Great games begin with bold ideas, but turning those ideas into global success takes more than creativity. Developers and publishers juggle payments, taxes, compliance rules, fraud risks, customer support, and countless technical systems, all while trying to focus on building unforgettable player experiences. When the business side becomes complicated, growth slows. This is when the industry needs clarity, connection, and a partner that understands gaming from the inside out.

Xsolla Inc. emerges as a pivotal force in this ecosystem, serving as a global Merchant of Record that simplifies the complexities of launching, expanding, and succeeding in gaming. With seamless integration of tools, systems, payments, and web shops tailored exclusively for video games, Xsolla handles everything from over 1,000 payment methods across 200+ geographies to supporting 130+ currencies in more than 20 languages. Reaching a cumulative audience of 50 million, it charges a straightforward 5% transaction fee while delivering essential services like precise tax management, robust fraud prevention, and full compliance with global and regional regulations.

Beyond transactions, Xsolla excels in refund and dispute resolution, alongside dedicated end-user support to ensure smooth experiences and build lasting trust. By opening doors for creators, developers, and publishers of every scale, it fosters opportunities that unite the industry. Committed to video game-centric solutions, the company empowers teams to innovate without barriers, proving that gaming's greatest chapters are still unfolding.

Berkley Egenes, Chief Marketing & Growth Officer at Xsolla Inc., spoke exclusively with CIO Bulletin. He shared powerful insights on how Xsolla, by streamlining the business side of gaming, empowers studios to dream bigger, act faster, and deliver groundbreaking ideas to players worldwide, thus laying the unshakeable foundations gaming's future demands.

Interview Highlights

Can you share the inspiring story behind Xsolla Inc.'s inception and the vision that drove its founders to revolutionize the video game industry?

Aleksandr (Shurick) Agapitov, founder of Xsolla, started the company in 2005 to connect the global gaming community through technology, creativity, experience, and financial components. As the gaming industry's leading platform, Xsolla connects and adds value and opportunity for game developers, publishers, IP holders, and investors worldwide. Today, Xsolla's products and services operate in more than 200 countries and territories, supported by more than 20 languages and over 1,000 payment methods.

Born in 1984, Agapitov drew on his entrepreneurial spirit, mathematical strengths, and belief in the power of education at a young age. At fifteen, he started an online currency exchange service, before transitioning into digital gaming and aggregation. Xsolla continues to grow its footprint across customers, gamers, and the investment community. Agapitov also has a strong interest and investment portfolio in healthcare science and technology, specifically in life extension.

What core products and services does Xsolla provide to game developers, publishers, and creators, and how do they streamline global operations?

Before unpacking the product suite, it helps to understand the infrastructure beneath it. Xsolla operates as a Merchant of Record, meaning it is the authorized entity that processes payments, manages tax calculation, handles refunds, and absorbs the compliance burden on behalf of developers. For studios operating across 200+ countries and territories, that's not a small thing. It means you don't need a legal entity in every market you sell into. The financial and operational complexity disappears. You focus on building. Xsolla handles the rest.

Commerce: Web Shop & Payments

The most deployed capability in the ecosystem and the one generating the most tangible revenue impact. Web Shop is the #1 web-based storefront solution for mobile games, with 600+ live shops having generated over $3B in transactions. Studios can launch a branded store in 24 hours with no-code tools or build fully customized storefronts that mirror their game's UI, complete with LiveOps management, social questing, and rewards campaigns. The result: up to 25% more revenue per transaction, 80% player retention after the first web purchase, and +15% LTV growth over time.

Underpinning all of this is the payments infrastructure: 1,000+ payment methods across 200+ geographies, with local compliance, fraud prevention at 99% accuracy, a 60% chargeback win rate, and tax management handled end-to-end, all through a single integration.

Distribution & Publishing: Publishing Suite

For studios targeting PC or cross-platform audiences, Publishing Suite handles the full D2C distribution layer. Pre-orders, game keys, virtual goods, and currencies — all are manageable without platform intermediaries. Over 1,100 games have trusted it to reach new players globally, with no-code integration and cross-platform payment compatibility. The player relationship stays with the studio, not the storefront.

Acquisition & Reach: Partner Network, Offerwall & Metasites

Getting games in front of the right players is just as important as monetizing them well. Partner Network enables developers to tap into influencer and brand partnerships at scale, running personalized campaigns that convert. Offerwall integrates directly with Web Shop to monetize non-paying players through rewarded engagement — turning passive audiences into active revenue. Metasites provide a rapid web presence layer, deployable without engineering resources, designed to capture and convert traffic outside the game itself.

Retention & Engagement: Subscriptions, Rewards & Discord Bot

Long-term revenue doesn't come from single transactions; it comes from the infrastructure around them. Subscriptions give players ongoing access models that drive predictable LTV. Rewards and loyalty mechanics keep players engaged between sessions. The Discord Bot brings commerce and community together, meeting players where they already spend time.

Infrastructure & Identity: Login, Anti-Fraud, Mobile SDK & Launcher

These are the products you don't see but would notice immediately if they weren't there. Xsolla Login handles secure player authentication across platforms. Anti-Fraud protects legitimate transactions with best-in-class accuracy. Mobile SDK threads the entire commerce stack into the mobile experience natively. Launcher gives PC studios a branded distribution channel without the overhead of building one from scratch.

Analytics: The intelligence layer

What separates a commerce ecosystem from a collection of tools is the data. Xsolla is the only global commerce company with full Server-to-Server integrations with both AppsFlyer and Adjust, giving studios a complete picture of ROAS and LTV, all visible within the Publisher Account. That means every campaign, every web shop, every payment touchpoint feeds back into a single source of intelligence.

The products don't exist in isolation. They work as a modular system; you can start where you need to and expand as your business grows. From payments to publishing to player engagement, it's all the tools needed to launch, grow, and win, without the overhead of stitching together five different vendors to get there.

Xsolla has evolved into a global merchant of record with 1,000+ payment methods across 200+ geographies.

What makes your platform fundamentally different from traditional payment and commerce solutions serving game developers?

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 addressing 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 has created tailored tools and services that addressed 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.

With a focus on mobile monetization, how is Xsolla adapting to new regulations such as the DMA to empower developers through tools like the Mobile SDK and Buy Button?

The Digital Markets Act in Europe and the Apple antitrust ruling in the US didn't create a new strategy; they created breathing room for a strategy that was already overdue. Direct-to-consumer mobile monetization is no longer a workaround. It's a viable, compliant path. And the developers who move on it now will have a structural advantage over those who wait.

Buy Button: The quiet unlock for US players. In the US, Xsolla's Buy Button enables direct links from within your game to a customized offer, meaning there's no 30% fee. Critically, this isn't geography-locked on the developer side. Even if your studio is based in Germany or Korea, US-based players can access these offers and transact without the platform tax. The player experience stays seamless. Your margin improves without adding friction.

DMA compliance in Europe: Lower cost, same reach. Under DMA provisions, developers can now direct European iOS players to external payment options. Yes, there's still a tiered fee structure, but it's meaningfully less than the 30% that was previously non-negotiable. Xsolla operates fully within Apple and Google's TOS, and actively helps partners navigate compliance without second-guessing every implementation decision. You focus on your game. We handle the infrastructure that keeps the transaction clean.

Mobile SDK: The integration layer that connects it all. The Mobile SDK ties these capabilities together at the technical level — enabling the commerce stack to live within the mobile experience, not outside it. Whether you're running a Web Shop, offering exclusive direct-purchase bundles, or managing subscriptions, the SDK ensures that moving players off-platform and back again stays frictionless. It's the piece that makes direct-to-consumer feel native rather than bolted on.

Owning the transaction is only half the equation. Understanding it is the other. Xsolla was first to market with a full Server-to-Server integration with AppsFlyer, and is currently the only platform with complete S2S integrations with both AppsFlyer and Adjust, with Singular integration to follow. That means end-to-end visibility into ROAS and LTV, all surfaced through the Publisher Account. When you're making the case internally to invest in direct channels, that data closes the argument.

How does Xsolla's expertise in global compliance, fraud prevention, and tax management contribute to its status as a forward-thinking leader worth watching in 2026?

Global commerce in gaming presents challenges that would overwhelm most development teams, which is precisely why we've invested so heavily in this infrastructure. Our capabilities span several critical dimensions.

On payments, we've built relationships with over 1,000 payment methods globally. This isn't just about credit cards; it also includes local bank transfers, mobile wallets, cash payment options, carrier billing, and region-specific solutions such as Alipay in China, PayPay in Japan, PIX in Brazil, and mobile money across Africa.

We recently expanded partnerships with the MTN Group and Bharti Airtel to enhance coverage across Africa, where traditional banking infrastructure is limited but mobile penetration is high.

Regulatory compliance is where we provide enormous value. We operate as a merchant of record in major markets, which means we assume the legal and financial liability for transactions. We handle VAT, GST, and sales tax calculations and remittance across jurisdictions. We maintain compliance with evolving regulations, including GDPR, PCI-DSS, and platform-specific requirements. This is particularly critical now, with regulations such as the DMA in Europe and similar frameworks emerging globally.

Fraud prevention operates across multiple layers: machine learning models that analyze transaction patterns in real time, device fingerprinting, velocity checks, and manual review of high-risk transactions. We process hundreds of millions of transactions annually, providing our systems with substantial training data to identify emerging fraud patterns before they affect our partners.

Currency volatility is addressed through dynamic pricing optimization and multi-currency support. Developers can set pricing strategies that account for local purchasing power and market conditions, rather than relying on rigid exchange rates.

Security is foundational. We maintain SOC 2 compliance and undergo regular third-party audits. Player data is encrypted, and we provide granular privacy controls to ensure developers can meet their obligations under various data protection regimes.

The result is that a studio can launch globally from day one, confident that the commerce infrastructure will work reliably, securely, and in compliance with local requirements, without having to become experts in the nuances of every market.

What innovative new products or services are in Xsolla's pipeline, and why should clients be excited about their potential impact on revenue and player engagement?

We're doubling down on next-generation monetization infrastructure to make 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, enhanced checkout flows, and deeper integrations across PC, console, and mobile environments, enabling developers to 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.

The Visionary Leader at the Helm of Xsolla Inc.

Berkley Egenes is the Chief Marketing & Growth Officer at Xsolla Inc., specializing in creating and building marketing campaigns and go-to-market strategies for interactive and engaging brands. His focus at Xsolla is to create programs and brand engagements to launch tools and services that help our partners reach more players and earn more revenue worldwide. He is a creator of successful partnerships, collaborations, and campaigns for brands and organizations, elevating their awareness, perception, and experience in the global marketplace.

With over 25 years of marketing and product integration experience, he brings his talents to Xsolla from the esports industry, where he most recently helped build the Ghost Gaming brand, sponsorship sales, media relations, social presence, and online store, prior to its acquisition. As their Head of Marketing / CMO, he built numerous campaigns aimed at engaging with fans and activating brand partnerships featuring gaming pros and creators in Fortnite, PUBG, CS:GO, Gears of War, Rocket League, and Apex Legends, across three continents before being acquired by Skill Shot Media in Atlanta.

An agency and global brand veteran, he has led marketing organizations focused on driving engagement and results at the intersection of brands, technology, sports, and entertainment genres, having represented blue-chip organizations including: NEXTVR (immersive virtual reality live sports & entertainment experience - acquired by Apple), Alcatel/TCL, VIZIO, Kellogg's, AB-InBev, NASCAR, IBM, Walmart, and CVS. A maker and partner of bringing brands together, he has created value-driven engagement opportunities with sports, media, and content partners around the world, including USOC, NFL, MLB, NBA, Live Nation, FC Barcelona, NASCAR, NexStar Media Group, GamesBeat, Stevenage FC, Disney-Pixar, Ford, American Red Cross, and the Food Network.

“From the very beginning, Xsolla was built to empower game developers, especially smaller studios, to reach players and grow their businesses without technical or financial barriers. This focus on accessibility and global reach has become our defining principle.”