Among several Southeast Asian countries, the Philippines has the most relaxed policy on casino games, which is undoubtedly a welcome for casual games such as chess and cards. The board game market in the Philippines has a lot of room for development, which is very worthy of the attention of overseas entrepreneurs. If you are interested in board games and desire to exploit the Philippines market, the following information may be helpful to you.





Basic information about the Philippines



With a population of more than 100 million, Philippines is the second most populous country in Southeast Asia, undoubtedly has a huge demographic dividend. Among them, the population aged 15-34 accounts for about 70%, and the population structure is significantly younger. The large consumer population, as well as the youthfulness of the consumer population structure, decide its huge market potential.



There are about 67 million Internet users in the Philippines, accounting for about 60% of the total population, and the penetration rate of smartphones has reached 66%. The usage rate of the Internet by young people in the Philippines is high, accounting for 40% of mobile Internet users in the Philippines between the ages of 18 and 24, nearly 8 percentage points higher than the average in Southeast Asia. However, the quality of the mobile network in the Philippines is not optimistic, and the network speed is slow, so when board games go overseas to the Philippines, the size of the game installation package is worthful to pay attention to.





Philippine gaming market



Compared with the other five countries in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam), the Philippine game market is less mature, but with the gradual stabilization of the Philippine political situation, economic development and continuous improvement of smartphone penetration, the Philippine game market is developing rapidly, and the size of the Philippine mobile game market has reached $300 million in 2020.



Due to the general development of local Internet technology in the Philippines, the Philippine market has been relying on game outsourcing for many years, which makes local players more picky about game graphics, quality, and so on. In addition, Filipino players have less enthusiasm for pay-to-play games, and in-game advertising is a more appropriate way to monetize in this market.



The official languages of the Philippines are English and Filipino. As a result of the influence of American colonization, the current social networking, games and other Internet behaviors in the Philippines are more similar to those in Europe and the United States, so board games going overseas to the Philippines, in the choice of in-game language, can be based on English and Filipino.





Social and search habits in the Philippines



To go overseas to the Philippines, board games need to pay as much attention to the social habits of Filipino players as much as possible. Crush on social media, half of the 60 million social media users are active social users, they spend an average of about 3 hours and 50 minutes a day on social media sites, even the number of Filipino social media users have also ranked first in the world (data in 2020).



In the Philippines, the most active social platform is Facebook, followed by Google+ and Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin. In general, Filipino users love social platforms very much and will use social platforms to carry out many activities, so advertising optimization through social software such as Facebook will be one of the important channels for board games to obtain customers.



There are two influential search engines in the Philippines: Google Philippines and Yehey. Google Search is popular among Filipino users and is the number one search engine in the Philippines. Yehey is the largest and most important portal and search engine in the Philippines, but the search is in low quality. Generally, Google uses more, therefore placing Google search engine ads and continuous search engine optimization is also the key point when board games go overseas to the Philippines.





Regulation of online board games in the Philippines



The Philippines is known as the "gambling capital of Southeast Asia", with about 20 casinos in the capital city of Manila alone, not only that, but online casinos and sports betting are also gradually emerging and becoming more and more popular in the Philippines. The Philippines is open to casino establishments, provided that they have a government-issued license and are regulated and controlled by the central government.



Since gambling is allowed in the Philippines, there are various types of online casino games in the Philippines. And in the casino game rankings, Slots, Fishing, Texas,21points, Lucky 9 are popular. Board games go overseas to the Philippines, there are not too many restrictions on the choice of board game types, whether it is skill games or probability games has a lot of room for development in the Philippines market.





Local payment methods in the Philippines



The Philippines also has e-wallets like Alipay, such as GCash, which is the largest e-wallet in the Philippines. Its function is very similar to Alipay, and there are currently more than 8 million users in the Philippines. Users can pass GCash account deposits, recharge, transfers, online shopping, etc., simultaneously there are also payment scanning functions. Other similar e-wallet software can be Grab Pay.

Furthermore, online bank transfer is also a commonly used payment method for Filipino people, of which Dragon pay is the largest, covering more than 4,000 banks and 2,000 offline payment points. Users can complete payment by online banking, bank counters, ATMs. Since Pay Pal has very low penetration in the Philippines and other countries, the online payment method replaced by Dragon Pay offers greater security and convenience than credit cards.



In addition to e-wallets and bank transfers, operator payments are also commonly used payment tools in the Philippines, with a very high penetration rate in the Philippines.





Other Considerations for the Philippines



The Philippines was a Western colony, so it blended many Eastern and Western customs and characteristics. About 85% of the Philippines is Catholic, and the majority of Chinese believe in Buddhism. People in the upper class of the Philippines, due to the influence of Western society, like the American way of life, and most love jasmine (national flower) and yellow color. Filipinos are very taboo about the number "13" . They believe that “13” is a "fierce god" and a symbol of doom and disaster.





Epilogue



In the Philippine, the research and development strength of local game is weak. And the attitude towards casino games such as chess and cards is tolerant and policy-friendly, coupled with the Philippines is in the period of demographic dividend, so the Philippines' board game market is broad. Board games go overseas to Southeast Asia, the Philippines will be a good place.





Foxuc has focused on the development of board games at home and abroad for many years, and has successfully launched a large number of popular board games. According to your needs, we can quickly develop different types of mature board game products to help you occupy the board game market. If you have relevant intentions, Please contact us. We are looking forward to cooperating with you.



Mrs Aileen

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WhatsApp：+639777177893

E-mail：Aileen@foxuc.cn