Login
  • Articles

How Local Payments Are Reshaping Game Monetization in Southeast Asia

Home › Articles ›
Learn More

Southeast Asia is becoming a market global game publishers can no longer afford to overlook.

 
According to Meetgames’ 2026 H1 Global Mobile Gaming Market Insights Report, Southeast Asia accounted for around 14.1% of global mobile game downloads in the first half of 2026, placing it among the world’s leading download markets. Yet its share of in-app revenue on iOS and Google Play was only about 3.9%.
 
The contrast is hard to miss: 14.1% of downloads, but just 3.9% of store-based revenue.
 
That does not mean Southeast Asian players are simply unwilling to spend.
 
The revenue figures in the report mainly cover paid downloads and in-app purchases on iOS and Google Play. They exclude advertising revenue and do not fully capture third-party top-up channels. The report also notes that markets such as Vietnam have a relatively large share of third-party payment activity, meaning store-based revenue estimates may understate the full picture.
 
Another data point makes this shift even clearer.
 
Research from Niko Partners and Coda shows that around 38% of mobile game revenue in Southeast Asia was already generated outside the app ecosystem in 2024, up from about 21% two years earlier. By 2028, out-of-app monetization could account for roughly one-third of total mobile gaming revenue across Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea.
 
Direct top-ups, web shops, local wallets and bank-account payments are becoming a meaningful part of the monetization mix.
 
For game publishers looking to expand in Southeast Asia, that puts payments squarely into the localization equation.
 
Once a player is ready to spend, can they find a payment method they already know and trust? Is the checkout experience fast and frictionless? How should publishers handle local currencies, settlement and different payment habits across markets?
 
These are no longer back-end payment questions. They increasingly shape the player’s overall spending experience — and, ultimately, the commercial performance of a game in each market.

Where is the potential market?

 
Southeast Asia’s gaming market is still firmly on a growth trajectory.
 
According to Niko Partners, the region’s six major game markets — Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore — had around 290 million players in 2025, generating more than US$5.6 billion in revenue, up 4.7% year on year. Revenue is expected to rise above US$5.9 billion in 2026, while the player base is projected to surpass 300 million. By 2030, the market could be worth around US$7 billion.
 
The drivers of that growth are not the same across the region.
 
In larger-population markets such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, wider smartphone adoption and improving internet access are still bringing new players into the market. In more mature markets such as Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, growth is increasingly tied to factors like localized content, live operations, esports and stronger community engagement. Niko Partners expects Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines to be among the key contributors to the region’s next phase of revenue growth.

 

Indonesia stands out for sheer scale. In the first half of 2026, mobile game downloads reached around 1.42 billion, up 10% from the previous period, while in-app revenue rose 4.9% to roughly US$150 million. Among Southeast Asia’s major markets, Indonesia continues to offer one of the region’s largest pools of new players, while game spending is still moving higher.
 
Thailand tells a different story. It has long been one of Southeast Asia’s stronger markets when it comes to mobile game spending.
 
Sensor Tower data shows that in the first quarter of 2025, Thailand generated US$162 million in mobile game IAP revenue, the highest among the region’s major markets. That was ahead of Indonesia at US$118 million and Malaysia at US$103 million. Thailand’s strength is therefore less about adding players at scale and more about turning an established user base into stronger monetization.
 
For game publishers, this is the key point: there is no single, uniform “Southeast Asia market.”
 
Some countries are still adding players at pace. Others are already focused more heavily on improving payer conversion and monetization efficiency. And when the growth model changes, so do payment preferences, spending power and top-up behavior.
 
Those differences become even more visible once payments enter the picture.

Six Markets, Six Payment Playbooks

Southeast Asia is often discussed as a single region in growth strategies. Payments tell a very different story.
 
Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore each operate with different currencies, banking systems, digital wallets and national real-time payment networks. A payment method that works well in one market may not translate nearly as well in another.

Indonesia

Indonesia’s most distinctive payment rail is QRIS, the national QR standard that connects bank apps and digital wallets through a unified system, making digital payments faster and easier for consumers. Bank transfers and wallets such as GoPay, OVO, DANA and ShopeePay also have broad user bases.
 
According to Bank Indonesia, QRIS had more than 60 million users in the first half of 2026, with transaction volume reaching 12.55 billion, roughly double the level a year earlier. Over the same period, QRIS transaction value rose 89.52% year on year to IDR 600.69 trillion, or about US$33.5 billion.
 
For game publishers, Indonesia is best viewed as a high-volume, lower-ticket market. With a large player base and frequent payments, simply adding more card options is unlikely to be enough. Strong coverage of QRIS and leading local wallets, combined with tight control over small-ticket payment costs and success rates, is far more aligned with how the market actually works.

Thailand

In the first half of 2026, Thailand recorded around 300 million mobile game downloads, down 8% from the previous period. Yet in-app revenue rose 4.9% to roughly US$270 million, placing Thailand at the top of mobile game revenue rankings among developing markets.
 
Thai players have relatively strong spending power, and the country’s payment infrastructure is equally mature.
 
Thailand has established real-time payment systems such as PromptPay and Thai QR, while digital wallets including TrueMoney and Rabbit LINE Pay sit alongside widespread card usage. By July 2025, PromptPay was processing around 2.36 billion transactions per month, with a total value of approximately THB 4.5 trillion.
 
For publishers, the focus in Thailand can shift from simply enabling payments to making them faster and easier for existing players. Web shops, QR-based top-ups, repeat purchase flows and the checkout experience for high-value players can all have a direct impact on monetization.

Vietnam

Vietnam recorded around 540 million mobile game downloads in the first half of 2026, with app-store revenue of roughly US$70 million. Industry reports also point out that Vietnam has a relatively high level of third-party payment activity, meaning app-store revenue alone may understate part of the market’s actual monetization.
 
That is closely tied to how Vietnamese consumers pay.
 
Alongside digital wallets, bank transfers are widely used. VietQR has become one of the country’s most recognizable QR payment systems, while local wallets such as MoMo, ZaloPay and ViettelPay also enjoy strong awareness. By October 2025, nearly 90 million mobile banking accounts were able to scan VietQR codes.
 
For publishers, Vietnam is a market where payment design should extend beyond the App Store and Google Play. Bank transfers, VietQR and local wallets often need to be considered alongside traditional in-app payment channels.

The Philippines

In the first quarter of 2025, the Philippines generated around 366 million mobile game downloads and roughly US$73 million in IAP revenue. At the same time, the country’s digital payment infrastructure continued to expand rapidly.
 
Local payment rails include QR Ph and InstaPay, while wallets such as GCash and Maya are deeply embedded in everyday consumer spending. In 2025, digital payments accounted for 53.32% of total payment value, while digital transaction volume reached 3.94 billion, or around 64.7% of the country’s 6.09 billion total transactions for the year.
 
For game publishers entering the Philippines, digital wallets and real-time account transfers should be part of the payment mix from the start. They are increasingly important for reaching players through the payment methods they already use in daily life.

Malaysia

Malaysia does not match Indonesia or the Philippines in download scale, but its players tend to have stronger spending power.
 
In the first quarter of 2025, Malaysia recorded around 129 million mobile game downloads and US$103 million in IAP revenue. Relative to its download base, the market ranks highly in Southeast Asia on RPD — revenue generated per download.
 
Malaysia also has a broad range of payment options.
 
Beyond cards, consumers use DuitNow QR, FPX online bank transfers, and digital wallets such as Touch ‘n Go, Boost and GrabPay. In 2025, PayNet processed 8.44 billion digital payment transactions, while DuitNow QR had more than 3 million acceptance points nationwide.
 
In a more mature market like Malaysia, publishers need to look beyond basic payment coverage and pay closer attention to payment success rates, settlement speed and the checkout experience for higher-value players.

Singapore

Singapore is a smaller gaming market by user volume, but one of the strongest in Southeast Asia when it comes to player spending.
 
In the first quarter of 2025, the market recorded around 14 million mobile game downloads and approximately US$94 million in IAP revenue. Available data also shows that Singapore remained among the region’s leaders in RPD in the first half of 2026.
 
The payment environment is equally developed. Singapore has a mature card ecosystem alongside widely adopted real-time payment infrastructure, including PayNow, FAST and SGQR. PayNow runs on the FAST network, enabling 24/7 instant SGD transfers, and is integrated with the SGQR standard. Real-time payments are projected to contribute S$793.2 million to Singapore’s GDP in 2026.
 
Singapore is therefore best seen as a market where cards and account-to-account payments operate side by side. Publishers can optimize the payment mix based on transaction size, cost and user preference, balancing convenience with economics.

What Gets in the Way of a Successful Top-Up?

 
Payment comes after the decision to spend — but it can still become the final point of friction before a transaction is completed.
 
For game publishers, integrating a payment interface is only the first step. The experience between “I want to top up” and “payment completed” can have a direct impact on monetization.
 
Improving that experience starts with a few basic questions:
  • Can players find a payment method they already know and trust?
  • Is the checkout flow smooth enough?
  • Is the cost of each transaction commercially sustainable?
  • Can payments, refunds and risk be managed within one consistent framework?

#1 Players Can’t Find a Familiar Way to Pay

Payment habits vary widely across Southeast Asia. Cards, digital wallets, QR payments and account-to-account transfers all have very different levels of adoption from one market to another.
 
That is why the number of payment methods supported is not the most important metric.
 
Supporting 20 methods means little if the three most commonly used options in a market are missing. By contrast, five well-chosen methods can deliver far greater value if they cover most of the target payer base.
 
If the checkout page does not offer the payment methods local players already use in everyday life, even users who are ready to spend may still drop out at the final step.
 
What matters is effective payment coverage: across countries, devices and player segments, how many potential payers have access to at least one familiar and usable payment option?

#2 The Checkout Flow Is Too Complicated

Game purchases often happen in the moment.
 
It could be a gacha pull, a limited-time item, or a top-up just before an event begins. If players are forced through multiple redirects, lengthy forms or an unclear payment status, the experience quickly breaks the momentum.
 
In gaming, players usually expect to complete the payment and return to the game immediately, with the virtual item or currency delivered right away.
 
Fewer redirects, fewer input fields and clear payment confirmation can all make a meaningful difference to the top-up experience.

#3 Small-Ticket Payments Are More Sensitive to Cost

Gaming generates a large number of low-value, high-frequency transactions.
 
A US$0.99 or US$4.99 top-up may look small, but if payment fees, cross-border settlement costs and FX charges take up too much of the transaction value, those costs become much more significant at scale.
 
There is also the question of local pricing.
 
Southeast Asia spans multiple currencies, including IDR, THB, VND, PHP, MYR and SGD. Simply converting a US-dollar package into local currency at the day’s exchange rate may produce a price point that feels unfamiliar or awkward to local players.
 
Publishers therefore need to think about more than currency conversion. Local currency display, market-appropriate pricing and downstream settlement all matter.

#4 The Easier Payments Become, the More Important Risk Control Is

The more localized the payment experience becomes, the more localized the risk scenarios become as well.
 
Stolen cards, account takeovers, bulk top-ups, unauthorized reselling, refund abuse, friendly fraud, price arbitrage, device farms and suspicious flows between accounts can all appear in gaming environments.
 
At the same time, rules around payments, consumer protection and settlement differ from one market to another.
 
The player-facing experience should feel simple. The systems behind it cannot be.

Building a Scalable Payment Setup for Southeast Asia

 
Expanding into one market is manageable. The real complexity starts when a game begins to scale across several.
 
Entering Thailand means adding PromptPay.
Indonesia brings QRIS into the picture.
In the Philippines, publishers may need to support wallets, QR Ph and bank transfers.
Move into Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, and the list grows further — more payment methods, more currencies, more refund rules and more settlement requirements.
……
 
The more markets a game enters, the harder it becomes to maintain a separate payment flow for each one.
 
For publishers expanding across Asia Pacific, a more scalable approach is to connect different local payment ecosystems through one unified payment layer.

 

That is the problem Evonet’s gaming payment solution is designed to address: keep game operations global, while making payments feel local to players.
 
In Southeast Asia, payment localization now goes far beyond adding a few more payment methods. Player habits, checkout experience, local pricing, technical integration and cross-market settlement can all shape monetization performance.
 
Evonet’s capabilities across Asia Pacific are built around these needs.

More Local Ways to Pay

Offer players familiar cards, digital wallets and local payment methods in each market, reducing friction caused by differences in payment habits.

A Smoother Top-Up Experience

Drop-in integration helps simplify the connection between the game and the checkout flow, reducing unnecessary redirects and repeated development work so players can complete top-ups more quickly.

Flexible Local Pricing and Multi-Currency Settlement

Display prices in local currencies while supporting payment processing and settlement across multiple currencies, making cross-market operations easier to manage.

Simpler Multi-Market Integration

Game development teams do not need to rebuild the payment stack from scratch every time they enter a new country. New markets and payment methods can be added within a more consistent technical framework.
 
For Southeast Asia, Evonet provides online acquiring and localized payment solutions covering major payment methods and QR-based transfers across the region’s six key markets. With flexible Drop-in and API integration, local-currency pricing and multi-currency settlement, Evonet helps game companies build a more consistent payment infrastructure while adapting to the way players pay in each market.
 
If your game is expanding into Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia or Singapore, the Evonet team would be happy to discuss local payment acceptance, acquiring, pricing and settlement strategies.

Explore More Payment Possibilities

Contact Our Team