FILIPINO gamers will now experience more convenient digital financial services as leading Southeast Asian esports and video game content ecosystem Nexplay and UnionDigital Bank, the digital bank entity of UnionBank, signed recently an exclusive partnership to provide Filipino gamers with those services.
“UnionDigital Bank is driven to further empower the Philippines’ digital economy. Our partnership with
Nexplay allows us to offer our financial services to today’s Filipino gamers, enabling them more by giving
access to a digital bank account. We are looking forward to this collaboration with Nexplay to propel our
higher purpose – Tech-ing Up today’s generation of Filipinos, especially gamers,” said Arvie De Vera, Co-
founder and CEO of UnionDigital Bank.
In 2019, 43 million Filipino gamers spent a total of US$572 million on games, four-fifths engaged with
in-game microtransactions such as buying power-ups and game cosmetics. The following year, revenue
generated by the online gaming industry sat at US$24 million. As cashless payment methods grow in
prominence due in part to the pandemic, UnionDigital Bank sees an opportunity to empower Filipino
gamers by providing more accessible financial solutions not limited to traditional deposit accounts and
debit cards.
De Vera said Nexplay opens opportunities for UnionDigital Bank to engage the country’s digital natives in
platforms they are quite familiar with: games. “This is particularly important if you consider the rise of
play-to-earn gaming and content streaming in the Philippines,”
Nexplay, a Singapore-based company with Filipino leadership, is scaling its business in the Philippines.
After reporting a 150-percent year-on-year revenue growth early this year, Nexplay is gearing up to develop its own Web3 IP in the digital gaming space. The premier Southeast Asian esports gaming brand brings a 250 million-strong built community of video game enthusiasts, young professional esports athletes, over 400 high profile content creators and a solid portfolio of more than 200 big brands and clients.
“For Nexplay, our mission has always been helping gamers succeed. Working with UnionDigital Bank will
help crystallize this combined vision of making financial services more accessible to our massive gaming
community, our fans, our teams and our talents to enrich their digital experience. Together, we are
committed to encourage greater financial inclusion within the rapidly growing gaming community in the
Philippines, especially the next-generation gamers,” shared Gabriel Paulo Benito, Co-founder and CEO of
Nexplay.
(Photo shows (L-R): Miguel Bernas, President and Co-Founder of NEXPLAY; Arvie De Vera, CEO and Co-
founder of UnionDigital Bank; Gabriel Benito, CEO and Co-founder of NEXPLAY