Season 6, Episode 5: Sizing the off-platform monetization opportunity on mobile (with Chris Hewish)

Mobile Dev Memo Podcast

In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Chris Hewish, the President of Xsolla, a payments and merchandising platform for video games. Chris previously held senior roles at Skydance, DreamWorks, and Activision.

In our discussion, Chris and I discuss the recent changes to mobile platform payment policy implemented by both Apple and Google as a result of Epic's lawsuits. Among other topics, our conversation covers:

• The history of off-platform payments on mobile.
• How interest in off-platform payments has changed as a result of Apple's recent App Store policy updates.
• The types of products for which off-platform transactions convert best.
• The "trust premium" that a developer must possess to implement off-platform payments successfully.
• The most common mistakes developers make with off-platform payments.
• How conversion rates tend to change with off-platform payments relative to native payments.
• The best practices for off-platform storefront management.

Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast:

• INCRMNTAL⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on.
• ContextSDK. ContextSDK uses over 200 smartphone signals to detect a user’s real-world context, allowing apps to deliver perfectly timed push notifications and in-app offers.

Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact ⁠Marketecture⁠.