Premiering Durable Advantage: Five Pillars of the Modern Game Business at gamescom 2026
August 16, 2026•4 min
Gamescom has long been where the video game industry gathers to showcase what's next. This year, Chris Hewish, President of Xsolla, is introducing something different: a book. Launching alongside new products and platform innovations, Durable Advantage: Five Pillars of the Modern Game Business is a book that examines how game companies build businesses that endure long after individual hits fade.
“There are two kinds of game companies, renters and owners. Renters build good games and distribute through platforms they do not control, measuring success through downloads and launch rankings. Owners govern their own player relationships, commerce, and data, and turn those advantages into value that compounds over time.”
--Chris Hewish, President of Xsolla and author of Durable Advantage
That distinction sits at the center of Durable Advantage: Five Pillars of the Modern Game Business, the new book debuting this week at gamescom 2026 in Cologne. Drawing on more than 30 years across the video game industry, the book argues that commercial success alone does not create durable enterprise value, and explores why some studios continue compounding long after individual hits have faded.
The downloads that did not become a business
Hewish opens with a story from his own career. He shipped a mobile game that passed 100 million downloads in months, then watched it collapse once promotion stopped. The business never owned its relationship with the players it had reached. The downloads were real. The durable business was not. That experience became the catalyst for a broader question: what does a modern game company actually own?The Five Pillars
The Durable Advantage framework is built around five reinforcing pillars that determine how modern game businesses create and sustain long-term value: Relationships, Commerce, Intelligence, Trust, and Time. Rather than treating these as independent disciplines, the book explains that they operate as an integrated system. Stronger player relationships improve commerce. Better intelligence strengthens decision-making. Trust increases retention. Over time, those advantages compound into more resilient, more valuable businesses. For game companies, those principles translate into practical operating priorities: building direct relationships with players they own rather than rent; creating unified commerce, engagement, and backend systems instead of disconnected point solutions; expanding globally through localized payments and distribution; and simplifying operations so teams can focus on building great games instead of managing infrastructure. Together, these pillars provide a roadmap for moving beyond dependence on third-party platforms toward a business that owns more of its customer relationships, commerce, data, and long-term enterprise value. They also reflect the philosophy behind Xsolla's platform: helping developers with all the things to build systems where great games become durable businesses.See it at gamescom
Visitors to gamescom 2026 can receive one of the first printed editions of Durable Advantage at the Xsolla booth, while supplies last. Hewish will also present the framework at Xsolla Clubhouse during gamescom, exploring how today's game businesses can build stronger relationships with players, own more of their commerce, and create long-term competitive advantage.Two books, one bookshelf
Durable Advantage is the second book from Xsolla. The first, Once Upon Tomorrow by Xsolla Founder Shurick Agapitov, looks outward at where technology is taking creators: a future where the tools of world building, commerce, and community belong to the people making things, not just the platforms hosting them. Read together, the two books paint a fuller picture. Agapitov describes the future creators are heading toward. Hewish lays out the operating framework for building a business sturdy enough to get there. One explores where the industry is going. The other explores how companies can build the operating model needed to thrive there.Get the books
Great games will always matter. But in today's market, great games alone are no longer enough. The studios that endure will be those that own more of their relationships, commerce, intelligence, trust, and time. Durable Advantage is a guide to building those businesses intentionally. Visit the Xsolla booth at gamescom in Hall 2.2 #A030-B035 to receive your copy, or visit Amazon to order physical and digital editions of both books as they become available.Featured articles
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