The Business of Games

Xsolla
  • 5.0 (4)
  • BUSINESS

The Business of Games: A podcast for developers, publishers, and executives navigating the ever-changing game industry.From monetization models to player behavior, from platform shifts to emerging markets, The Business of Games is your guide to all the things transforming how games are built, marketed, and scaled.Hosted by Chris Hewish and Lia Ballentine, each episode blends strategic insight, cinematic storytelling, and candid conversations with the people driving the business of play. You’ll hear from top executives inside studios and strategic partners across the ecosystem who are uncovering the ideas, tactics, and trends shaping tomorrow’s opportunities.Whether you’re launching your first game or scaling a global studio, you’ll find practical strategies, future-forward thinking, and real-world examples you can act on right away.The Business of Games is brought to you by Xsolla, your strategic partner behind the scenes. We bring together “All the Things” to help you simplify operations, unlock new revenue, reach more players, and launch fast.Visit xsolla.com to learn more, connect with our team, and access all the things you need to level up your business of play. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast, where we’ll be sharing updates, highlights, and continuing the discussion. And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, review, and share the podcast with friends and colleagues who want to learn more about the business of games.

  1. Direct-to-consumer: building the infrastructure that makes it real

    2D AGO

    Direct-to-consumer: building the infrastructure that makes it real

    Welcome to The Business of Games Podcast, powered by Xsolla. In this episode, hosts Chris Hewish and Lia Ballentine go a layer deeper into direct-to-consumer — past the strategy, past the economics, and into the infrastructure that determines whether a studio's direct-to-player ambitions actually hold up at scale. Most direct-to-consumer conversations start with intent and end with outcomes. But between the two sits a layer most studios underestimate: the technology stack. Identity systems, payments infrastructure, data pipelines, commerce backends, and emerging Web3 tooling aren't supporting characters in the direct-to-player story. They're the plot. And the studios getting it right aren't necessarily the biggest or most technically sophisticated. They're the ones who made the right architectural decisions early. To explore what those decisions look like in practice, Chris and Lia draw on conversations with two leaders building at the frontier of games technology and infrastructure: Arron Goolsbey, Chief Operating Officer at Mythical Games, who has spent years building direct-to-consumer ecosystems at scale, and Jan Roessner, co-founder and CEO of One Earth Rising, whose work connecting ownable game assets across platforms offers a fresh lens on what player ownership can actually mean. Together, they unpack how identity, data, and commerce infrastructure either enable the player relationship or quietly undermine it. You'll hear why the stack isn't one decision but a sequence of interconnected ones, and why the order matters enormously. Why Web3, stripped of the hype, is best understood as an infrastructure capability rather than a platform unto itself. Why data-informed decision systems are fundamentally different from data-driven dashboards. And why trust infrastructure — payments reliability, fraud prevention, support — isn't a back-office cost center but a direct investment in the player relationship. The through-line is clear: the player relationship you're promising is only as real as the systems you've built to support it. What you'll learn: Why direct-to-consumer is an architectural commitment, not just a business model decisionHow to think about the stack as a sequence and why the order of decisions mattersWhat Web3 tooling actually adds to a direct-to-player infrastructure and where it doesn'tWhy first-party data architecture must be built before you need itHow trust infrastructure becomes a player relationship investmentLet's get into it. For more insights and resources, visit xsolla.com/podcast. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast. That’s where we’ll be sharing updates, highlights, and continuing the discussion. And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, review, and share the podcast with friends who want to learn more about the business of games.

    37 min
  2. From comics to controllers: Bronson Lingamfelter on digital ownership and the future of game discovery

    APR 3

    From comics to controllers: Bronson Lingamfelter on digital ownership and the future of game discovery

    Welcome to Coffee.Press.Play., brought to you by The Business of Games Podcast, powered by Xsolla. Recorded live at GDC 2026 inside the Xsolla Clubhouse, this series puts a twist on the traditional interview format: guests play a round of a classic video game against host Chris Hewish and the outcome determines whether they face an easy question or a hard one. In this first episode, Bronson Lingamfelter, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of One Earth Rising, takes on Chris in a quick battle and earns the easy question — though what follows is anything but a simple conversation. Bronson's path into gaming runs through one of digital media's most transformative moments. Nearly 20 years ago, he helped digitize the comic book industry, co-founding Comixology and building the Buy Once Read Anywhere platform that powered digital comics for Marvel, DC, Image, and more. Now, Bronson is applying those same instincts to games: using emerging technology to rethink how players discover, own, and engage with the titles they love. At One Earth Rising, that means driving new game ownership out of retail environments, bridging loyal CPG audiences into gaming experiences on PlayStation and Steam, and opening up discovery in ways the industry hasn't fully explored yet. One word captures how he got there: ownership. What you'll hear: How digitizing comics shaped Bronson's approach to game ownershipWhat Comixology built and why it mattered before the Walking Dead show changed everythingHow One Earth Rising is using retail activations and CPG partnerships to bring new players into gamesWhy Bronson sees emerging technology as the key to unlocking the next chapter of game discoveryLet’s get into it. Coffee.Press.Play. is an ongoing mini-series, and more conversations with our GDC guests are on the way. Listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch full episodes on our YouTube channel. Missed us at GDC 2026? Stay tuned to our LinkedIn page for announcements on where we'll be next. And catch up on recent episodes at xsolla.com/podcast. For more insights and resources, visit xsolla.com/podcast. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast. That’s where we’ll be sharing updates, highlights, and continuing the discussion. And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, review, and share the podcast with friends who want to learn more about the business of games.

    5 min
  3. Live from GDC: Coffee, conversations, and the business of games

    MAR 27

    Live from GDC: Coffee, conversations, and the business of games

    Welcome to The Business of Games Podcast, brought to you by Xsolla. GDC 2026 brought us something a little different. At Coffee.Press.Play., hosts Chris Hewish and Ed Lin sat down with past guests, friends of the podcast, and new voices from across the industry — all in one place. This short clip captures the energy of those conversations: candid, wide-ranging, and full of the kind of insight you only get when the right people are in the same room. A huge thank you to our guests: Alex Reed, Adam Krause, TJ Consunji, Sue Suhyun Yoon, Bronson Lingamfelter, Jan Roessner, Jenny Xu, Wes Morton, Xander Agosta, Derek Rathbun, Garry Edwards, Ivan Carillo, and Rob Carroll. This is just a taste of what’s coming. Full conversations with our Coffee.Press.Play. guests are on the way as part of an upcoming mini series. Listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch full episodes on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@XsollaPodcast). Missed us at GDC? Stay tuned to our LinkedIn page for announcements on where we'll be next. And catch up on recent episodes at xsolla.com/podcast. For more insights and resources, visit xsolla.com/podcast. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast. That’s where we’ll be sharing updates, highlights, and continuing the discussion. And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, review, and share the podcast with friends who want to learn more about the business of games.

    2 min
  4. The executive summary: what GDC 2026 revealed about the future of games

    MAR 20

    The executive summary: what GDC 2026 revealed about the future of games

    Welcome to The Business of Games Podcast, brought to you by Xsolla. Every March, the games industry makes its pilgrimage to San Francisco. GDC isn't a fan show. It's where developers, executives, investors, and platform teams talk to each other about what's actually happening in the business of games. In this episode, Lia Ballentine flips the script. Xsolla President, Chris Hewish, freshly back from GDC 2026, takes the guest seat to share what he heard on the show floor, inside the Xsolla Clubhouse, and in the conversations between sessions that rarely make it into recap posts. The mood at GDC this year was what Chris describes as cautiously constructive. The turbulence of the past few years — layoffs, studio closures, a hard reset after pandemic-era expansion — hasn't disappeared from memory. But the tone has shifted. Developers have accepted the new market reality and are asking sharper, more practical questions: How do you build sustainably? How do you reach players directly? How do you harness AI without losing what makes games human? Chris walked those halls and had those conversations. In this episode, he brings those insights to life, including perspectives from developers and industry voices he connected with on the ground. What you'll learn: Why GDC 2026 felt different and what "cautiously constructive" actually means for the industryHow AI has moved from theoretical to practical inside real production pipelinesWhy direct-to-player kept surfacing as a through-line across sessions and conversationsWhat the investment climate looks like now, and where capital is starting to flow againHow the most forward-looking studios are shifting from linear development to parallel workflowsWhat one takeaway from GDC 2026 should shape how you build your games business in the year aheadLet's get into it. For more insights and resources, visit xsolla.com/podcast. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast. That’s where we’ll be sharing updates, highlights, and continuing the discussion. And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, review, and share the podcast with friends who want to learn more about the business of games.

    18 min
  5. Authenticity at scale: Mac Marshall on what direct-to-consumer really means for brand and comms

    MAR 13

    Authenticity at scale: Mac Marshall on what direct-to-consumer really means for brand and comms

    Welcome to The Business of Games Podcast, brought to you by Xsolla. Direct-to-consumer is often framed as a distribution or monetization decision. But for someone who has spent more than two decades building brand voice and managing player relationships, the more important shift is cultural, and it starts with whether a studio is actually willing to listen. In this extended cut, host Lia Ballentine sits down with Mac Marshall, a veteran marketing and communications leader whose career spans Activision Blizzard, Sierra Entertainment, Codemasters, and most recently Turtle Beach Corporation, where he spent 11 years shaping one of gaming's most recognized hardware brands. Mac brings a perspective grounded in the trenches of brand building: what it takes to earn trust with a gaming audience, how to show up authentically in the channels that matter, and why the human element of communication is harder to replace than most teams realize. The conversation covers what direct-to-consumer really means when you strip away the economics; and the answer, for Mac, is simpler than most frameworks suggest: genuine two-way conversation, a willingness to engage even when the news is bad, and the self-awareness to know when to step back. We dive into: Why direct-to-consumer is ultimately about inclusion and giving fans a real sense that their voice is being heardHow to turn detractors into fans through direct, human engagementWhat Mac's career-long post-it note rule reveals about good communication instinctsWhy AI works best in service of the human element, not as a replacement for itHow over-communication is one of the most common ways brands erode trustWhat "main character syndrome" looks like for a brand and how to avoid itWhy creator partnerships have become the new prime-time TV spotWhere to start when building a direct-to-consumer foundation from scratchWhether you're leading comms at a major publisher or figuring out how to build a brand voice for the first time, Mac's instincts offer a grounding reminder: the tools and channels will keep changing, but the basics of honest, human communication never do. Let's get into it. For more insights and resources, visit xsolla.com/podcast. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast. That’s where we’ll be sharing updates, highlights, and continuing the discussion. And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, review, and share the podcast with friends who want to learn more about the business of games.

    38 min
  6. Curation, control, and connection: David Pava on the real work of direct-to-consumer marketing

    MAR 13

    Curation, control, and connection: David Pava on the real work of direct-to-consumer marketing

    Welcome to The Business of Games Podcast, brought to you by Xsolla. Marketing a game used to end at launch. In this extended cut, host Chris Hewish sits down with David Pava, Senior Director of Marketing for World of Tanks Modern Armor at Wargaming, to explore what happens when studios stop thinking in campaigns and start thinking in relationships. David brings a career path unlike most, from webmaster for World Championship Wrestling in the early days of the internet to marketing console games for millions of players on PlayStation and Xbox. Along the way, he's developed a philosophy rooted in feedback loops, curation, and earning trust at every touchpoint. In this conversation, he makes the case that direct-to-consumer is fundamentally about eliminating friction — between a studio and its audience, between data and decisions, between messaging and meaning. And he draws some surprising parallels between live service games and the world of professional wrestling to prove it. We dive into: Why direct-to-consumer is really about two things: curation and controlHow World of Tanks Modern Armor tripled its Twitch audience, and why that matters as much as DAUsThe 60-factor player segmentation model that shapes how the team targets and experimentsWhy AI accelerates your existing systems (for better or worse), and why authenticity is the antidoteHow an eight-week season pass cadence creates a build-test-learn loop that compounds over timeWhat new marketing teams should prioritize first when building a direct-to-consumer foundationWhether you're running a live service title, building your first owned channel strategy, or just trying to understand what it actually means to own the player relationship, David's perspective offers hard-won clarity. Let's get into it. For more insights and resources, visit xsolla.com/podcast. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast. That’s where we’ll be sharing updates, highlights, and continuing the discussion. And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, review, and share the podcast with friends who want to learn more about the business of games.

    46 min

  7. MAR 6

    From campaigns to trust: what direct-to-consumer really means for marketing

    Welcome to The Business of Games Podcast, powered by Xsolla. In this episode, hosts Chris Hewish and Lia Ballentine explore one of the most consequential shifts in modern game marketing: what happens when studios stop renting attention and start owning the relationship. Direct-to-consumer strategies are often framed around economics: margins, platform fees, and monetization control. But the deeper change shows up somewhere else entirely. When studios own player identity, communication, and data, marketing stops being a function optimized for scale and becomes something responsible for trust, relevance, and long-term engagement. To explore that shift, Chris and Lia draw from conversations with two leaders navigating it firsthand: David Pava, Senior Director of Marketing for World of Tanks Modern Armor at Wargaming, who has spent years building direct relationships with millions of players across PlayStation and Xbox, and Mac Marshall, a seasoned marketing and brand leader with experience across some of the industry's most recognized names, including Activision Blizzard and Turtle Beach. Together, they unpack how direct-to-consumer changes the role of marketing from campaign-driven acquisition to audience-first relationship building and explore what it actually takes to make that shift stick. You'll hear how owned channels change the weight of every message a studio sends; why data and segmentation have moved from strategic advantage to operational expectation; how AI accelerates whatever system you already have in place (for better or worse); and why monetization, in a direct relationship model, can no longer be separated from brand and trust. The through-line is simple: in a direct-to-consumer world, marketing isn't just how players find your game. It's how they come to trust it, stay connected to it, and choose to invest in it over time. Let's get into it. For more insights and resources, visit xsolla.com/podcast. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast. That’s where we’ll be sharing updates, highlights, and continuing the discussion. And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, review, and share the podcast with friends who want to learn more about the business of games.

    31 min

  8. FEB 27

    Direct to player: the five principles reshaping the business of games

    Welcome to The Business of Games Podcast, brought to you by Xsolla. In this episode, hosts Chris Hewish and Lia Ballentine lay the foundation for a special series this season on direct-to-consumer (DTC) strategies in games. Chris unpacks the difference between DTC as a commercial motion and his concept of "Direct to Player" — a structural operating model that goes beyond the transaction and shifts the organizing principle of a game business from platform-centric to player-centric. Chris introduces five principles of Direct to Player drawn from decades of industry experience, covering everything from who owns the player relationship to how trust is built over time. Together, they form a system; and as Chris makes clear, that's exactly the point. These principles only work when they reinforce each other. This episode sets the foundation for the season's exploration into DTC strategies, including marketing and audience building, technology and infrastructure, monetization design, player engagement, and more.  Direct to Player isn't a channel. It's a commitment to building games around players, not platforms. Let's get into it. For more insights and resources, visit xsolla.com/podcast. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast. That’s where we’ll be sharing updates, highlights, and continuing the discussion. And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, review, and share the podcast with friends who want to learn more about the business of games.

    15 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

The Business of Games: A podcast for developers, publishers, and executives navigating the ever-changing game industry.From monetization models to player behavior, from platform shifts to emerging markets, The Business of Games is your guide to all the things transforming how games are built, marketed, and scaled.Hosted by Chris Hewish and Lia Ballentine, each episode blends strategic insight, cinematic storytelling, and candid conversations with the people driving the business of play. You’ll hear from top executives inside studios and strategic partners across the ecosystem who are uncovering the ideas, tactics, and trends shaping tomorrow’s opportunities.Whether you’re launching your first game or scaling a global studio, you’ll find practical strategies, future-forward thinking, and real-world examples you can act on right away.The Business of Games is brought to you by Xsolla, your strategic partner behind the scenes. We bring together “All the Things” to help you simplify operations, unlock new revenue, reach more players, and launch fast.Visit xsolla.com to learn more, connect with our team, and access all the things you need to level up your business of play. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast, where we’ll be sharing updates, highlights, and continuing the discussion. And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, review, and share the podcast with friends and colleagues who want to learn more about the business of games.

Information

  • Creator
    Xsolla
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    37
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Xsolla
  • Show Website
    The Business of Games