The new integration will make Steam more accessible for gamers in countries like India, China, and Brazil.
Now even more gamers around the world can experience the wallet-draining effect of a Steam sale, even those without a credit card.
That’s because you can now pay for items on Steam via the virtual currency bitcoin. Payment processor BitPay on Wednesday announced the new integration, noting that it will make Steam more accessible for gamers in emerging gaming markets in countries like India, China, and Brazil.
“While more users are coming online in in these countries, traditional payment options like credit cards often aren’t available,” BitPay Director of Business Development Rory Desmond wrote in a blog post. “As the Internet’s universal currency, bitcoin will allow Steam to easily reach gamers in every market around the world — without the high fees or the risk of chargeback fraud that come with card payments.”
Thanks to this new integration, gamers will be able to use any bitcoin wallet to pay for items on Steam, without having to provide sensitive financial information. BitPay said it hopes to bring the same functionality to additional gaming platforms in the future. “Bitcoin has a bright future in gaming,” Desmond wrote.
For the uninitiated, Valve’s Steam platform, founded in 1996, is currently used by more than 89 million gamers in 237 countries. The platform boasts more than 9,000 games.
A number of tech companies have embraced bitcoin payments of late, including Newegg, Dell, and Microsoft.
source: http://ift.tt/1O2JfLj