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 gift card programs that connect physical retail with digital games. He explains why digital keys, vouchers, and gift cards aren’t interchangeable and how each one influences buying behavior in different ways.

Most digital purchases are made for yourself. Most gift cards are bought for someone else. That simple distinction helps explain why physical retail still matters, especially during the holiday season. Michael shares how Q4 continues to drive 2–3x sales spikes, why October is a hard deadline for gift card launches, and what studios often underestimate about fraud, compliance, and global payments.

The takeaway is straightforward: expanding how players can pay often matters as much as where games are sold. For studios looking to grow, access isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a competitive advantage.

What you’ll learn:

• Why digital keys, vouchers, and gift cards play different roles
• How physical retail still drives gifting and impulse buying
• Why October matters more than December for holiday commerce
• What teams underestimate about payments, fraud, and compliance
• When outsourcing commerce makes more sense than building it

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.

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 placement, wishlists, and ongoing updates now shape when and how players decide to buy.

Drawing on experience across PlayStation, Ubisoft, Capcom, and both AAA and indie launches, Adam and TJ explain how retail has shifted from a final step in the process to something that affects development, marketing, and long-term planning from the start.

They break down why many studios are moving away from traditional holiday launches, how to think about wishlist quality instead of raw volume, and what smaller teams need to do differently when they cannot rely on massive budgets to recover from mistakes.

The conversation also looks at modern publishing realities, including release timing, competition for attention, and why sustained engagement often matters more than a strong launch week.

The takeaway is simple. Retail success today is not about winning a single moment. It is about building a plan that keeps a game visible and relevant over time.

What you’ll learn:

• Why discoverability now matters more than shelf space
• How digital storefronts changed release timing and planning
• What wishlist quality actually tells you about demand
• Why some studios avoid holiday launches altogether
• How smaller teams can apply disciplined, AAA-style planning

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.

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 their entire year. But in a digital-first world, that model has flattened. Stores never close. Campaigns never truly end. And player expectations don’t reset with the calendar.

Joining the conversation are Michael Jedrzejczak (Program Manager and Gift Card Consultant at Xsolla) and Adam Krause and TJ Consunji (Managing Partners and Co-Founders of Miniboss Solutions), who bring firsthand insight into how publishers, platforms, and developers now operate in an always-on retail environment.

Together, they unpack how peak moments like the holidays have become stress tests rather than centerpieces and reveal where infrastructure bends, where strategy breaks, and where smart planning creates lasting advantage.

You’ll hear how player buying behavior has evolved in a frictionless, global marketplace; why many studios are avoiding traditional Q4 launches altogether; and how live-ops, regional calendars, and continuous optimization are reshaping the meaning of “retail success” in games.

By the end, one thing is clear: the holidays still matter, but they’re no longer the moment that defines the business. In today’s games industry, retail isn’t a season. It’s a system.

What you’ll learn:

• Why digital storefronts turned retail into an always-on operation
• How holiday behavior mirrors everyday player expectations
• What peak moments reveal about pricing, payments, and infrastructure
• Why release timing matters more than release tradition
• How modern retail strategy is becoming inseparable from development

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.