Xsolla president Chris Hewish’s book “Durable Advantage” lays out five pillars for game businesses: relationships, commerce, intelligence, trust and time. He says better access to player and payment data can help companies rely less on hits and third-party platforms.
The book debuted last month at Gamescom 2026 in Cologne. Hewish says companies relying only on app stores depend on those platforms for player relationships and commerce, while payment and commerce data can stay with the platform instead of reaching the game company.
Hewish gives a hypothetical example: if 20% of a game’s players shifted to a new payment method that its platform had not integrated, lower revenue might be mistaken for weak content demand. The company could then spend on content or localization instead of addressing the payment gap.
