Business Fortune
Every great game begins long before a controller is picked up or a screen lights up. It starts in the mind of someone brave enough to imagine a new world and determined enough to try bringing it to life. But imagination alone isn’t enough. Creators need room to grow, access to opportunities, and partners who believe in their vision as much as they do. That’s where the right ecosystem can change everything, one that doesn’t just power transactions, but truly empowers the people behind the games.
Xsolla has built that ecosystem. As a global commerce company dedicated solely to the video game industry, Xsolla helps developers, creators, and publishers bring their games directly to players on Android and iOS, while keeping up to 95% of their revenue. Acting as a trusted Merchant of Record, Xsolla simplifies the heavy lifting that often slows creators down: tax management, fraud prevention, global compliance, refunds, disputes, and end-user support.
With access to 1,000+ payment methods, support for 200+ countries, 130+ currencies, and a 50 million-strong audience, Xsolla removes the barriers that stop great ideas from reaching the world. Their mission is to give equal access to every creator, no matter where they come from, and help them take their games from concept to global success.
Chris Hewish, the visionary President of Xsolla, spoke exclusively with Business Fortune, sharing insights on how the company, by connecting visionaries, opening doors, and doing the right thing even when it’s difficult, is helping creators worldwide to build games people love and inspiring the next generation to dream even bigger. Below is an excerpt from the interview.
Xsolla began in 2005 as a small payment platform and has grown into a global game-commerce leader. What key moments or guiding ideas from its early days do you think shaped the company’s success today?
From the very beginning, Xsolla was built on the idea of empowering game developers, especially smaller studios, to reach players and grow their businesses without being limited by technical or financial barriers. In its early days, the company focused on solving a core pain point: enabling secure, localized payments for games worldwide. That focus on accessibility and global reach has become a defining principle.
Another key moment was the decision to specialize exclusively in the gaming industry rather than serving multiple sectors. By deeply understanding the needs of developers, publishers, and players, Xsolla created tailored tools and services that address the full game commerce lifecycle.
Ultimately, it was that developer-first mindset, combined with a commitment to innovation and global expansion that set the foundation for Xsolla’s success as a trusted partner in game commerce today.
Can you share a defining moment (or challenge) in Xsolla’s history when the company had to shift course significantly (for example entering new markets, changing product focus), and how marketing/growth teams responded?
One of the most challenging problems our team tackled recently was helping developers understand and overcome platform restrictions and regain control over their monetization, especially in the mobile space.
With app stores updating their policies and adopting revenue-sharing models, many developers found it challenging to maintain a sustainable business. Our team responded by launching and scaling Xsolla Web Shop in 2021, a solution that enables developers to sell virtual goods and currency directly to players, increasing margins and improving user engagement.
Solving this involved technical, compliance, and marketing challenges across multiple regions, but the results have been game-changing. As a result, we have had the opportunity to work with over 600 games to build the Web Shop DTC experience for the community and have helped generate billions in revenue through a new revenue channel for our partners.
Xsolla’s flagship, Pay Station, supports over 1,000 payment types across 200+ geographies. What have been the key technical and regulatory achievements required to scale to this global coverage?
Scaling Xsolla’s Pay Station to support over 1,000 payment methods across more than 200 geographies required both deep technical innovation and careful regulatory navigation.
From a technical standpoint, one of the most significant achievements was building a modular, API-driven architecture capable of integrating a vast number of local payment providers while maintaining high performance, reliability, and security. This flexible infrastructure allows Xsolla to rapidly onboard new payment methods, localize experiences, and ensure seamless transactions for users worldwide.
On the regulatory side, achieving compliance across multiple jurisdictions was crucial. Xsolla established strong frameworks to comply with local financial regulations, data privacy laws, anti-money laundering policies, and Know Your Customer (KYC) standards. Developing trusted partnerships with regional payment processors and financial institutions also played a key role in maintaining compliance while optimizing coverage and conversion rates.
Together, these efforts – technical stability, operational resilience, and proactive regulatory alignment have enabled Xsolla’s Pay Station to operate as a truly global, developer-friendly payment solution.
How do you see the balance between “turnkey solutions” and “custom builds” for the eCommerce needs of game developers with the launch of Headless Checkout?
The launch of Xsolla’s Headless Checkout represents a significant step forward in balancing flexibility and simplicity for game developers. Historically, turnkey solutions have been essential for smaller studios or teams that need to get to market quickly without investing heavily in custom infrastructure. They offer reliability, speed, and best practices out of the box.
However, as the industry evolves, many developers want greater control over the player experience. Headless Checkout bridges this gap by decoupling the front end from the payment logic and backend systems. This gives developers the ability to fully customize the look, feel, and flow of their checkout while still leveraging Xsolla’s secure, globally compliant payment engine behind the scenes.
In that sense, Headless Checkout doesn’t replace turnkey solutions; it complements them. Studios can choose the level of customization that fits their resources and goals, from rapid deployment to complete creative freedom. Ultimately, it’s about giving developers more choice and scalability while maintaining the trust and global reach that Xsolla is known for.
Can you explain what led to the strategic partnership with Adyen and the decision to build the PSP offering? How does this benefit both Xsolla and its developer partners?
The strategic partnership with Adyen and the development of Xsolla’s PSP offering stemmed from a shared goal: to simplify global payments for game developers while enhancing transparency, scalability, and compliance.
Adyen brings world-class payment infrastructure, financial licensing, and global acquiring capabilities. By integrating those strengths with Xsolla’s deep expertise in gaming commerce, regional payment networks, and player experience design, the partnership creates a best-of-both-worlds solution that combines enterprise-grade processing with industry-specific flexibility.
For developers, this means faster onboarding, broader geographic reach, and improved payment performance. They gain access to unified reporting, streamlined reconciliation, and the ability to manage multiple payment channels through a single integration, all while staying compliant with evolving regional regulations.
For Xsolla, the PSP offering strengthens our position as a holistic commerce platform rather than just a payment aggregator. It allows the company to deliver deeper value across the game monetization ecosystem and support partners of all sizes, from indie studios to AAA publishers, with a more powerful, compliant, and scalable financial backbone.
Xsolla works with major clients and titles in the gaming space. What is your philosophy towards partners – from indie developers to AAA studios?
Whether indie or AAA, we partner with studios to help them fund, distribute, market, and monetize their games. Grounded in the belief in the future of video games, Xsolla is resolute in the mission to bring opportunities together and continually make new resources available to creators.
As the industry evolves (for example Web3, creator economy, metaverse), how are you guiding your clients to stay ahead? Could you name a recent client-use case or pilot that embodies this future direction?
The gaming industry is evolving faster than ever, with shifts in monetization models, player expectations, regulations, and technology. At Xsolla, our focus is on helping developers not just keep up but also stay ahead by providing the tools, insights, and flexibility they need to adapt and grow.
We guide our clients through innovation and education. That means staying on top of emerging trends like direct-to-consumer, cross-platform distribution, and alternative payment methods, and translating those shifts into actionable strategies. Our teams work closely with developers to design scalable commerce solutions, whether it’s expanding globally, optimizing checkout experiences, or navigating new compliance requirements.
Equally important is our commitment to partnership. We don’t just deliver technology, we act as strategic collaborators, sharing market intelligence, best practices, and customized growth plans. By combining industry expertise with a developer-first mindset, we help studios of all sizes build sustainable business models and connect with players in new and meaningful ways.
Staying ahead of the industry isn’t just about predicting the future – it’s about being ready for it. That’s where we focus our guidance and innovation.
With Web3, the metaverse, and creator-driven economies shaping the future of gaming, how do you see Xsolla positioning itself in this evolving ecosystem of gaming, creators, and commerce?
The rise of Web3, the metaverse, and creator-driven economies represents a natural extension of our mission to enable seamless global commerce for games and digital experiences. We see ourselves as the connective tissue of this new ecosystem, providing the infrastructure that allows developers, creators, and players to transact securely and frictionlessly across platforms, worlds, and economies. As virtual environments become more decentralized and creators gain more ownership of their work, Xsolla aims to empower them with monetization tools, cross-border payments, and user-friendly on-ramps that bridge traditional and Web3 worlds. Our goal is to make sure that anyone, whether a game studio, a metaverse world builder, or an independent developer, can sustainably build, scale, and monetize their digital universe.
Can you share what’s currently in the pipeline at Xsolla that you’re most excited about (without divulging confidential details)? For example, new infrastructure, new business models, new platforms?
We’re doubling down on next-generation monetization infrastructure, making it easier for studios of all sizes to sell directly to players across platforms. This includes expanding our direct-to-consumer ecosystem with new SDKs, improved checkout flows, and deeper integrations with PC, console, and mobile environments, so developers can own their player relationships end-to-end.
We’re also expanding the Xsolla Ecosystem, our curated network of vetted technology and service partners. This reduces friction for studios looking for analytics, marketing, cloud services, user acquisition, live ops support, and more, creating a “plug and play” stack that accelerates development and scaling.
Chris Hewish | In His Own Words
I’m Chris Hewish, President at Xsolla. My professional experience encompasses managing large teams of employees, sometimes over 300 people, at various companies, such as Activision, DreamWorks Animation, Survios, Skydance, and Xsolla. I possess many skills and knowledge in different areas, which have enabled me to lead multiple teams and businesses. As an avid gamer, I’ve turned this passion into a successful career.
