Update: The Google Wallet team stated in a tweet not too long ago that “exciting things are coming for Google Wallet and the Wallet Card,” so although some of the referencing to Google Wallet on the Play Store support page for payment methods may have been replaced with different terminology, it appears Google Wallet still has much to give and will be introducing something new and exciting down the line.
With Android Pay looming and an eventual launch for Android devices nearing, Google seems to be moving towards a reality where Google Wallet will one day cease to exist under its own branding. As of now, Google Wallet is still present in various places. The app is still available as a download in the Play Store, the Google Wallet card is still capable of being requested and you can pay for things in the Play Store using your Google Wallet balance. Google has already been open though about the fact that Android Pay will end up handling the mobile payments portion of their payments services once it launches, so there will be no reason for Google Wallet to handle the same task.
When this time comes Google Wallet will still serve as a means for transferring money between Google Wallet users, but for how long? It appears that Google is starting to remove references of Google Wallet from the payments support page, now stating that users can pay for things using payment methods they’ve added to their Google Account where it use to state they could pay for things using the payment methods they had added to Google Wallet. This is a small change to be sure, but one which will be followed up by all of Google Wallet’s services and functions being transferred to other apps or services, and when that happens Google Wallet will offer a standalone function, which is transferring funds between users.
This leaves Google with little reason to keep Google Wallet going by itself when they could just roll the transfer funds portion under Google Payments which will be handling the online payments services for things bought online or through the Play Store, something which Google Wallet currently does. Whether or not Google completely gets rid of Wallet and decides to merge the funds transfer service under Google payments is all but known at this point, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Google Payments take over fully in the way of everything Google wallet used to do, save for the mobile payments portion of course which is what Android Pay is for.