According to the latest rumours Paypal is rolling out plans to start selling crypto and offering wallet services, and that could have a major impact on blockchain gaming. Coindesk based its news on 'a well-placed industry sources'. Paypal itself has declined to comment.
Having Paypal as a payment option inside blockchain gaming apps, would make user acquisition much easier. Not only is Paypal already being used by millions of gamers worldwide, it's also connected to a creditcard or bank account. As a result buying crypto, tokens or in-game assets would become a much smoother experience.
Paypal would supposedly work together with cryptocurrency exchanges in order to provide liquidity. Coinbase and Bitstamp are being mentioned by Coindesk. Paypal and Coinbase already work together, because the American crypto exchange allows users in the United States, Canada and Europe to withdraw their money to their Paypal accounts.
There are 325 million active Paypal accounts worldwide. Many users use Paypal as a payment option for their subscription, including for example PlayStation Online or Spotify. Having the option to offer Paypal as a payment option inside a blockchain-powered video game would be groundbreaking.
Users would be able to add ETH to their wallets for general trading. Perhaps they can buy in-game currencies directly through Paypal. Many dapps directly connect to an Ethereum wallet, but through Paypal there's also a direct connection to a bank account. In general it would make purchasing in-game assets much easier.
Paypal will open up the doors for many newcomers into the blockchain space. Compared with traditional games, blockchain-powered games often have some difficult hurdles to take. The user experience involving the creation of cryptocurrency wallets, private keys, buying cryptocurrencies or paying transaction fees can be rather troublesome.
Paypal is one way to make things easier, but there are all kinds of initiatives to make the process smoother. Second-layer solutions like Matic Network lower the fees for transactions on the Ethereum network. These type of solutions will not only benefit transaction fees, but also the transaction speed. In addition services like Arkane Network already allow for easier on-boarding.
Improvement of the user experience doesn't only come from a technology point of view. The studios behind all these blockchain games also need to think about their game design. Games like Gods Unchained and Sorare first give players some free non-blockchain cards, before users get in touch with anything involving blockchain technology. Sky Mavis is planning something similar for their popular game Axie Infinity, while mobile games like Chainz Arena, Brave Frontier Heroes and Knight Story already offer a lite experience without the need for blockchain knowledge.
