PIN - The paysafecard Magazine

1 | 2016

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PEOPLE INSIGHTS NEWS

MEXICO’S MOMENT Why Mexico’s online business will grow strong over the next decade

UNDER ATTACK

PETROL & PALACES

THE SPOTIFY STORY

How to deal with the new threat of frequent and ­supersized DDoS attacks

A stroll through burgeoning Kuwait City with country consultant Samar Mushainish

Why a file-sharing tech-head became the savior of a billion-­ dollar industry

Online Prepaid pays off.

Online payments for everyone With a global market leader in online prepaid payment methods

Become a paysafecard Business Partner now and go to: www.paysafecard.com/business IMPRINT:

Owner, publisher and responsible for content: paysafecard Wertkarten GmbH, Am Euro Platz 2, 1120 Vienna, Austria; www.paysafecard.com, editor in chief: Claudia Schügerl; publishing company: Le Fritz Publishing e. U.; Gatterederstraße 6/Top E5, 1230 Vienna, Austria; www.lefritz.at; concept & editorial advice: Christoph Rösch; proof reading: Jake Moss & Susanne Spreitzer; graphic design & art direction: Patrick Toifl; coverphoto: Getty Images; printing: Theissen Medien Gruppe GmbH, Am Kieswerk 3, 40789 Monheim, Germany; www.tmg-web.de; aim of publication: providing information about paysafecard services, markets, customers and employees.

EDITORIAL

CONTENTS

Contents

Photo: © paysafecard, Renée Del Missier/Shutterstock

4 8 13 14 18 20 26 28

NEWSROOM: News from paysafecard and its partners

BUSINESS: Mexico’s Moment Why Mexico’s online business will grow strong over the next decade

MARKETS: On the Way up The LATAM games market in numbers

STORIES: The Man that saved the Music Industry A portrait of Spotify founder Daniel Ek

SECURITY: Under Attack The background story on the biggest DDoS attacks the world has ever seen

TIME OUT: Petrol, Pearls & Palaces PIN spends a day off with country consultant Samar Mushainish in Kuwait City

INSIDE: The Social Brand How merchants and distributors can profit from paysafecard’s social media activities

INSIDE: Paysafe at Money20/20 Paysafe showcases new products at leading Fintech Conference

b g PLUS

www

Whenever you see the big Plus-Icon in one of the PIN-articles, there is more to know, see and learn on this topic on our website.

There you’ll find additional content, more pictures, videos or interesting infographics.

Just visit us online: pin-magazine.paysafecard.com

UDO MÜLLER CEO paysafecard

NTRODUC NG Welcome to the world of PIN! With our new p ­ aysafecard magazine we want to put our focus on you. And on topics that are particularly interesting for our merchants and distributors. Thus every issue of PIN will be dealing with three aspects, we think are essential for being successful.­

PEOPLE

It’s people that make businesses go strong. They’re the ones with the know-how, the ones who solve problems and push innovation. PIN wants to show, who they are. We will talk to men and women, you’ll get to know when working with us.

But we also want to tell the stories of our partners. Spotify’s Daniel Ek for example. Unbelievable story!

NS GHTS

Did you know that the growth rates in the ­Mexican Games sector easily ­ outperform the market’s leaders in overall ­revenue in Asia, America and Europe? No? Then you should start reading our country ­profile on Mexico starting on page 8.

This article is one example of what we try to achieve with PIN. We want to keep you up to date with background information that’s valuable for your business – and ours as well.

N EWS

A paysafecard magazine wouldn’t be complete, if we didn’t tell you what’s on our schedule for the future and what has kept us busy in the past. In the NEWSROOM and the ­INSIDE chapters you’ll find eveything there is to know about paysafecard and Paysafe group. You’ll learn about new ­ ­products, better ways to do business with us and where the prepaid market is heading.

I hope ­these and all the other aspects of PIN will keep you interested in our ­magazine and in our stories. Enjoy reading!

Kind regards,

Udo Müller

3

NEWSROOM

NEWS & FACTS

Gaming is especially big in urban centers like Buenos Aires, where the majority of the 17.6 million players in Argentina live.

Argentina

Merchants welcome again Argentina is back on the map for inter­national online merchants. The new government has recently relaxed several restrictions on the foreign exchange market.

Following the presidential elections in December 2015, the Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA) introduced significant changes to the foreign exchange regulatory framework in force in Argentina. One of the most ­significant changes was the abolishing of the requirement for authorization to purchase, or transfer, foreign ­currency. In addition to paysafecard’s current business model with local merchants, these legislative ­changes now enable paysafecard to activate international merchants through an adapted banking setup.

Many globally active merchants, like Kinguin, Pixel Federation or Sixty, have already decided on using

paysafecard as a payment option for their Argentinian customers under the new laws. Many others will soon be joining them and profit from paysafecard’s huge distribution network and experience in the market.

DENSE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

“paysafecard has operated in Argentina since 2008 and has developed a strong brand with a dense distribution network of more than 15,000 POS across the country,” says paysafecard country consultant, Marina Wasserman, “Merchants now can rely on that experience in a market, in which 75 % of a population of 43 million have access to the internet and that will grow significantly under the new legislation in the coming years.”

Should you have any questions about the market launch or the special conditions that may apply for Argentina, please contact your account manager, or send an email to: success@paysafecard.com

paysafecard direct

Making payments hassle-free paysafecard introduces the most convenient way of uploading PINs directly at POS.

THE BENEFITS

4

more flexibility with additional denominations in steps of €10 higher amounts available up to €250 increased purchase limits for fully identified customers

NEW TECHNOLOGY

The topping up of a “my paysafecard” account will be made absolutely hassle-free by this new tech­­ ­ nology and much more secure due to the ­entirely ­electronic transaction. Austria, France and ­Portugal are the first ­markets where ­“paysafecard ­direct” has been rolled out and many other ­markets are ­ expected to ­ follow soon. For Yuri Petersen, ­product ­manager for ­“paysafecard ­direct,” this service paves the way for the future with a consistently growing ­registered c­ ustomer base, while keeping all the pros of­ paysafecard’s “cash for the internet solution.”

Photos: © Shutterstock/paysafecard

One of the world’s leading innovators in the market for cash online payments comes up with yet another ­essential service for distributors and their customers.

Users of a “my paysafecard” account can now load their account directly at the POS by scanning a barcode.

NEWSROOM

SOUNDBITES

CASH WON’T GO AWAY

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Every German has € 103 cash in HIS wallet.

And the share of cash payments in the overall number of transactions in Germany remained surprisingly constant from 2008 (83%) to 2014 (79%).

721

NEWSROOM

NEWS & FACTS

e-sports

ESL conquers New York & Sao Paulo 17,000 fans and two days of gaming frenzy: ESL One proved in New York that e-sports are on the rise.

ESL One made its New York stop at Barclay Center in Brooklyn on October 1 and 2, with an arena full of 8,500 fans on each main event day.

This makes it the biggest CS:GO competition ever to hit the Big Apple. ­Seven teams participated, battling over a $250.000 prize pool, with the paysafecard sponsored team, G2 ESPORTS, among them. paysafecard was also one of the main sponsors of ESL One New York and had a booth on site with lots of promotional activities for gamers. The team of Natus ­Vincere claimed the championship and the prize money. The next ESL highlight was the fourth Pro League finals in Sao Paolo, Brazil, where Cloud9 won its first ESL Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Pro League championship on 30th of October, defeating last season’s defending champions SK Gaming from Brazil 2-1.

www

Geekbench

Will light bring the internet to the world’s most remote areas?

SCIENCE With data rates at more than two gigabits per second, a new approach in photodetection could simplify light-based wireless communication, and bring the internet to the four ­billion people without it. Huge business-opportunities in these markets would be one of the many consequences of the new technology. Today’s high-speed wired communication networks use lasers to carry information through optical fibers, but wireless networks are currently based on radio frequencies, or microwaves. In a development that could one day make light-­ based wireless communications ubiquitous, researchers from Facebook Inc.’s Connectivity Lab have demonstrated a conceptually new approach for detecting optical communication ­signals ­traveling through the air. The team described the new tech­ nology that could pave the way for fast optical wireless networks cap­able of delivering internet service to far-flung places, in Optica Vol. 3 Issue 7 of 2016, The Optical Society’s journal for high impact research.

6

ESL One in New York was the biggest CS:GO event ever in the Big Apple.

POS

DSC: At your service 24/7 With the new online Distributor Service Center (DSC) paysafecard’s distribution partners in 43 countries can now manage their operational business with the company all day, everyday.

Distributors will not only benefit from the availability after working hours, but they will also appreciate that requests are processed in real time. “Due to our global growth in recent years, we partner with more than 500,000 Points of Sale in 43 countries t­oday,” says paysafecard’s Head of Distribution Björn ­Katerbau. “DSC is the best way to make our services available to all of them 24/7.” Security has also been tho­ roughly taken care of. For ­example, the new DSC uses 2-factor ­authentication with the free “Google Authenticator” app.

IMPROVED SERVICES

Among the services that are available are the search for paysafecard serial numbers, an option to view r­ emaining stock, and a comprehensive overview of the financial status. A lot more services and functions will be a­ dded in the future. To learn more about DCS, please take a look for yourself, or contact your account manager: www.paysafecard.com/dsc

NEWSROOM

billion $

NEWS & FACTS

www

Cooperation

paysafecard wins over PlayStation gamers Due to a fruitful cooperation sealed with Sony at the beginning of this year, customers of the PlayStation® Store can now shop online in 19 countries using paysafecard.

will be spent via mobile payments by 2017.

MANY MORE MARKETS TO FOLLOW

POS without end

The launch countries are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia, Spain, Czech Republic, the United Kingdom and Cyprus.

But many more markets are to come.

paysafecard is available worldwide. This means they service more than 500,000 points of sale, such as kiosks, petrol stations, supermarkets and many other businesses.

Expansion

Facts

Photos: Left page © ESL/Shutterstock/paysafecard; Right page: © charnsitr Shutterstock/paysafecard

Big names are driving digital development. The most recent of this being the two major players, Sony and paysafecard coming together in spring. Their partner­ ­ ship makes it possible to shop and pay online at Sony’s PlayStation® Store, allowing players in most European markets to buy whatever their gaming hearts desire, from console games via PC, tablet and smartphone, as well as via PlayStation® 4 (PS4™) itself with paysafecard. Thus, it is now possible to pay with paysafecard not only on the PS4™, but also online in the PlayStation® Store.

“my paysafecard” launched in six new markets

And this number is constantly growing. The adjoining graph shows paysafecard’s point of sales development over recent years. Recent additions and highlights of this network are that 1,400 Irish postal outlets recently began selling paysafecard. In Poland, our business partner DINO added 570 new POS, and in Georgia, paysafecard is now available at around 2,500 TBC Pay vending machines. In July alone, 780 Australian supermarkets added paysafecard to its sales portfolio. Furthermore, since June, our payment method is also available for purchase at GECO tobacconists in the Czech Republic.

paysafecard users in Australia, New Zealand, Lithuania, Canada, Mexico and Uruguay are now able to manage their PINs via “my paysafecard” and profit from faster payments, and many new features.

Managing purchased paysafecard PINs can be ­challenging for heavy users. That is why the bulk of them use “my ­paysafecard” as their product of choice. The many new ­features of “my paysafecard” are now made available to them in six new markets. These include PIN management, an o ­ verview of every transaction and fast payments with only a username and password.

500,000

HOW “MY PAYSAFECARD” WORKS

250,000

100,000 2001

2004

2006

2009

2012

2015

2016

After completing the one-time registration, consumers have all their purchased PINs in one online tool where they can get an overview of the total amount available to them. Plus, they can now pay by entering their username and ­password, without the need to type a 16-digit PIN each time. The amount is then deducted from the total amount available. Newly purchased PINs are added. Each step is transparent and can be checked at any time.

7

BUSINESS

MEXICO’S MOMENT

MEXICO’S MOMENT

Media coverage of Mexico is too often dominated by reports on gang violence or their ongoing border disputes with the US. But reality isn’t that grim at all in this economy on the rise. The games sector especially can expect boom years ahead.

A paysafecard country profile.

here were thousands of kids screaming and cheering on their teams. I couldn’t believe it the first time I went – it was crazy! But the event grew even bigger next year!” Octavio Flores’ enthusiasm for the growing e-sports scene in Mexico is contagious, even through a long ­distance ­­phone line. Flores is paysafecard’s consultant in ­Mexico, a country where the games market's annual growth of 19.6% beats even the market leaders in total r­ evenue in Asia, North America and Europe. 1.1 billion dollars are spent on games per year in this Latin American country.

Flores is confident that these numbers will keep rising: ­“Mexico has a very interesting demography. Nearly half of the population is 25, or under. This means there’s huge ­business potential. Especially when you know that back in 2009, only 31% of the roughly 128 million ­Mexicans had access to the internet. Today this number

8

has grown to an internet penetration of 52%. I’m sure that in five years from now it will be around 80%.”

GDP GROWTH RATES OF 5%?

A young population with easy and affordable ­access to the internet is a perfect environment for game ­developers, publishers and e-commerce merchants.

But will M ­ exicans ­have enough money to spend on their ­ digital pastimes? The basic economic data and o ­ utlook is quite good, says Friedrich Steinecker, ­economic expert and representative for the ­Austrian Economic Chamber, located in Mexico City. “Right now there are some dark clouds on the horizon, due to the low oil prize, the weak Peso and the US p ­ residential elections. But in the coming years I see excellent ­prospects for Mexico’s future. If the global economy starts to pick up again, the next five years may i­ndeed

BUSINESS

MEXICO’S MOMENT

become Mexico’s moment and we may see GDP growth rates of 3, 4, or even 5%.”

THE ADVENT OF THE MAQUILA INDUSTRY

One reason for that is that Mexico has established a maquila industry. Especially the big automotive ­corporations from all over the world have invested big time in Mexican car manufacturing plants. Audi, VW, BMW and Continental are just a few. “What we are see­ ing right now is a re-industrialization of the Americas.

Many manufacturers start investing in Mexico instead of China, because labor costs are on the same low level here, but the huge American market is right next door,” Steinecker explains. Especially the young and able are profiting from this development. In Volkswagen’s plant

Photos: Left page © Getty Images; Right page: © Audi AG/Shutterstock

Even Mexico’s Maquila Industry is becoming more high tech.

» What we are seeing is a re-industriali­ zation. Many manufacturers start investing in Mexico instead of China. « in Silao, for example, in which the average age of an employee is an astonishing 20 years.

YOUNG AND WELL-EDUCATED

In the near future, managers will not only be looking for low-paid assembly-line workers, Steinecker is also certain: ­“Cisco has told the public, for example, that it will be spending four billion dollars over the next two years for new Mexican plants,” Steinecker says. Their ­investment is just one example for the trend towards high-tech ­production methods at the moment, which puts quality training of the work force high on many managers’ wish lists. Hence, the Mexican government ­under ­president Peña Nieto is very keen to start ­reforming the ­education system and p ­ roviding

Audi plans to create 20,000 new jobs at its new plant in San José Chiapa. The young will especially profit.

INTERNET PENETRATION 42.6

Internet population Broadband-users Mobile users Source: World Bank; WIPO Statistics Database

19.5

87.3

77.5

per 100 residents

43.5

82.2 44.4

31.1

1.7

9.0

10.4

10.5

2006

2010

2013

2014

9

BUSINESS

33%

MEXICO’S MOMENT

Ente

rtain me screent n $

374M

MEXICO’S GAMES MARKET Revenues per screen for 2016 ng ati en Flo scre

% 10

M

Platform

+19.6% YoY

15

per segment (in million US$)

$1

Revenue forecasts

$1,126 M

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 CAGR

Casual Webgames 75.6 73.3 70.3 67.5 64.7 -3.8% PC/MMO 254.8 296.0 337.7 361.5 383.3 10.7% Mobile Phone 169.3 268.0 378.8 490.3 610.0 37.8% Tablet 67.7 103.0 144.1 179.7 218.6 34.1% Handheld Console 15.5 11.6 9.3 7.9 7.1 -17.7% TV/Console 358.6 374.0 386.2 398.8 411.6 3.5% Total

941.5 1,125.8 1,326.5 1,505.6 1,695.3 15.8%

young M ­ exicans with the knowledge to adapt to the ever-changing situation.

49 MILLION GAMERS

Education is not the only sector undergoing reform, however. The Peña administration is also doing a lot in terms of d ­ igital infrastructure. It has deregulated the telecommunications market and is now looking for new ways to get the internet to the more remote areas of this vast country. No wonder that the games scene, with its young and internet-savvy target group, has exploded in recent years. “There are more than 90 game developer studios in Mexico and about 49 ­million ­gam­ers,” says Alejandro Bertoldi, director of ­“gaming partners,” a marketing agency specializing in the games market: “The studios are creating games for all devices, but mostly for smartphones. Certain

3% 3 % 24 nal Perso en e r c s

ter

u Compn scree

M

$369 M 8 6 2

$

Source: Newzoo 2016 Global Games Market Report

s­ tudios like Game Coder or Kokonut have great c­ ontent that has been pub­lished by international brands like Bandai Namco or Chillingo,” says Bertoldi, proud of the ­growing s­ cene’s achievements.

CONSOLE VS. PC

Mexico is still a heavy console gaming market, accord­ ing to Bertoldi. “XBOX 360 is the gaming device with the biggest installed base over here. In the newer ­generation of consoles both XBOX ONE and PS4 are growing at almost the same rate.” But there’s also an explosion of PC gaming, says the Marketing Manager: “The most ­popular titles in the country are League of ­Legends, Halo, FIFA, Call of Duty and Gears of War. We are reaching a tipping point here, where PC gaming will return to dominate the gaming community. ­Games like League of Legends or Clash Royale are making

The deregulation of the telecommunications market has made having and using a smartphone much more affordable.

PC games are favorites among Mexico’s 49 million gamers.

But games for smartphones are catching up fast.

BUSINESS

MEXICO’S MOMENT

OCTAVIO FLORES

Cash and debit cards are Mexico’s preferred payment methods. But most debit cards can’t be used online.

Country consultant Mexico, paysafecard

Cr e 28 dit ca % rd

2%

Ca 3 sh

paysafecard perspective

Pre pa id

Photos: Left page © Ververidis Vasilis Shutterstock/Chosen Squad México; Right page: © Anton_Ivanov Shutterstock/ColourBox/paysafecard

* Preferred Online Payment Methods in Mexico (2015), allpago Research/THE PAYPERS 2015

PREFERRED ONLINE PAYMENT METHODS*

the ­traditional video­­game industry look into creating new and attractive content to stay ­relevant.”

SMARTPHONE G ­ AMING GROWS

BY OVER 58%

Bertoldi’s observations are backed by the figures published in this year’s Newzoo global games m ­ arket report on Mexico. Console and PC games have an equal share of 33% of the total amount of money spent, ­while smart phone games account for only 24% of the total revenue. But what’s equally interesting are the year on year growth rates of these gaming segments.

Smartphone games are growing the f­astest at a 58.3% rate, while PC games have earned

»Only 23% of Mexicans own a credit card.« paysafecard’s country consultant, Octavio Flores, shares his insights on a rather unusual distribution network, a favorable demography and a widespread aversion to credit cards in Mexico.

How long have you been working for paysafecard in Mexico, Octavio?

Since 2009, I actually prepared the market entry along with Udo Müller, who helped a lot to win over Bwin, our first merchant partner, which wasn’t an easy feat. But once we had them, many others followed only three months after ­paysafecard’s launch.

Was setting up the distribution network an easier task?

I wouldn’t say it was easy. But here in Mexico the stationary retail business is organised a little different than in most other countries. We have about 15 big chains in Mexico, which represent 25,000 points of sale. So rather than launching paysafecard among independent points of sale, we took a different approach by going after large national and regional chains. The head of ­marketing of 7/11 was one of the first we could convince. After that, a whole new range of ­possibilities opened up.

What do you mean by that exactly?

Organised retailers like Oxxo or 7/11 have provided access to marketing ­departments making the relationship more efficient to run and promote our payment method building a bridge in-between the end user, the point of sale, p ­ aysafecard and the merchant. For example, we came up with the idea of co-branded s­ tore material. Recently, we had one such campaign with the French streaming ­service Deezer, which worked really well for all sides.

As you are mentioning music streaming, which is mostly used by young ­people – who is the typical Mexican paysafecard customer?

Well, generally paysafecard is getting stronger in all age groups as only 23% of Mexicans own a credit card. A number every online merchant in the Mexican market should keep in mind. But Mexico has a very interesting demography, as well: Nearly half of the population of 128 million is 25, or under. That means ­there’s huge business potential.

So in what segments is paysafecard particularly strong right now?

We see that micropayments from €5 to 20 are most frequent in our whole trans­ action volume. That means, we are very strong in gaming and ­entertainment services, like streaming. And we are very well established in ­gambling and in the dating segment for a long time.

What’s your outlook for the next few years?

As we move into the future, we will now look to reach independent points of sale, which in Mexico come to about 500,000. Taking into account the special demography and rapid spread of the internet I’m pretty sure sales will go t­ hrough the roof for us and our merchants in the next few years.

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BUSINESS

MEXICO’S MOMENT

There’s a huge trend towards urbanisation in Mexico. Almost 25% of all Mexicans live in, or around, Mexico City.

Mexicans love boxing.

A fact that shows in paysafecard transactions during big boxing events.

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­tutorial on how to use it in one of his blogs for that r­eason. “Even some g ­ amers from my channel didn’t know about p ­ aysafecard ­before. But I’ve changed that,” he says, smiling.

HOW PEOPLE PAY

Beaner’s example proves that Mexico is a market driven by local payment methods. International merchants can only have access to ­credit cards, which represent a mere 28% of the whole M ­ exican ­e-commerce ­market, according to the A ­ llpago Cross B ­ order E-Commerce ­report. To access the full p ­ otential of the market, a ­company must go local. D ­ iverging from the rest of

» Sports betting and gambling is a growing segment as well. « Latin America, the number of debit cards with 134 million is much higher than c­ redit cards, which only amount to 30 million. But debit cards are traditionally used for ATM withdrawals, rather than for online shopping. Most of them are not ­allowed e ­ ither to process online transactions, or to process f­oreign currencies.

This would be the main reason why only a few e-commerce purchases are made through this payment ­method. Thus, prepaid solutions like ­paysafecard are an option not only for young gamers in Mexico. “Of c­ ourse we are getting a lot stronger in gaming and entertainment ­services like streaming, which have a huge potential over here”, says country consultant Flores: “But gambling is ­important for us, too. Many Mexicans love to watch the Champions League and Boxing is really big over here.

Twice a year, we have big boxing events and during this time we see paysafecard-transactions surge. For me, this is a great indicator that sports betting and gambling will remain an interesting segment for us, as well.”

So there are many reasons for Octavio Flores to be ­enthusiastic about his market and the Mexican ­economy, in general. And he can transmit his enthusiasm – even ­through a crackling long-distance phone line.

Photos: © Shutterstock/Wayne Short

11.8 % more over 2015 and console games can only manage a mere 4.3% growth on last year.

For Bertoldi, ­these numbers are reason enough to see the games market prosper during the next few years: “The market has doubled in 5 years and there are many ­indicators that this trend will continue. Since there are more ­devices and video games are b ­ ecoming more and more a part of people’s lives in Mexico.” A ­ ccording to the Newzoo report, currently 48.3 million gamers live in Mexico, of which 30.4 million are paying ­gamers.

A ­quite high r­atio of 63% compared to the global ­average. Anyone of these players spends an annual average of $36.97 on games.

And they dislike using credit cards, says paysafecard’s country consultant Flores: “Only around 23% of ­Mexicans own a credit card. A number every online ­merch­ant in the Mexican market should keep in mind,” he says, laughing. This is one of the reasons why ­paysafecard is working with young bloggers to make its alternative payment method better known. One of them is 31-year-old Eduardo Lavin, who calls himself “Beaner” and regularly uploads videos on YouTube and Twitch. 204,000 ­people have subscribed to his c­ hannel and 70,000 ­follow him on Twitch. “In Mexico, many parents think it’s unsafe to pay with a debit or credit card on the net. So p ­ aysafecard is the perfect solution for young gamers,” he is convinced. He made a video

$0.41 Bn $37.89

31.8 M 15.2 M 8.5 M $0.1 Bn $23.50

17.6 M

31.4 M

43.8 M

$36.97

48.3 M

$39.48

68.8 M

67.0 M $1.13 Bn

$1.28 Bn

136.4 M

128.6 M

209.6 M

LATAM is on its way to being one of the top game markets in the world.

$30.99

18.1 M 14.2 M 8.0 M $0.19 Bn

Source: Newzoo 2016 Global Games Market Report

LATIN AMERICA

MARKETS

ON THE WAY UP Population

Online-population

Gamers

Game revenue

Annual spend/payer

STORIES

DANIEL EK / SPOTIFY

The man that saved the music industry Spotify’s Daniel Ek is a modern-day tech entrepreneur par excellence. But unlike many of his contemporaries he came up with a business model that tamed the disruptive power of technology and has thus become the savior for a multi-billion industry.

aniel was different early on. Raised by a single mom in a not too affluent neighborhood close to the Swedish capital of Stockholm he soon developed a passion for music and t­echnology: “At the age of 5, I was given a guitar as a present and not very long after my first computer, a ­Commodore ­Super VIK,” Daniel describes his first experiences with gaming and music during a fireside chat with the US-based site, PandoMonthly. Not long after, he was learning how to program code out of curiosity. There were only a limited number of games for his C64 and he had played them all to death. So he started making his own. “I’ve always done sort of impossible things,” D ­ aniel explains his inner desire to do stuff that c­hallenges him. Others included the programming of his own

14

s­ earch engine: “It can’t be that hard,” he said to himself back then and adds today with a big grin on his face: “It turns out it‘s really, really hard.”

WEBSITE ENTREPRENEUR AT 13

By the age of 13, young Daniel Ek was a computer nerd, spending hours and hours with binary code, until at some point, people started asking him to build homepages for their businesses. He charged $100 for the first one. He tried $200 for the next person. After a year had gone by, he was charging $5,000 a pop for websites.

To handle all the new business he was getting, he had to hire employees. This was no easy feat for an underaged kid not allowed to vote, to drive a car or legally start a business. So with his charismatic personality, he b ­ ribed

STORIES

DANIEL EK / SPOTIFY #2 Technical wizardry: Press play and the music starts.

The engineers at Spotify guarantee a seamless experience.

#1 Availabilty: Spotify has a library of 30 million-plus songs for its customers to choose from.

#3 Mobility: The Walkman made music mobile in the 80s.

With Spotify, you can listen to anything, everywhere and anytime.

Photos: © Spotify

#4 Sharing: Making playlists and sharing the music you like with others is a key element of Spotify’s success.

mathematically gifted kids in his class with video games and playstations, having them stay after school to train them to write code on the school’s computer.

Soon he was spending all of his time building ­websites and running a system in school, that was based on other kids working for him and even doing his exams and homework. That led to Ek making his first big money. $50,000 a month at one point, he recalls, which his parents didn’t even notice, because they didn’t know the value of an original 1957 Fender Stratocaster guitar. Or the price tag of the huge server-structure entering the house, making it so warm, that wearing more than a t-shirt was nearly impossible.

They eventually moved to a new house, so Ek could run his businesses out of their house. He’d hired a team of 25

by the time he was 18. But like all stories that sound too good to be true, this one had to come to an abrupt end.

Because by this time, the Swedish IRS wanted its money back. A couple of hundred thousand Euros, to be exact.

And Daniel was just one step away from filing ­private bankruptcy and dumping all of his employees. But along came the opening of the European M&A market, just after eBay bought Skype and Ek could sell four of his companies within a matter of months. He was able to settle his IRS debt and was still worth a million afterwards.

THE START OF SPOTIFY

But he still wasn't satisfied. “I realised that ­ oney isn’t everything for me. I started thinking, m

15

STORIES

DANIEL EK / SPOTIFY

what would be so important to me, that I could invest my money and five years of my time into it. I wanted a p ­ roject that I was super passionate about,” he tells ­journalist ­Sarah Lacy. That was the start of S­ potify, a ­company f­using Ek’s two dearest passions – ­technology and ­music. ­Teaming up with co-founder, Martin Lorentzon, he now was facing a challenge so big that many wouldn’t even have dared to try it – to convince a multi-billion ­industry run by huge ­corporations that they ­needed a 25-­year-old to save it – by giving away their p ­ roduct for free! But the 2000s were a special time in S­ weden. It was among the first countries to ­install broadband i­nternet in ­nearly every home. Perhaps one of the reasons why this Northern ­ European ­ country was the hotspot for file ­sharing and piracy. And the whole world liked it.­

want to compromise their idea of giving the ­music away free for people to share in a first step. In 2008 ­Universal, EMI Music, Sony, Warner, and M ­ erlin – the company ­representing the independent music labels – each ­finally agreed to an experiment: They would give their entire catalogs to Spotify, which then entered seven ­European markets and began giving out invites to listen to 13 ­million songs, on demand, for free. A classic freemium strategy that involved giving music away for free, but with ads or ad-free with premium subscriptions priced at €9.99.

IMMEDIATE SUCCESS

Spotify found almost immediate success after its start in 2008. Within 18 months, it counted 7 million subscrib­ers in Europe, but it hit a roadblock when it tried to e­ xport 2.3

Music-streaming: subscription-model wins 1.6

Worldwide revenue by category (in billion US$) 1.1

subscription freemium, ad-based

0.3

0.7 0.4

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.6

Source: IFPI, MIDiA Research

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Meanwhile, this was having serious effects on the revenue system of the music industry. The worldwide revenue for the recording industry peaked in 1999 at $27 billion, according to the International Federation of the Phono­ graphic Industry (IFPI). By 2008, it had plummeted to $14 billion. There had to be something done. At ­exactly the same time, Ek payed his first visits to the major labels, among them was Universal Music’s Swedish representative, Per Sundin. Sundin saw a demo of ­ ­Spotify and laid out the case to his bosses in London.­ “To get legislators on our side for a strict ban of piracy and sharing,” he explained, “we needed services for the kids.”

But it took a long time to convince the bosses. For more than two years, Ek and Lorentzon were b ­ attling with ­numerous music industry officials, because they didn’t

16

For Spotify paysafecard is a way to attract a new customer segment to its subscription model.

STORIES

DANIEL EK / SPOTIFY

paysafecard perspective

»Spotify uses paysafecard as an acquisition tool. « We had a talk with Andreas Schober, paysafecard’s Head of New Business, his views of the Spotify story and how other merchants could learn from Spotify’s advanced marketing ideas.

Spotify is one of paysafecard’s online partners. What strikes you most, when thinking about their success?

Probably, that they are very innovative in a lot of ways. Alongside their lead in development within their products they also have taught a lot in terms of acquiring new customers and with attracting new customers into their subscription model.

» I realised that convenience quite often wins.

It’s not that people don’t want to pay for music.« Photos: Left page © Shutterstock/paysafecard; Right page: © Spotify, paysafecard

– Daniel Ek

the service to the US. It took Ek another three ­ years to convince the American label officials, due to their scepticism regarding an advertising-supported model.

But in the end, everything paid off. Spotify now has one of the most comprehensive music libraries in the world, with tens of millions of songs and a­ greements with all the major labels. In September of 2016, it had 40 million paying subscribers and a total of 100 million users. And it has payed several 100 m ­ illion dollars to labels and artists.

In fact, the revenue of the American music industry did rise by 8.1% to 3.4 billion for the first time s­ ince 1999 in the first ­quarter of this year. One ­reason for this is that the streaming m ­ arket is becoming increas­ ingly interesting for the big ­players, like ­Apple and Amazon. But Daniel Ek cornered this m ­ arket first, and he’ll be a tough one to beat.

You worked with Spotify on a new approach. Tell us more about that.

Well the Spotify team is really thinking ahead in this respect. They started with using paysafecard as an acquisition tool and set up prepaid products for those customers that wanted to try out the premium services but were not yet likely to enter into a subscription model. F­ urthermore, they started to set up promotions together and it worked really well. That fact led to a success story for both companies. Spotify found a way to attract a new customer segment, whereas we were able to prove our strength within subscription models and how we can help to create incremental ­revenue. Thus, Spotify and paysafecard is an ideal partnership.

Do you think there are other segments besides music streaming, where this kind of partnership could work?

Basically, this approach works for all subscription models. There will always be a certain part of the market that is likely to use the service, but does not want to enter their credit card, or bank details, or doesn’t have any of these payment methods, like the younger generations. For those ­segments, we provide the perfect solution and companies like Spotify are more and more eager to use us to attract those customers. Therefore, setting up solutions together leads to a clear win-win situation for both partners.

Streaming has become a big market now and various other players are working on setting up a service. Any plans to work with other big names?

Of course! We are already working very successfully with other big partners, especially within the music streaming market, on a global basis. However, we also launched with some video streaming platforms and are in the development process for solutions with big streaming and broadcasting brands. People are increasingly choosing their cherries in what they listen to and what they watch. Of course, they want to pick their most suitable payment option, as well.

What are the next steps for paysafecard?

What’s planned for 2017?

Well, what I can tell you so far is that we will intensify our awareness within the New Busin­ess segments, and find more and more partners to set up success stories such as Spotify. We will keep concentrating on international­isation and ­strengthen our brand’s image on a global level.

ANDREAS SCHOBER Head of New Business, paysafecard

SECURITY

DDoS ATTACKS

UNDER ATTACK More than 2,000 DDoS attacks are observed worldwide on a daily basis, according to the security firm Arbor Network’s threat report. This is a significant increase on last year’s numbers. But that’s not the only problem as PIN discovered in discussions with Roland Schaar, CIO at Paysafe and responsible for IT and Security.

35 %

1–5 Gbps

25 %

8%

< 1 Gbps

5–10 Gbps

32 %

> 10 Gbps

75%

of attacks peaked over 1 Gbps in Q2 2016 18

In September 2016, it was 20 years since the ITsecurity community learned about the meaning of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. Back in 1996, Panix – a server company located in New York – was the first victim of a synchronized flood attack (SYN).

Or put more simply: An attempt to make an online service unavailable by overwhelm­ing it with traffic from multiple sources. The whole Panix-Network was down for several days. This incident showed the American public the importance of the constant availability of online services for the first time. It also woke security experts up to how vulner­able IT infrastructure was back then. “Since then, a lot has changed for the better,” says paysafecard’s Roland Schaar while adding that not even the Computer Emergency Response Team knew what to do against the attack in 1996.

THE GAMING SCENE IS HARD HIT

However, recent examples show that the simple and low-key attacks from back then have morphed into a serious threat to the availability of o ­ nline merchants. The gaming scene has especially been hit hard by hacking communities, like poodle corp, for example. Very complex DDoS-attacks were used to sabotage the launch of the Beta of Blizzard’s World of Warcraft in July of this year and threatened to make the site of the online game unavailable during the days of the official launch. So why is it so difficult to mitigate DDoS attacks after 20 years of research on the topic? “There are a number of reasons.

Firstly, it is too easy and too cheap to launch a DDoS attack via the dark net. Prices are starting from $150

for small attacks,” says Schaar and then adds: “But the ­ igger problem is that these attacks are becoming b more complex and incredibly big.”

620 GIGABITS PER SECOND

One reported example of this paradigm is the attack on KrebsOnSecurity by journalist Brian Krebs. He wrote an article on some hackers running a DDoS-for-hire-­network, who were then caught. As a result, his website was faced with the biggest DDoS attack ever recorded.

The attack began at around 8 p.m. ET on Sept. 20, and initial reports put it at approximately 665 Gigabits of traffic per second. Martin McKeay, senior security advocate of KrebsOnSecurity host Akamai, said the largest attack the company had seen previously clocked in earlier this year at 363 Gbps. However, he thinks there is a major difference between the DDoS on KrebsOnSecurity and the previous record h ­ older: The 363 Gbps attack is thought to have been g ­ enerated by a botnet of compromised systems using ­well-known techniques like DNS reflection which ­allowed them to amplify a relatively small attack into a much l­arger one. In contrast, the huge assault on ­journalist Krebs’ website appears to have been ­ launched almost exclusively by a huge botnet of hacked devices.

THE INTERNET OF THINGS BOTNET

“We are confronted with a totally new approach here,” explains paysafecard security expert Schaar: “This focuses on the hacking of

214 %

increase in average peak attack size compared to Q2 2015

SECURITY

DDoS ATTACKS

Photo: © paysafecard

» We want to absolutely make sure that the merchants have paysafecard as a payment option available at all times.« ROLAND SCHAAR

Q2 2015

5.53 Gbps

the so-called Internet of Things (IoT) devices like r­ outers, IP cameras and digital video recorders (DVRs) that are exposed to the internet and protected with weak or hard-coded passwords.” If this is true, it’s bad news for the security community. The use of thousands upon thousands of IoT devices all over the world as one huge botnet makes it seem very likely to expect that monster attacks will soon become the new norm.

CIO at Paysafe and responsible for IT and Security of all major divisions payment processing, digital wallets and prepaid.

73 % INCREASE IN PEAK SIZE Q3 2015

7.03 Gbps

Q4 2015

6.88 Gbps

And the numbers seem to back that assumption.

Focusing on the first half of 2016, Arbor recorded a 73% increase in peak attack size over 2015 in its ATLAS Security Report. In total, 274 attacks over 100 Gbps were recorded during the first half of 2016, as ­opposed to just 223 in 2015. Arbor also recorded 46 attacks over 200 Gbps during the same period, compared to just 16 during the whole of 2015. During the first half of 2016, the average DDoS size hit 986 Mbps, a 30% increase over 2015. Given that a 1 Gbps attack is generally enough to knock most organizations ­offline, these attacks are dangerously close to causing real damage to businesses.

AVAILABLE 24/7

Q1 2016

19.37 Gbps

Q2 2016

17.37 Gbps

“For us here at paysafecard, it’s extremely ­ important to have a multi-layered approach to mitigating DDoS ­attacks for that reason,” says Schaar. “It’s not only that we lose business and reputation when our ­service is down due to an attack. We want to make abso­lutely sure that merchants have paysafecard as a ­payment ­option available at all times.” So far, Schaar and his team have proven to be extremely successful on this front.

Their service has not been down for even a s­ econd during recent years.

He believes the reason for this to be thanks to their ­deployment of ­­multi-layered and purpose-built DDoS mitigation solutions. “We have protection in the Cloud to stop today’s high-volume attacks and we have on-­ premise protection against stealthy application-layer attacks and existing stateful infrastructure devices, such as firewall, IPS and ADCs.” But this isn’t enough, says Schaar: “It is also extremely important to work with a tight-knit network of security experts outside of paysafecard.” He then gives a big smile: “Together ­ we always have to keep track of what the bad guys are up to next.”

Bugbites

Let’s go phishing A recent study from the University of Erlangen Nuremberg revealed that 50% of users click anything that’s sent to them, even if they know that it is potentially harmful.

Have you ever watched a toddler hammering away at the shiny multicolored icons on a mobile phone? Cute, eh? But next time you spur on these little digital adventurers in their wide-eyed, saliva-dripping enthusiasm: Think! And be aware of the fact that we’re not evolving much from this behavior as digital grown-ups. “Bullsh**,” I can hear some of you muttering under your breath right now. We are evolving into great exponents of the rational human mind as we grow older and become more experienced. Edison, Einstein, Jobs or even Zuckerberg are a few great examples.

CURIOSITY CAN BE A BITCH

Well sort of. There’s one key problem with that assumption, however – talent, learning and culture help people make rational decisions. But what they’ll keep in spite of that, is their childish sense of curiosity. And curiosity can be a bitch.

At least when you are working in IT security. This is a t­ heory supported by researchers at the University of Erlangen­Nuremberg, who sent simulated “spear phishing” attacks to 1,700 university students from fake accounts. The results were astonishing – and a little disturbing to say the least: 50% of users clicked on the link even though most of them were aware of the risks of unknown links. Therefore, we at paysafecard’s security team hope that you’ll keep one thing in mind: It’s not technology, programs or machines that are causing problems with IT-security.

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TIME OUT

KUWAIT CITY

PETROL, PEARLS &

Sometimes Kuwait City bears some resemblance to an oyster with a pearl inside. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a little rough on the outside, but contains an unparalleled beauty on the inside. PIN spent a day with country consultant Samar Mushainish who showed us around the special places of the Kuwaiti capital.

TIME OUT

KUWAIT CITY

Seen from the Kuwait City Marina the city’s skyline reveals all its splendor.

pproaching Kuwait City by plane is really impressive on a clear day. Newly built skyscrapers, like the 413-meter-high Alhamra ­Tower, seem to glitter even brighter when seen against the backdrop of the dark blue sheet of the P ­ ersian Gulf on one side of this metropolis. The vast stretches of the famous Kuwait Bay, which is ­protecting Kuwait International Airport against the sea, seem to have an even greater ­ attrac­ tion as they are put against the oil well sprinkled, s­and-colored vast­ ness of the desert beginning on the other side of the city.

From the plane, you get a good impres­sion of Kuwait’s landscape. With its 17,820 square kilo­meters, it is rather small, roughly triangular in shape and it borders on Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The majority of its territory is covered by desert, with little ­difference in elevation. Due to that almost all of its 4.2 million ­inhabitants live in urban areas – Kuwait City being the biggest and most vibrant one.

of young Kuwaitis with ­mobile phones and computers around us, having their first cup of coffee amongst the towering skyscrapers. 80% of the 2.2 ­million-strong ­population in the n ­ ation’s capital is u ­ nder 35 years of age, with the ­majority of them being well-­educated.

They're also i­nternet-crazy. “Roughly 80% of the households in ­Kuwait have internet access and only gambling and adult sites are really restricted,” says Samar. That’s why gam­ing in particular is big in ­Kuwait: “This market is very strong and will be growing at high rates,” Samar explains.

Photos: Left page © Sarah Alsayegh; Right page © Alamy/Samar Mushainish

» The Gaming market will be growing at high rates in Kuwait.«

YOUNG, WELL-EDUCATED, INTERNET-CRAZY

After a short ride into the city, we meet paysafecard’s country consultant, Samar Mushainish, in one of the many coffeeshops by international brands like ­Starbucks, Caribu or Costa, that seem to pop up on every corner downtown. “Gathering at the coffeshops is a favorite pastime for the people here,” Samar ­explains the buzz

We finish our coffee and are off to souq Al-Mubarakiya, one of the oldest bazars in the capital for a more traditional taste of daily life in this historic Arabic cultural center. Souq Al-Mubarakiya has been around for at least 200 years and was the c­ enter of trade ­prior to the discovery of oil in the 1930s. It is located between Abdullah Al-­Mubarak, Abdullah Al-Salem and Palestine Streets and you can spend hours there strolling a­ r­ound and discovering reason­­able bar­­ gains on ­heri­ta­ ge goods such as ­Persian silk carpets, real Arab antiques, perfumes like musk and oud,

SAMAR MUSHAINISH is paysafecard’s country consultant for Kuwait. She is an a­ ccomplished professional with a 10+ years regional and ­international experience in Mobile ­and Electronic Payments Platforms built-up, operations and management.

Her business focus lies on tailoring the right marketing, sales and distribution modules while keeping market trends and a region’s special characteristics in mind.

TIME OUT

KUWAIT CITY

The Seif Palace, opposite the grand Mosque is officially the home of the royal family. Today, it only serves as the court if there are special celebrations and events, however.

a very affluent society, however. And the reason for that is not only the wealth bubbling from the oil wells.

FROM SOUQ TO SEASIDE

We’ve changed the scenery from the souq to the seaside. Meanwhile, we're standing in front of one of the last big dhows in Kuwait City’s Dhow Harbour. ­“These traditional sailing ships were used for coastal ­trading, fishing, and pearl diving in the past,” ­explains our guide. Visitors can also get aboard the Fateh El-kheir (brings good fortune), which is the l­ argest, and last surviving wooden Dhow. This ancient ship stands for a time when Kuwait was particularly famous for ­maritime business and selling the best quality pearls from the Arabian Gulf. The dhows used for pearl d ­ iving were called ghawas and sanbouk, today this line of ­business remains a thing dearly remembered, but long gone. What stayed, however, is the Kuwaiti ­people’s strong business acumen.

and ­traditional costumes. “You should also t­aste the dates, honey, spices, sweets, v­ egetables, ­fruits, meat, and fish here,” Samar smiles, while we stroll the c­ overed aisles. A short visit to a souq wouldn’t be complete ­ without checking out the silver and gold j­ewelry-shops, however: “Kuwait is ­ known for high quality ­ornaments,” says Samar. “But you have to h ­ aggle, if you want to buy.

The gold is of a high standard but not really cheap here. No merchant will give you a bargain at less than market value. But the ­difference is the ­making ­charge. It ­depends on your negoti­ ating skills, how much you’ll pay.”

Meeting over a cup of coffee is one of the fovourite pastimes in Kuwait City. The younger generation prefers Starbucks, though.

22

ONLY 10% OWN A CREDIT CARD

As we observe the happenings in one of the gold shops, we notice that paying in cash is still very c­ommon.

“Only 10% of the Kuwaitis even own a credit card,” ­explains Samar. “Everything that can’t be paid in cash is paid via debit card.” Not having credit cards doesn’t mean the Kuwaitis are poor, however. According to the world bank, the country has the fourth highest per capita income in the world. “That’s true,” says Samar, “but also keep in mind that 500,000 of the 2.2 million inhabitants are housemaids and that there are still many expats living in Kuwait.” Walking the streets of Kuwait City, you can’t help but noticing that this still is

Visitors who want to go scuba diving in the calm ­waters of the Persian Gulf should ask one of the local ­providers of diving equipment like ‘Kuwait D ­ iving Team’ for tips,” ­Samar tells us. “Boating to small Kubbar Island, l­ocated a little off the coast, is particularly nice for a ­diving trip. But you have to go early. In the afternoon, it gets very crowded.” We embark on another boat trip instead and visit Failaka Island, which is among

Emir Sabah alAhmad al-Dschabir as-Sabah is the head of state in this constitutional emirate, which is among the Middle East’s most free countries.

Photos: Left page © Alamy/Shutterstock/The White House from Washington, DC; Right page © Shutterstock/Alamy

» People in Kuwait have a very strong business acumen.«

TIME OUT

KUWAIT CITY

2

YOU HAVE TO

OVER THE MAKING CHARGE, IF YOU WANT TO BUY GOLD AT A SOUQ.

3

1

6

4

1 Located on Arabian Gulf Road in Sharq district, the Kuwait Towers are one of the famous landmarks in Kuwait. Built in March 1979, it comprises two major towers and a minor tower.

2 The Gold souqs in Kuwait City are among the best in the Middle East. The ornaments are very beautiful, but the prices are not exactly a bargain.

3-7 Strolling the undercover alleys of the 200-year-old Souq Al Mubarakiya travelers can get a taste of traditional life and food. They can taste all kinds of dates, honey, spices, sweets, vegetables, fruits, meat, and fish at prime quality there.

5

7

TIME OUT

the best known tourist destinations in Kuwait.

One reason being the archeological sites, some from the Bronze age and the Dilmun civilisation. Even the Greeks under Alexander the Great left their mark and built temples there. But especially in the spring, the gentle breeze, budding flowers and vibrant flora are worth the visit, as well.

Kuwait has made a name for itself as a foodie destination in the Gulf region. Not only for traditional food like hummus and lamb, but also for many new food concepts.

1

NIGHTSHOPPING INSTEAD OF BARS

Back in the city, it’s high time for some traditional Arabic food and Samar decides to get us a table at

“Burj Al Hamam,” an unmissable waterfront restaurant.

“This is a terrific place to sample Middle Eastern c­ uisine,” boasts our guide. And she’s right: Grilled meat and seafood dominate, but how could anyone resist the hummus with lamb and pine nuts, drizzled with lamb fat? Delicious. While the sun sets over the sea, we ­decide to finish off the day in one of the many huge shopping malls. “Going night shopping is big over here.

As alcohol is prohibited outside the western hotels, people seldom go to bars. They meet at the mall.”

CLEVER DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

There are many malls to choose from – Sharq, Marina, Al Kout or Al Hamra Tower Mall. We decide to visit “The Avenues” today. Located in the Al-Rai Industrial Area and spread over an area of 301,000 square meters, the mall attracts more than 20 million visitors a year and a total business exceeding $1 billion. With 850 stores, 12 anchors and a parking capacity for 12,000 ­vehicles, it is the largest in Kuwait City. “The malls play a very important role for us at paysafecard, too,” S­amar ­ ­explains. “Our n ­ etwork of currently 3,000 Points of Sale relies strongly on mobile shops, self-service kiosks and ­hypermarkets, which are very often located in these big

2

3

1 Especially in the 19th century, Kuwait was known for exporting the best quality pearls from the Arabian Gulf.

2 Today the reefs off the coast of Kuwait City are very popular among local scuba divers.

3 Water sports like jet skiing or sailing are a favorite pastime in the calm waters of the Persian Gulf.

4 Before the oil boom Kuwait was known for its dhows, vessels used for maritime trade and pearl diving.

5 The Avenues is one of the biggest malls in Kuwait.

Spread over an area of 301,000 square meters, the mall attracts more than 20 million visitors a year.

6 Even the Greek Emperor Alexander the Great’s men loved the gulf’s coast and built some temples on Failaka island.

4

Photos: Left page © Alamy/Shutterstock; Right page © Alamy/Shutterstock

KUWAIT CITY

TIME OUT

KUWAIT CITY

PLACES

to go FOUR TOP RESTAURANTS: BURJ AL HAMAM

malls. This s­ pecial take on distribution helps us reach the young digital natives, who love g ­ aming and e-­commerce.”

And now we notice. Here they are again: All those young, ­fashionably dressed Kuwaitis with their mobile ­phones and laptop cases, we already met in the morning at ­Starbucks. And as our day with S­ amar comes full circle we realise, Kuwait City is not only ­beautiful and a fun place to spend a day off, but it's also a very interesting market for doing ­business online.

This unmissable waterfront restaurant is a terrific place to sample Middle Eastern fare.

Grilled meat and seafood dominate, but how could anyone resist the hummus with lamb and pine nuts, drizzled with lamb fat?

The focus is the Levant, but you’ll find dishes from as far afield as Egypt and Armenia, and a few other exotic surprises (such as a raw-meat platter).

Shopping is a very popular after work activity in Kuwait City.

There are many great malls, like the Al Kout Mall shown here.

GREEN LAND

This excellent Indian restaurant, with its classy dining area, is a real find. It's all vegetarian, it does a popular South Indian thali lunch or dinner for just KD 1,600 and the choice of dishes seems endless.

It’s located just left off the main souq thoroughfare as you enter from Abdullah Al Mubarak Street.

5

MAIS ALGHANIM

6

PEOPLE GO

AT NIGHT INSTEAD OF MEETING AT A BAR.

They’ve been serving excellent Arab cooking at this fine place for six decades and it shows in cooking that never misses a beat. The charcoal-grilled meats and seafood are the highlights, but there’s so much leading up to them (salads, dips, all manner of mezze) that having enough room to fit it all in seems to be your biggest problem when dining here.

NAZ

The “Persian soul food” at this casual eatery is terrific, with the full range of kebabs, salads and stews.

25

INSIDE

PAYSAFECARD

The social brand Catherine Thaler is responsible for over 1,500 editorial contributions across all of paysafecard’s social media channels. PIN talked to the Senior Social Media Specialist about her content strategy and how merchants and distributors can benefit from paysafecard’s social media activities.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube: paysafecard is busy on every social media channel that is r­elevant to the paysafecard brand and its target group. ­“Especially

CATHERINE THALER Senior Social Media Specialist, paysafecard

the young online population loves paysafecard. So for us it’s obvious, that we want to communicate with them on channels they love to use on a day-to-day b ­ asis,” ­explains Catherine Thaler. The figures prove that this strategy works: paysafecard has 1.3 million fans on Facebook, 143,000 Followers on Twitter, 17,000 on Instagram and 80,000 on YouTube. “On Facebook e ­ specially we focus on content that is relevant to young ­predominantly male gamers. But what’s e ­ qually i­mportant is our 24/7 support.

Our Customer Care team answers posts and private messages d ­ ealing with our products and partners in seven

paysafecard’s social media universe number of followers: regularity & contents: supported languages:

1.3 M 3–5 posts a week, very active gamingcommunity & customer care German, English, French, Spanish, Polish, Greek, Italian

143 k

80 k

3–5 tweets a week, additional live content from fairs and events English

no regularity, support channel, reach of channel is used for promoting brand awareness English

17 k 1–2 posts a week, additional live content from fairs and events English

10 k 1–2 posts a week, focused on tech and geek content English

transfer connections with a single integration. All that is needed by consumers is an email address and password.

One Checkout – many options Integration of the “Skrill Quick Checkout” lets customers choose from more than 20 local payment methods and over 80 direct bank transfer connections. paysafecard is one of the options they don’t want to miss.

Adding Skrill to an online merchant’s checkout is one of the fastest and easiest ways to capture payments. By selecting Skrill’s hosted solution, merchants can add cards, more than 20 local payment methods and over 80 direct bank

26

Via “Skrill Quick Check out” there are also many alternative payment methods to choose from. paysafecard is among them and helps merchants generate substantial revenue.

“Consumers want choice at the checkout and the ‘Skrill Quick Checkout’ is the easiest way to provide it,” says Udo Müller, paysafecard’s CEO. “paysafecard perfectly fits this easy to set up all-in-one-solution as it is tailored to the needs of a very specific target group that seldomly uses certain payment methods like credit cards.”

BEST-IN-CLASS SERVICE AND SOLUTIONS

Udo Müller is proud of the joint activities of Skrill and paysafecard to provide best-in-class service for their ­ partners. “I think, this cooperation is a perfect example of how different brands in the ­Paysafe Group are working together in creating innovative payment methods for online merchants. The ‘Skrill Quick Checkout’ especially has been a success in 2016. But we are looking ­forward to offering many more best-in-class solutions to b ­ usinesses and consumers around the world in 2017.”

Photos: Left page © Shutterstock, paysafecard, Skrill/Paysafe; Right page © Shutterstock

CONSUMERS WANT CHOICE

INSIDE

PAYSAFECARD

MSC enters next phase A new version of the Merchant Service Center has been released. A bunch of new features are included, such as a new Reporting Tool and an update of the Reporting Dashboard.

­languages.” ­paysafecard uses the biggest communities on F­ acebook and ­Twitter not only for its own B2C-­strategy, however.

B2B MEDIA COOPERATIONS

“We also want to help our merchants and distributors reach end consumers who are important to them. That’s why we feature them on our channels via special news that are relevant to our customers,” says the social media specialist. What’s very useful for paysafecard’s B2B partners in this ­respect is that c­ ommunication can be targeted via F­ acebook. Every one of the 43 countries, where ­paysafecard is available, can be addressed ­specifically. “Our ­editorial team is communicating in German, ­ English, French, Greek, Polish, Italian, and Spa­nish and thus we can tailor our posts to any of our 43 markets,” ­Thaler ­explains and adds: ­“Therefore a ­social ­me­dia ­cooperation is a nice option for our B2B partners to ­address new ­markets, ­co­op­erations and also promo­­tions!”

paysafecard’s social media team regularly shares select news of its B2B-partners with its community.

With our customer surveys and our internal data we are able to find out who our customers are and what they want. We analysed all collected data and summarised them to personas which helps us to better visualize ­typical representatives of our target groups internally. The first paysafecard customer we want to introduce you to is Kai, typically from Germany:

paysafecard personas

KAI 16 years old student Germany

The revised version of the MSC helps merchants to keep track of their business via paysafecard even b ­ etter. Through the integrated Merchant Reporting Tool they are able to access their reporting suite through the MSC in real time, for example. They can view all reports online or download them to CSV. There are two types of reports: The ­transaction report is used for those investigations into incomplete transactions with filter criteria allowing the merchant to pinpoint very specific cases. The debit report allows them to analyse the completed transactions with full breakdown of fees and more. The Debit report is also available through our REST API so they can create custom reports with our service center and integrate it with their existing systems.

Furthermore, the MRT is more user-friendly.

THE NEW REPORTING DASHBOARD

Additionally the new performance dashboard gives the merchant a real-time snapshot of their transaction per­formances: number of transactions today, volume ­transactions today in MID currency, average ­transaction amount today in MID currency, last 7 days view of ­transaction count, last 7 days transaction volume in MID currency, top 5 countries in terms of transaction count last 7 days or percentage desktop vs mobile in last 7 days. This analytics dashboard will evolve within the future. To learn more about MSC, please take a look for yourself, or contact your account manager: www.paysafecard.com/msc

KEEP CALM AND GAME ON! Kai loves to play LoL on his PC, and he also likes to play the latest Battlefield on his games console. paysafecard customer for: 4 months Current status: paysafecard only Uses paysafecard because: Is too young for a credit card; he r­ egularly gets paysafecard PINs from his mother and granddad.

Motivation for “my paysafecard”: None (too young), but he wants to keep the classic paysafecard PIN as his payment ­option later anyway. The only exception would be if his ­favorite webshops o­ffer only “my paysafecard” as an option.

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PAYSAFE GROUP

Paysafe showcases new products at Money20/20 Paysafe has been showcasing its latest payment technology products and insights at Money20/20 from ­October 23rd to 26th at The Venetian Casino in Las Vegas. ­Money20/20 organizes the largest global events enabling payments and financial services innovation for connected commerce at the intersection of mobile, retail, marketing services, data and technology. 10,000+ visitors, including more than 1,000 CEOs, from over 3,000 companies and 75 countries attended this year. During the event Paysafe President and Chief Executive Officer Joel Leonoff spoke

Paysafe’s team at Money20/20 discussed the new range of products at booth 2434 at the Venitian in Las Vegas.

on opportunities, challenges and the role of partnerships in Global X-Border E-Commerce on Wednesday, while Paysafe’s Chief Operating Officer ­Danny Chazonoff lifted the curtain on the company’s new mobile ordering platform GOLO on Monday.

ANTICIPATING PAYMENT TRENDS

Visitors who wanted to know more about the new range of products could discuss them with Paysafe’s team at booth 2434. The company’s evolving range of payment services include innovations which meet current and ­future needs of merchants and consumers and anticipate emerging payment trends. This comes as the w ­ orldwide payments industry is transformed – both in terms of ­digital payments and the data and analytics capabilities that are enabling people to manage their money on the move, how, when and where they want. Paysafe provides digital payments and transaction-related solutions to ­businesses and consumers around the world by ­enabling ways to pay before, pay now and pay later through d ­ igital wallets, prepaid solutions, payment processing and card issuing and acquiring products and services in more than 200 countries and territories.

» X-Border E-Commerce is one of the most interesting segments of our industry. «

JOEL LEONOFF President & CEO, Paysafe Group plc

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Photos: Left page © Shutterstock, Paysafe; Right page © Odlo, Paysafe

President Joel Leonoff and COO Danny Chazonoff ­showcased latest product developments at leading fintech conference at the Venitian in Las Vegas.

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PAYSAFE GROUP

Rapid Transfer: Skrill boosts its instant banking option Rapid Transfer allows consumers to upload funds to their digital wallet and make online payments instantly from their bank account without leaving a merchant’s website.

Available in the UK, in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, ­Hungary, Poland and Spain with more than 100 banks, Rapid Transfer provides consumers with a payment option that has the convenience of traditional online banking and opens up a faster transaction method for online merchants. ­ Optimised for mobile, desktop and other ­devices, Rapid Transfer ­negates the need for multiple ­log-ins, offering consumers a seamless, quick and ­secure experience. Once Skrill has verified that the requested funds are available, the p ­ ayment is confirmed to the merchant in real-­ time. For merchants, the benefits include receiving ­ payments instantly using Skrill’s banking network; higher sales conversion rates thanks to no customer ­registration ­required; and a safe and secure payment method with easy integration mechanisms. CEO Digital Wallets at P ­ aysafe Lorenzo Pellegrino said: “Rapid ­Transfer is a fast, safe and convenient instant banking solution for c­ onsumers to move funds, and it provides merchants with an improved payment option with competitive conversion rates. It’s another way for merchants to offer consumers fast and effective payment choices.”

payolution launches in the UK payolution’s ‘buy now, pay later’ service goes live with norwegian based online retailer Odlo. payolution, a specialist in white-label e-commerce payment solutions, announced the UK launch of its ‘buy now, pay later’ service. Vienna-based payolution’s entry into this latest market starts with the first UK integration of the company’s instalment payment option for Odlo, the Norwegian-based online sports retailer with stores across the UK and Europe. payolution is part of global payments provider Paysafe Group and the UK launch represents its latest expansion into a new European market following payolution’s launch in the Netherlands in June. Performance sportswear retailer Odlo will use payolution’s white-label payments service to process transactions and administration relating to the checkout process.

Smiling faces all over on stage at the 2016 Payments Awards in London.

Paysafe named Best Merchant Acquirer/Processor at 2016 Payments Awards Paysafe has been named Best Merchant Acquirer/­ Processor at this year’s Payments Awards on October 20th in London.

The accolade was announced on October 20, 2016 at an awards ceremony at the London Marriott ­Hotel, Grosvenor Square. The Payments Awards, ­ organised by FStech and Retail Systems,

distinguishes excellence and innovation in the cards and payments sector, recognising companies, individuals and organisations who have launched and/or implemented the most outstanding ­payments solutions, initiatives and projects during the past year. The award adds to a growing list of accolades for the company’s pay before, pay now and pay later solutions, including Best Online or Mobile Commerce Solution at the Pay 2016 awards and EGaming Review’s Payments and Fraud ­company award.

KEEP INNOVATING TO STAY RELEVANT

Commenting on the recognition, Joel Leonoff, President and CEO of Paysafe, said: “At Paysafe, we understand the need to keep innovating to remain relevant in this ­rapidly-evolving industry. I am delighted that the hard work and contributions of the team have been recognised among our peers. Our Payment Processing division con­ tinues to go from strength to strength as we improve our merchant onboarding process, expand into new ­sectors and territories and launch new products and services, such as our upcoming Mobile Ordering platform called GOLO. I am particularly pleased with the recognition for our ­evolving acquiring business, which also recently ­launched multi-currency cross-border payment capabilities.”

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PAYSAFE GROUP

Paysafe launches EMV-enabled global omni-channel Through the expanded partnership with Handpoint Paysafe offers end-to-end frictionless payments online, in-store and through mobile devices and tablets.

Paysafe has expanded its long-term partnership with Handpoint, the award-winning FinTech provider p ­ owering NextGen point of sale (POS), to offer EMV-­ready mobile point of sale and online payment solutions to merchants and partners in Canada, the US and Europe. Through this partnership, Paysafe offers end-to-end ­frictionless payments online, in-store and through mobile devices and

tablets. The global solution supports ­Paysafe’s g ­ rowing Integrated Partnership Channel. This provides Value ­Added Resellers and Independent ­Software ­Vendors and Software-as-a-Service companies, such as M ­ embership Management Platforms, Donor Management Platforms and Field Service Software Applications, with the ability to take in-person or online payments using a solution that is directly integrated into their technology p ­ latforms. ­According to a Forrester report, business suppliers are ­racing to meet buyer demands driven by consumer online buying experiences. 83% of B2B sellers are either in the process of upgrading/implementing their e-com-

than 25,000 affiliates use the company’s m ­ ulti-channel s­ oftware for their ­marketing campaigns.

Paysafe acquires Income Access Income Access’ technology platform and 25,000+ affiliate network further enhance Paysafe’s product capabilities.

Paysafe has expanded its product capabilities by acquir­ing Income Access Group (“Income Access”), a pioneering affiliate technology business for a cash consideration of approximately $30 million. Income Access is a market-­leading brand providing ­innovative affiliate technology for businesses to manage their ­performance marketing programmes. In a­ ddition, more

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Income Access is based in M ­ ontreal with employees in Vancouver, London and ­Brisbane. Paysafe President and Chief Executive Officer Joel Leonoff said: “By adding Income Access’s affiliate technology to our product suite alongside our Skrill and ­NETELLER brands and deepening our merchant ­relationships, this ­transaction delivers on ­ Paysafe’s ­ strategic ­ objectives to provide ­relevant payment sol­utions that serve the evolving needs of our merchants.

Income ­Access is an excellent fit for our business. This ­acquisition will help to extend our leadership position in niche-orientated payment solutions as we add value for our merchants and redefine the role of a payments ­provider,” Leonoff said.

ABOUT INCOME ACCESS

Income Access is a technology and digital m ­ arketing business servicing the global gambling and ­ ­ gaming market. Through its award-winning software and a ­ partner­ ship-centric approach, Income Access d ­elivers comprehensive data and strategic insight on marketing campaigns across all digital and offline channels.

Photos: Left page © Shutterstock, istockphoto; Right page © Paysafe

ADDING VALUE FOR THE MERCHANTS

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PAYSAFE GROUP

merce suite or planning to do so within six months. ­Paysafe’s omni-channel solutions enable merchants to accept credit cards, debit cards and ACH (Direct Debit) payments through its PCI-DSS compliant payment gateway. The solutions offer t­ okenization to protect and safely ­store customer data, and use Paysafe’s state-of-the-art REST APIs and SDKs for seamless integration.

PERFECT FOR IN-FIELD PAYMENTS

The new Paysafe MPOS mobile app for iOS and ­Android is built exclusively to work with Handpoint’s secure ­ mobile payments solution, and is perfect for merchants looking to accept in-field payments. Software developers can also choose to integrate user-­ ­ friendly SDKs for mobile ­ platforms and cloud-based POS to take advantage of ­ Paysafe and Handpoint’s end-toend mobile EMV solution: P2PE security, pre-certified EMV, fast and easy merchant activation, and remote terminal management. Danny Chazonoff, Chief Operating Officer at Paysafe, ­commented: “As the payments landscape evolves, integrated payment solutions are becoming ­increasingly important to a merch­ant’s payment offering. With our global reach and support of local payment methods through a single integration to our proprietary gateway platform, our Integrated Partner­ship Program is one of the most complete in the market today. Our omni-channel capabilities, supported by our long-standing relationship with Handpoint, further solidify our value proposition for our partners and merchants around the world.” David Gudjonsson, CEO

and co-­founder of Handpoint, said: “Our complementary relationship with Paysafe allows us to work together on deploying multichannel payment solutions to businesses and merchants worldwide. We’re excited to con-

» Our Integrated Partnership Program is one of the most complete in the market today. « tinue to support Paysafe with our award-winning mPOS and POS solutions.” Paysafe and Handpoint exhibited at the Money20/20 show in Las Vegas where they ­provided demos of mPOS and POS solutions.

ABOUT HANDPOINT

Handpoint has pioneered major innovations in the mobile payments market, including developing an mPOS (mobile point-of-sale) solution with EMV ­payments and has won multiple awards for the high pace of innovation in developing their backend and frontend e ­ nabling platform.

DANNY CHAZONOFF COO, Paysafe Group plc

paysafecard events Here you can find an overview of upcoming trade shows and events paysafecard is attending. Make an appointment now!

We look forward to seeing you!

INDUSTRY EVENT

DATE

LOCATION

Gaming

EGR Operator Awards

28 Nov 2016

London, UK mark.watts@paysafe.com

Distribution

EXPO Presse 2017

14 - 15 Jan 2017

Paris, France

Gaming

ICE Totally Gaming 2017

07 - 09 Feb 2017

London, UK mark.watts@paysafe.com

Games

casual connect

07 - 09 Feb 2017

Berlin, Germany vera.wittrich@paysafe.com

Games

GDC Game Developers Conference

27 Feb-03 Mar 2017 San Francisco, USA stefan.stoeckel@paysafe.com

Games

RBTE Retail Business Technology Expo 2017 08 - 09 May 2017

London, UK andreas.schober@paysafe.com

Games

gamescom 2017

Cologne, Germany vera.wittrich@paysafe.com

22 - 26 Aug 2017

CONTACT

manuel.fleischmann@paysafe.com

If you want to get more info or want to know, how you can meet us at one of these events, please feel free to contact your account manager or write an email to: B2Bmarketing@paysafecard.com

Product Availability

paysafecard my paysafecard paysafecard MasterCard® scan2pay app epin online shop

Supported language

issuing currency

AR Argentina AT Austria AU Australia BE Belgium4 BG Bulgaria1 CA Canada HR Croatia CY Cyprus CZ Czech Republic2 DK Denmark FI Finland FR France4 GE Georgia2 DE Germany GI Gibraltar GR Greece HU Hungary2 IE Ireland IT Italy KW Kuwait LV Latvia LI Liechtenstein LT Lithuania

Spanish German English French, Dutch Bulgarian English, French Croatian Greek Czech Danish Finnish French Georgian, English German English Greek Hungarian English Italian Arabic, English Latvian, Russian German, English English, Lithuanian

ARS 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1000 EUR 10, 25, 50, 100 AUD 10, 20, 50, 100 EUR 10, 25, 50, 100 BGN 10, 20, 50, 100 CAD 10, 30, 50, 100, 150, 250 HRK 50, 100, 200, 500 EUR 10, 25, 50, 100 CZK 100, 300, 1000, 2000 DKK 100, 300, 500, 1000 EUR 10, 25, 50, 100 EUR 10, 25, 50, 100 GEL 10, 20, 30, 50, 70 EUR 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 50, 100 GBP 10, 25, 50, 75, 100 EUR 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 HUF 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, 25,000 EUR 10, 25, 50, 100 EUR 10, 25, 50, 100 KWD 5, 10, 20, 60 EUR 10, 25, 50, 75, 100 CHF 25, 75, 150 EUR 5, 10, 25, 50, 100

face value

supported language

issuing currency

face value

LU Luxembourg2 German, French EUR 10, 25, 50, 100 MT Malta English EUR 10, 25, 50, 100 MX Mexico Spanish MXN 100, 250, 500, 1000 Dutch EUR 10, 25, 50, 100 NL Netherlands4 NZ New Zealand English NZD 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 NO Norway Norse NOK 100, 250, 500, 1000 PE Peru Spanish PEN 20, 50, 100, 200, 300

USD 10, 20, 50, 100, 2005 PL Poland Polish PLN 20, 30, 50, 100, 300 PT Portugal Portuguese EUR 10, 25, 50, 100 RO Romania Romanian RON 25, 50, 100, 300 SA Saudi Arabia Arabic, English SAR 50, 100, 200, 400 SK Slovakia Slovak EUR 10, 25, 50, 100 SI Slovenia Slovenian EUR 10, 25, 50, 100 ES Spain Spanish EUR 10, 25, 50, 100 SE Sweden Swedish SEK 100, 250, 500, 1000 CH Switzerland German, French, Italian CHF 25, 75, 150 TR Turkey Turkish TL 10, 20, 50, 100 4 GBP 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, UK United Kingdom English

125, 150, 1756 US United States English USD 10, 25, 50, 100 UY Uruguay Spanish UYU 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 3000

USD 20, 50, 1003

1 In Bulgaria, the use of paysafecard is always linked to the online payment account my paysafecard. Local AML regulations in Bulgaria demand one-time customer identity verification through paysafecard.

Only status unlimited possible. 2 Status unlimited not possible. 3 The USD face values in Uruguay are only available in the Redpagos point of sales. 4 Junior cards for minors are available in the following face values: BE: 5, 10, 25 EUR, FR: 10, 25 EUR, NL: 5, 10, 25 EUR, UK: 10, 25, 50, 75 GBP 5 The USD face values in Peru are only available in the Safety Pay online shop. 6 Additional face values available at Paypoint POS only.

Our paysafecard sales team is happy to answer any questions: success@paysafecard.com | www.paysafecard.com/business