Contributors

Maksim Sazonov

Director of Product Analytics, Xsolla

Senior Analytics Leader with over 10 years of experience driving business growth through data strategy and advanced analytics, having built teams of up to 21 people and delivered over $2M in incremental revenue across fintech, travel, and e-commerce.

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Andy Jennings

Head of Growth Marketing, Xsolla Ads & Rewards

Head of Growth Marketing for Xsolla Ads & Rewards, and a mobile growth marketing leader with over a decade of experience driving user acquisition and performance marketing for games and mobile apps.

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Loon Cheah

Senior Business Development Manager, Payments, Xsolla

A results-oriented Business Development Manager with 8+ years of cross-industry experience across FinTech and Telecommunications. I focus on identifying high-value growth opportunities, both in untapped markets and within existing client relationships, and turning them into sustainable business outcomes.

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Yueran Wei

Director of Business Operations and Strategy, Xsolla

Consumer & Creator Marketing Leader with 11+ years across gaming and PC/consumer technology in Greater China, turning products into stories, communities, and measurable growth.

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John Park

Head of Business Development, APAC, Xsolla

Someone who knows how to manage multiple stakeholders’ interests and to deliver tangible results without losing sight of the overall objectives and goals.

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Elena Svergunenko

UX Research Director, Xsolla

CX/UX leader with 8+ years of expertise across digital products, shaping strategy through a deep understanding of game studios, publishers, and players to drive business growth.

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Chris Hewish

President, Xsolla

Author of Durable Advantage: Five Pillars of the Modern Game Business, and a trusted game and technology executive with operational and strategic leadership experience at Activision, DreamWorks, and Xsolla.

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Derrick Stembridge

Vice President of Global Public Relations, Xsolla

Leading global strategy for communications and media relations, and telling the story of how Xsolla helps developers launch, grow, and monetize their games.

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Mark Caplan

Global IP licensing advisor, Xsolla Agency

Entertainment and licensing executive with 30+ years building global consumer products, gaming, and licensing businesses for major film, television, and sports entertainment properties.

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Chris Besendorfer

Head of Citi ThankYou Rewards

Global business builder who has grown and transformed multibillion-dollar businesses. Known for turnaround and innovation leadership, he has led more than 8,000 employees across 21 countries, using customer insights and data to launch new opportunities and improve both economics and customer experience.

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Ranjita Iyer

Executive Vice President of Services, Mastercard

Product innovation and corporate development executive with global experience spanning fintech/payments, digital initiatives, business development and strategy consulting. Diverse background includes business, technology, corporate development, M&A, and investment banking experience within leading banks, technology companies, consulting firms and Fortune 100 companies.

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Sergey Budkovski

Co-founder and CEO, Skich

A pioneer of alternative mobile game distribution. He is building a next-generation mobile game store, with personalized discovery and social features for players and better economics for game developers.

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Stuart Muckley

Co-founder, Code Wizards Group

Engineer, videogames and esports veteran, and co-founder of Code Wizards Group who spent decades helping studios launch, scale, and keep players engaged during high-pressure moments. Once a hands-on coder, he now focuses on untangling tough technical problems, sharing lessons learned, and asking hard questions early, before they turn into expensive ones.

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Emilien Eychenne

Chief Growth Officer & Co-Founder, Adikteev

Co-founder of Adikteev, an adtech company he built with a high school friend from a gamification platform in 2012 into a business generating $250M+ in revenue. Under his leadership, Adikteev expanded into performance marketing and ROAS campaigns, opened offices in the US and APAC, and grew into a leading player in app retargeting with a recent expansion into CTV advertising.

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Brian Crecente

Editorial consultant to the video game industry

Founder of Kotaku, co-founder of Polygon, former games editor at Rolling Stone and Variety, and founder of Pad & Pixel, an editorial consultancy serving the video game industry. He writes the Substack newsletter Game.

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Shawn Layden

Former Chairman of SIE PlayStation Worldwide Studios, Game Industry Strategic Advisor

Shawn Layden is a games industry veteran who spent more than 30 years at Sony, holding leadership roles across PlayStation in North America, Japan, and Europe before serving as Chairman of Worldwide Studios. He now works as an independent advisor, helping companies navigate the evolving global games and entertainment technology businesses.

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Eliza Chrichton-Stuart

Head of Operations, GAM3S.GG

Head of Operations at GAMES.GG, a platform building discovery infrastructure across a fragmented gaming ecosystem.

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Richard Bartle

Game Design Professor, University of Essex

Co-creator, MUD1. Author of the first book about virtual world design "Designing Virtual Worlds", New Riders, 2003. Independent consultant, Emeritus Professor of Game Design.

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