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On the show
From 15 epsHosts
Recent guests
Recent episodes
New thinking, real results: Wes Morton on Gen Z, AI-powered marketing, and building Creative Company
Jun 19, 2026
5m 50s
Legacy, LiveOps, and the long game: Takaya Segawa on how Sega is building for a global future
Jun 12, 2026
16m 53s
From floppy disks to the AI era: Garry Edwards on the industry's biggest shift yet
Jun 5, 2026
7m 21s
What we learned: the business of going direct
May 29, 2026
30m 29s
From the Air Force to infinite worlds: Jan Roessner on stoicism, interoperability, and the future of game assets
May 22, 2026
4m 23s
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| Date | Episode | Topics | Guests | Brands | Places | Keywords | Sponsor | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/19/26 |  New thinking, real results: Wes Morton on Gen Z, AI-powered marketing, and building Creative Company | 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 our Xsolla host and the outcome determines whether they face an easy question or a hard one. In this episode, host Ed Lin sits down with Wes Morton, CEO and co-founder of Creative Company — a marketing technology firm serving med... | 5m 50s | ||||||
| 6/12/26 |  Legacy, LiveOps, and the long game: Takaya Segawa on how Sega is building for a global future✨ | Segagaming history+3 | Takaya Segawa | SegaXsolla | — | SegaLiveOps+3 | — | 16m 53s | |
| 6/5/26 |  From floppy disks to the AI era: Garry Edwards on the industry's biggest shift yet✨ | video game industryAI+3 | Garry Edwards | Mindera | — | Garry EdwardsEd Lin+5 | Xsolla | 7m 21s | |
| 5/29/26 |  What we learned: the business of going direct✨ | direct-to-consumerbusiness strategy+3 | — | Xsolla | — | business of gamesdirect-to-consumer+3 | — | 30m 29s | |
| 5/22/26 |  From the Air Force to infinite worlds: Jan Roessner on stoicism, interoperability, and the future of game assets✨ | stoicisminteroperability+4 | Jan Roessner | One Earth Rising | — | stoicisminteroperability+4 | Xsolla | 4m 23s | |
| 5/15/26 |  From “Link” to director: Alex Reed on 25 years in games and the winding road that got him there✨ | game developmentinterview+3 | Alex Reed | House of How | — | Alex Reedgame development+3 | Xsolla | 4m 00s | |
| 5/8/26 |  Skin in the game: Derek Rathbun on real money gameplay as the next frontier of direct-to-consumer monetization✨ | direct-to-consumer monetizationreal money gameplay+3 | Derek Rathbun | Gamers.betXsolla | — | monetizationreal money gameplay+5 | — | 53m 05s | |
| 5/1/26 |  Earned, not extracted: how direct-to-consumer changes monetization design✨ | monetizationdirect-to-consumer+3 | — | Xsolla | — | monetization designdirect-to-consumer+3 | — | 28m 14s | |
| 4/24/26 |  AAA mindset, indie budget: Adam Krause and TJ Consunji on discoverability and the art of getting found✨ | discoverabilityindie games+3 | Adam KrauseTJ Consunji | Miniboss Solutions | — | discoverabilityindie budget+3 | Xsolla | 7m 26s | |
| 4/24/26 |  From gas stations to game studios: Rob Carroll on community, Roll Craft, and the comeback of text-based RPGs✨ | text-based RPGsgame development+3 | Rob Carroll | Roll Craft | — | text-based RPGsgame studios+3 | Xsolla | 7m 48s | |
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| 4/24/26 |  From Neopets to the Elite Four: Jenny Xu on building games, community, and Talofa Games✨ | game developmentcommunity building+3 | Jenny Xu | Talofa Games | San Francisco | NeopetsElite Four+5 | Xsolla | 9m 22s | |
| 4/17/26 |  Identity, inventory, and income: Arron Goolsbey on what DTC really requires✨ | direct-to-consumerdata architecture+3 | Arron Goolsbey | MythiXsolla | — | DTCidentity layer+5 | — | 44m 05s | |
| 4/15/26 |  True ownership, transferable assets: Jan Roessner on the future of direct-to-consumer✨ | direct-to-consumerownership+3 | Jan Roessner | One Earth Rising | — | direct-to-consumergaming+3 | — | 38m 31s | |
| 4/10/26 |  Direct-to-consumer: building the infrastructure that makes it real✨ | direct-to-consumertechnology stack+3 | — | Xsolla | — | direct-to-consumertechnology stack+3 | — | 36m 58s | |
| 4/3/26 |  From comics to controllers: Bronson Lingamfelter on digital ownership and the future of game discovery✨ | digital ownershipgame discovery+3 | Bronson Lingamfelter | One Earth Rising | — | digital ownershipgame discovery+3 | Xsolla | 4m 45s | |
| 3/27/26 |  Live from GDC: Coffee, conversations, and the business of games✨ | GDCgame industry+3 | Alex Reed | — | Coffee.Press.Play. | GDCgames+5 | Xsolla | 2m 13s | |
| 3/20/26 |  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 Clu... | 17m 32s | ||||||
| 3/13/26 |  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 A... | 38m 06s | ||||||
| 3/13/26 |  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 gam... | 45m 32s | ||||||
| 3/6/26 | 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 da... | 31m 25s | ||||||
| 2/27/26 | 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 intro... | 14m 30s | ||||||
| 1/30/26 |  Retail, rewired: gift cards, payments, and the business of access | Welcome to The Business of Games Podcast, powered by Xsolla. Game commerce isn’t just about platforms and storefronts. It’s about who can actually pay. In this episode, Lia Ballentine speaks with Michael Jedrzejczak, Program Manager and Gift Card Consultant at Xsolla, about how payment methods, gift cards, and retail access continue to shape who can buy and play games. Michael brings over 15 years of experience building and scaling game commerce, from early digital key stores to large-scale g... | 31m 41s | ||||||
| 1/23/26 |  Discoverability is the new retail: how games get found, bought, and sustained | Welcome to The Business of Games Podcast, powered by Xsolla. In this episode, Lia Ballentine talks with Adam Krause and TJ Consunji, Managing Partners and Co-Founders of Miniboss Solutions, about how game retail actually works today and why being discoverable now matters more than ever. Game retail is no longer about shelves, launch days, or a single sales spike. With more than 20,000 games released each year, the challenge is getting noticed and staying visible. Algorithms, storefront placem... | 49m 10s | ||||||
| 1/16/26 |  Retail in games: from holiday peaks to always-on strategy | Welcome to The Business of Games Podcast, powered by Xsolla. In this episode, Lia Ballentine is joined by special co-host Lauren Baca, Global VP of Marketing at Xsolla Ads, to explore how retail strategy in games has fundamentally changed and what the most recent holiday season reveals about where the industry is headed next. For decades, the holidays were the defining moment in game retail. Physical shelves, launch windows, and a single make-or-break sales peak shaped how studios planned the... | 15m 23s | ||||||
| 1/9/26 | Welcome to Season 2 of The Business of Games Podcast | The business of games is evolving, and in Season 2, we’ll explore what’s driving the industry forward. We’ll dive into the shifts reshaping how games are built, launched, and scaled as the industry moves through 2026 and beyond. From AI and direct-to-consumer strategies to the human decisions behind development, this season cuts through the noise to focus on what matters. Featuring insights from developers, technologists, and industry leaders across the ecosystem, Season 2 offers a clear vi... | 1m 52s | ||||||
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