fee involved. In 2023, credit cards, e-wallets, and cryptocurrencies will account for $52.3%, 28.1%, and 9.6% shares in the global gaming top-up market, respectively, totaling $214 billion transactions. There are very huge discrepancies in fees, times of arrival, and the security of transactions involved among the different top-up methods, and players are encouraged to make their choices on which is best to suit their needs.
The top-up data also reflects that credit and debit cards are the most common top-up methods. More than 50% are topped up by Visa, Mastercard, and American Express, while the average arriving time is 3-15s, and the success rate reaches 98.7%. But because of the risk control mechanism of the bank, some may fail to pass. Especially in the cross-border payment scenario, it may reach 4%-7%. Furthermore, some banks have a surcharge of 1-3% on game topping up, and thus, it is a bit more expensive actually.
Electronic wallet payments are a fast-growing type of payment globally. According to Statista, in 2023, PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay will process $67 billion in-game transactions, which accounts for 28.1% of the overall gaming market share. E-wallets take 10-30 seconds for the money to arrive, and 99.2% of the time, the payment goes through, while providing more buyer protection features, such as requesting a refund if one has not received a top-up, which has over an 85% refund success rate. Discounts on e-wallets can be provided on some platforms. For example, there might be an additional discount of 2%-5% for users who use PayPal.
Cryptocurrency has become the best option for some big gamers in game recharges. USDT, Bitcoin, and Ethereum take up 9.6% of the top-up market share in games, mainly because it offers advantages like anonymity, avoidance of banking restrictions, and lower international transaction costs. According to data from Cointelegraph, the average arrival of a top-up order paid with cryptocurrency takes as fast as 30 seconds to 10 minutes, and the fee can be as low as 0.1% to 0.5%. However, due to the volatility of the cryptocurrency market, some players may suffer losses due to changes in the exchange rate at the time of paying, and irreversibility is also a big risk.
The adoption of mobile payment is very high in the Asian market. Alipay and wechat Pay account for 68% of game recharge in the Chinese market, and more than half of users use mobile payments for fast recharge. UPI payment systems lead the Indian market, with an estimated 72% coverage of the market. Most of such methods of payments ensure zero fees for their transactions. Further, the payments take between 2 to 10 seconds, while the success rates have remained highly stable at above 98%. The only glitch with these alternatives is that geographical restrictions may stop international players.
Bank transfers and prepaid cards are suitable for large top-ups, though they are a bit slower to arrive. The bank transfer method will usually be available for orders over $500, with transaction hours ranging from 2 to 24 hours, subject to bank hours. Prepaid Card recharging methods include Steam Wallet and Google Play Gift Card, which take up more than 15% of the North American and European markets and have become the favored means for some users because there is no fee for recharging. Prepaid cards need to be redeemed manually, with an average time of 1 to 5 minutes for arrival, and some low discount cards run a risk of fraud.
History shows that the time of arrival and security of various methods of payment have a strong bearing on player experience. In 2021 alone, during the “Double 11” promotion, over 3.5 million recharge orders were officially processed by Garena. Among these, credit card and electronic wallet payment orders accounted for over 70% of the volume, with success rates exceeding 99.5%. The share of bank transfer usage was about 12.3%, whereby players reported that the poor experience of recharge because of delayed-arrival problems included. In 2022, due to a bug in the bank payment system, there were over 25,000 orders for game top-up on the Steam platform that were delayed for over 24 hours, piling complaints.
As Jeff Bezos once said: “The user experience determines the ultimate success or failure of business.” Talking about Delta Force top up, the option that boasts of the fastest arrival, high security, and low commission should be chosen. Paying by credit card or e-wallet will ensure the smooth operation of any transaction; for those players who have high requirements for anonymity, they can use cryptocurrencies. By choosing the proper payment method, the players will enjoy the best experience of top-up while ensuring security.