The Business of Games
The Business of Games: A podcast for developers, publishers, and executives navigating the ever-changing game industry.
From monetization models to player behavior, from platform shifts to emerging markets, The Business of Games is your guide to all the things transforming how games are built, marketed, and scaled.
Hosted by Chris Hewish and Lia Ballentine, each episode blends strategic insight, cinematic storytelling, and candid conversations with the people driving the business of play. You’ll hear from top executives inside studios and strategic partners across the ecosystem who are uncovering the ideas, tactics, and trends shaping tomorrow’s opportunities.
Whether you’re launching your first game or scaling a global studio, you’ll find practical strategies, future-forward thinking, and real-world examples you can act on right away.
The Business of Games is brought to you by Xsolla, your strategic partner behind the scenes. We bring together “All the Things” to help you simplify operations, unlock new revenue, reach more players, and launch fast.
Visit xsolla.com/podcast to explore episodes, connect with our team, and access bonus resources to level up your business of play. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast, 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 and colleagues who want to learn more about the business of games.
The Business of Games
Web3 and games: beyond the hype with David Kim
Welcome to The Business of Games Podcast, brought to you by Xsolla.
In this Extended Cut episode, host Lia Ballentine sits down with David Kim, a publishing and marketing leader and advisor in the Web3 space, for a deep-dive conversation about the realities of blockchain, digital ownership, and the economics shaping the next phase of gaming.
Web3 has been called everything from the future of player ownership to a passing fad. But beneath the hype is a real question: how can this technology actually make games and game businesses better?
David argues that the most meaningful innovations aren’t technical, but legal and economic. By moving ownership records from proprietary servers to public ledgers, studios can avoid becoming middlemen, legitimize gray-market trading, and open new models of trust between players and developers.
Across the discussion, David breaks down:
- The evolution from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake and why that shift finally made blockchain viable for games
- How NFTs and public ledgers can serve as verifiable receipts, solving long-standing issues of fraud, resale, and player rights
- Why Web3 isn’t a product but a toolkit and how studios can use it to build better economies and communities, not just speculation
- The pitfalls of “gamified DeFi” and what early failures teach us about designing sustainable play-to-own systems
- How regulation and clarity, from initiatives like the Clarity Act, could unlock mainstream adoption by reducing legal friction for both players and studios
Whether you’re a developer curious about tokenized economies or a marketer exploring new player engagement tools, this conversation demystifies what’s next for digital ownership and how to approach it without losing sight of what matters most: great games.
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.
