Online gaming platform WinZO has reported that the company crossed 40 billion micro transactions in FY23 and estimates it will cross 55 billion in FY24.
Micro transactions are usually carried out in free-to-play games for in-game purchases. They can take many forms including game characters, battle/season pass, cosmetics, etc. and can range from tens of rupees to thousands.
While WinZO allows many forms of payment methods for these micro transactions, the majority of the payments are made via UPI. According to the company, UPI transactions accounted for 75% of all payment methods.
Paavan Nanda, co-founder of WinZO, said in a statement, “WinZO’s new users add small amounts to their WinZO wallet and then engage in gaming activities through frequent micro transactions as low as Re 1.”
“This entire business and infrastructure model heavily relies on UPI, without which it wouldn’t have been feasible. By providing a simple and secure platform for digital payment services, UPI has greatly enhanced market access for startups like WinZO that rely solely on digital payments for its business,” Nanda added as quoted by The Economic Times.
WinZO says that every fourth user on the platform makes their first-ever digital transaction. While the company has a strong reach in tier II and III markets, several of their new users are coming from small towns. WinZo estimates around 90% of their users from these areas.
The company has also made the process of making payments easier with multilingual support for payment pages and has partnered with local banks that provide incentives to users on their platform. Furthermore, the company has AI algorithms to keep an eye on suspicious transactions.
“The digital payments market in India is poised for exponential growth, expected to expand to Rs 4,000 lakh crore by fiscal year 2026, from the current Rs 3,200 lakh crore. This projected growth presents a substantial advantage for companies like WinZO that rely exclusively on digital payments for users to access their paid services on the platform,” the company said.