Building a better path to direct-to-player profit

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Building a better path to direct-to-player profit

December 1, 2025•4 min

The new reality for game developers

In today’s mobile game market, even successful studios are feeling the squeeze. Rising user acquisition costs, shrinking margins, and platform fees that can take up to 30% of every in-app purchase make it harder to grow sustainably. Developers work tirelessly to create experiences that players love, only to see a large share of their revenue disappear before it reaches their balance sheet. At the same time, industry rules are shifting. Landmark legal decisions in Epic v. Apple and Epic v. Google now allow U.S. developers to direct players to alternative purchase flows. This change has opened a new era of direct-to-consumer (D2C) commerce; something we like to call direct-to-player (D2P). It's an approach that lets studios finally connect with players more intimately, keep more of their earnings, and build lasting relationships—beyond app stores. We know your path forward can feel uncertain. Building and managing your own web shop can seem complex if you’ve never done it before. That’s where Xsolla’s latest digital guide comes in.

A guide to help developers take control

Xsolla has distilled insights from more than 600 live Web Shop launches worldwide into a practical, data-driven playbook designed to help mobile game teams take advantage of this D2C opportunity.The Web Shop guide's best practices to build a high-performing web shop is a step-by-step guide to designing, launching, and growing your own direct sales channel. This is not just theoretical whitepapers. It's grounded in real-world lessons learned from studios large and small. We reveal to you what worked, what didn’t, and how to build a system that performs from day one.

Your roadmap to a high-performing web shop

A game's web shop is more than a checkout page. It’s a full ecosystem that connects game design, commerce, and player experience. Xsolla’s Web Shop guide explains how to create a mobile-first store that mirrors your in-game experience, builds trust, and gives players clear reasons to buy directly from you. It breaks down:

How to design responsive layouts that make purchasing easy on any device.
How to build a product catalog with personalized offers, web-only bonuses, and loyalty rewards that increase average spend by 20–30%.
How to launch compliant traffic campaigns that drive players to your store without friction or confusion;
How to build retention systems that make your Web Shop a daily destination instead of a one-time transaction.

Each section includes simple readiness checklists and examples that developers can apply immediately, whether you’re launching your first web shop or optimizing an existing one. Behind it all is a clear principle: own your player relationship. When you sell D2P, you can tailor the player experience, test offers freely, and reinvest savings from platform fees into growth.

Turning strategy into results

This Xsolla guide has a pointed philosophy: success in direct-to-player sales comes from alignment between design, data, and experience. A high-performing web shop can launch overnight; however, you BUILD a successful web shop over time. Your shop grows through iteration; small improvements in the UX, catalog design, communication, and retention that, together, produce exponential results. The playbook walks you through how to achieve alignment:

Mirror your in-game economy on the web for consistency.
Use behavioral data to personalize offers that convert better.
Streamline every interaction, from logins to payments and rewards, to fit within a 10-second flow.
Treat loyalty as a system, not a feature, rewarding repeat visits with value that feels earned.

These are not abstract ideals; they’re proven methods that Xsolla’s partners have used to lift conversion rates by 20–40% and raise ARPPU by up to 30%.

The bottom line: What you'll learn from the guide

How to design a web shop players want to use, from mobile-first layouts to clear value messaging.
How to build a catalog that converts, using structure, exclusives, and real-time offers.
How to drive players to your game's web shop through compliant in-game and out-of-game promotions.
How to use LiveOps systems and retention mechanics to keep players coming back.

Download and start building today

If you're ready to learn from hundreds of successful launches, explore frameworks built by industry experts, and start creating a direct-to-player system that delivers lasting results. Download the Web Shop best practices guide today. Learn from 600+ launches and turn your Web Shop into a long-term growth engine for your game. Download the guide Isn't it time to turn your Web Shop into a long-term growth engine for your game and take back control of your player connection?