Skin in the game: Derek Rathbun on real money gameplay as the next frontier of direct-to-consumer monetization

One fortuitous connection: Derek Rathbun on how a chance meeting with Nolan Bushnell led to Gamers.bet

Welcome to Coffee.Press.Play., brought to you by The Business of Games Podcast, powered by Xsolla. Recorded live at GDC 2026 inside the Xsolla Clubhouse, this series puts a twist on the traditional interview format: guests play a round of a classic video game against our Xsolla host and the outcome determines whether they face an easy question or a hard one. In this episode, host Ed Lin sits down with Derek Rathbun, CEO and co-founder of Gamers.bet, who takes on a round of Super Smash Bros. and earns himself the easy question. Derek's path into games didn't start in games at all. He spent about 20 years in technology, primarily in the automotive space, before an acquisition sent him looking for what was next. Through a mutual friend, he found himself in conversation with a former president of Atari and Sega, who brought in none other than Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari himself, to talk through where gaming might be headed. What came out of those conversations was the idea that real-money gameplay had never been made truly native to games, and Derek realized he had the technology background to build it. That idea became Gamers.bet, and he hasn't looked back since. What you'll hear: * How two decades in automotive tech led Derek to an unexpected introduction to Nolan Bushnell * Why Derek landed on "fortuitous" as the one word that captures his path into gaming * How a casual conversation about the next evolution of competition turned into a business * Why Derek believes real-money gameplay can benefit both players and the games themselves as a new monetization layer Coffee.Press.Play. is an ongoing mini-series, and more conversations with our GDC guests are on the way. Listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch full episodes on our YouTube channel. Missed us at GDC 2026? Stay tuned to our LinkedIn page for announcements on where we'll be next. And catch up on recent episodes at xsolla.com/podcast. For more insights and resources, visit xsolla.com/podcast [http://xsolla.com/podcast]. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast [https://www.linkedin.com/company/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.

From job sites to game studios: Xander Agosta on grit, mentorship, and backing into a career in games

Welcome to Coffee.Press.Play., brought to you by The Business of Games Podcast, powered by Xsolla. Recorded live at GDC 2026 inside the Xsolla Clubhouse, this series puts a twist on the traditional interview format: guests play a round of a classic video game against our Xsolla host and the outcome determines whether they face an easy question or a hard one. In this episode, host Ed Lin sits down with Xander Agosta, Director of Marketing and Partnerships at Upptic, a growth marketing company working with the world's top games. Xander takes an easy round of Super Smash Bros. against Ed and earns himself an easy question, but his answer opens up a career path that wasn't easy at all. Raised in San Francisco and surrounded by the tech industry his whole life, Xander spent years feeling like an outsider looking in. A construction job, an unlikely mentor, and a leap of faith later, he found his way into web development, marketing, and eventually the games industry he'd wanted to be part of since childhood. What you'll hear: * Why growing up next to Silicon Valley didn't make the tech industry feel any less intimidating * The mentor who convinced Xander to bet on himself * How a detour through construction became the unlikely start of a marketing career * Xander's take on why persistence, not pedigree, is what gets you into the games industry Let's get into it. Coffee.Press.Play. is an ongoing mini-series, and more conversations with our GDC guests are on the way. Listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch full episodes on our YouTube channel. Missed us at GDC 2026? Stay tuned to our LinkedIn page for announcements on where we'll be next. And catch up on recent episodes at xsolla.com/podcast. For more insights and resources, visit xsolla.com/podcast [http://xsolla.com/podcast]. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast [https://www.linkedin.com/company/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.

When to step in: Ivan Carrillo on ownership, publishing, and saving a studio in trouble

Welcome to Coffee.Press.Play., brought to you by The Business of Games Podcast, powered by Xsolla. Recorded live at GDC 2026 inside the Xsolla Clubhouse, this series puts a twist on the traditional interview format: guests play a round of a classic video game against our Xsolla host and the outcome determines whether they face an easy question or a hard one. In this episode, host Chris Hewish sits down with Ivan Carrillo, Managing Partner at Joystick Ventures — an investment fund and publisher supporting indie studios around the world. Ivan's portfolio speaks for itself: a track record of successful releases, with more on the way. But before getting into any of that, he had to face Chris across a game of Super Smash Bros. — and came out on the losing end. That meant the hard question. And Ivan's answer was more honest than most would offer in front of a camera. What you'll hear: * How Joystick Ventures operates as both an investment fund and a publisher for indie studios worldwide * What happened when a portfolio studio wasn't delivering — and why Ivan chose not to write off the investment * What it actually means to "take over" development as a publisher, and what that costs in time, money, and trust * Why the studio Ivan stepped in to help is better off for it — and what that outcome reveals about how Joystick Ventures works Let's get into it. For more insights and resources, visit xsolla.com/podcast [http://xsolla.com/podcast]. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast [https://www.linkedin.com/company/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.

New thinking, real results: Wes Morton on Gen Z, AI-powered marketing, and building Creative Company

Welcome to Coffee.Press.Play., brought to you by The Business of Games Podcast, powered by Xsolla. Recorded live at GDC 2026 inside the Xsolla Clubhouse, this series puts a twist on the traditional interview format: guests play a round of a classic video game against our Xsolla host and the outcome determines whether they face an easy question or a hard one. In this episode, host Ed Lin sits down with Wes Morton, CEO and co-founder of Creative Company — a marketing technology firm serving media, entertainment, and tech brands across three practice areas: brand PR, digital products, and consumer insights. When we asked Wes who has influenced his decision-making most, he pointed to his own team — specifically the Gen Z employees who are bringing new technologies, new campaign strategies, and an entirely different relationship with work to the table every day. For a founder building a company from the ground up, that kind of bottom-up influence isn't just refreshing. It's structural. The conversation gets specific fast. Wes shares how one of his youngest employees, with no formal technical background, coded a fully functional front-end interface for EA client work using Vercel's AI tools — then handed it to the CTO, who said they could use all of it. That moment kicked off a company-wide conversation about AI coding tools, enterprise licensing, and what it means when non-technical people can ship technical work. What you'll hear: * Why Wes looks to his Gen Z team — not industry veterans — as his primary source of influence * How Creative Company is using large language models to reinvent consumer research in an industry that hasn't fundamentally changed since the 1940s * What a single Vercel-powered prototype from a junior employee revealed about the future of technical work * Why staying culture-forward matters as much in marketing technology as it does in the games themselves Let's get into it. Coffee.Press.Play. is an ongoing mini-series, and more conversations with our GDC guests are on the way. Listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch full episodes on our YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/@XsollaPodcast]. Missed us at GDC 2026? Stay tuned to our LinkedIn page [https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-business-of-games-podcast] for announcements on where we'll be next. And catch up on recent episodes at xsolla.com/podcast [http://xsolla.com/podcast]. For more insights and resources, visit xsolla.com/podcast [http://xsolla.com/podcast]. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast [https://www.linkedin.com/company/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.

Legacy, LiveOps, and the long game: Takaya Segawa on how Sega is building for a global future

Welcome to The Business of Games Podcast, powered by Xsolla. Few companies in gaming carry more history than Sega. But in this special episode, the conversation isn't about the past — it's about what comes next. In this extended cut, Xsolla President Chris Hewish sits down with Takaya Segawa, Sega’s Executive Vice President and Head of JA Studios 2nd Business Unit. The conversation is a rare look inside a company that has shaped the games industry for generations — and is now writing one of its most consequential chapters yet. Sega's legacy speaks for itself. But what Segawa-san shares here is something less often discussed: the operational philosophy, the cultural conviction, and the business decisions that have allowed Sega to keep players engaged — in some cases, for over two decades — while building toward a more direct, data-driven relationship with a global audience. From the development of SegaCon, Sega's emerging direct-to-consumer marketing platform, to a portfolio that spans Persona, Phantasy Star Online 2, Puyo Puyo Quest, and Project Sekai, Segawa-san walks through what it means to build for longevity in live services — and why the next frontier for Sega runs through esports, global commerce infrastructure, and a deeper connection with players worldwide. We dive into: * How Sega is approaching direct-to-consumer — and what's being built to support it * What decades of live service titles reveal about Sega's long-term engagement philosophy * What developers often get wrong about regional and cultural differences * Why Japanese cultural identity can be a global asset, not a barrier * How esports fits into Sega's broader growth strategy * What it actually takes to operate direct-to-consumer at a global scale This is a conversation that doesn't come along often — an honest, substantive dialogue with a leader who has been at the heart of one of gaming's most enduring companies. Let's get into it. For more insights and resources, visit xsolla.com/podcast [http://xsolla.com/podcast]. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast [https://www.linkedin.com/company/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.