Xsolla Releases The Xsolla Report: Mobile D2C Edition

Xsolla, a global commerce company, today released The Xsolla Report: Mobile D2C Edition, a new study examining how direct-to-consumer commerce is performing across mobile games. Drawing on data from more than 800 live Xsolla Web Shops alongside public market and regulatory data, the report shows that D2C has moved past the question of whether it works and into a new phase: studios seeing the strongest results are the ones treating their Web Shop as an operating discipline rather than a one-time build.

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Three themes run through the report. First, the gap between a typical Web Shop and a top-performing one is wide, and closing it has little to do with studio size, as indie teams achieve top-tier results comparable to enterprise publishers. Second, more features don’t mean more revenue. A small number of continuously tuned mechanics, particularly loyalty and engagement tools, drive more impact than a long list of features switched on and left unattended. Third, change rewards the ready. The regulatory landscape is opening market by market, and studios ready to act in newly opened markets from day one built their infrastructure and player-facing playbook well in advance.

Among the report's findings: some studios now see as much as 70% of their revenue coming through their Web Shop. Across the full dataset, 69.3% of first-time Web Shop buyers returned for a second purchase, and repeat buyers account for 97.8% of all Web Shop revenue, with a lifetime value 20 times that of one-time buyers. The report also lays out a market-by-market regulatory scorecard covering the European Union, Japan, Brazil, the United States, and South Korea, and closes with five predictions for where mobile D2C is headed next.

"For the last decade, the question studios asked about D2C in mobile was whether it actually worked. That's now been settled," said Nate Ahearn, VP of Product Marketing at Xsolla. "The studios seeing the most from their Web Shop are the ones treating it as something they get better at over time, not something they check off a list. The infrastructure is here. What matters now is how well you operate it."

The report's closing chapter features predictions from Jon Motz, VP of Products for Web Shop at Xsolla, who points to AI-native storefronts, the commoditization of payment pricing, and the Web Shop's growing role as an owned discovery surface as key shifts ahead. Ahearn adds that Web Shops are on a path to becoming engagement destinations in their own right, connecting back to the game through user-generated content, free item claims, and meta progression systems that reach far beyond the players who are already buying.

The Xsolla Report: Mobile D2C Edition is available now at: xsolla.com/the-xsolla-report

About Xsolla

Xsolla is a global commerce company that builds and provides all the things developers need to launch, grow, and monetize video games. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, the company supports studios of every size, from indie to AAA, with solutions across direct-to-consumer commerce, intelligent payments, entertainment-based IP, and player engagement products. Xsolla helps developers fund, distribute, market, and monetize their games at scale. Trusted by more than 70% of the top 100 highest-grossing games, Xsolla operates as the merchant of record across 200+ geographies with access to 1,000+ local payment methods worldwide. Grounded in a deep belief in the future of gaming, Xsolla is resolute in bringing opportunities together and unlocking growth for creators everywhere.

For more information, visit xsolla.com

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