The article discusses current challenges in the gaming industry, highlighting the impact of layoffs and shifting business models. Chris Hewish, president of Xsolla, emphasizes in his book “Durable Advantage: Five Pillars of the Modern Game Business” the importance of strategic frameworks for success. He identifies five key pillars: relationships, commerce, intelligence, trust, and time.
Hewish advises gaming companies to critically assess their reliance on third-party platforms for core business functions, stressing the need for ownership of their data and business models. He warns against the pitfalls of operating on incomplete data, which can lead to misguided strategies, such as misinterpreting revenue drops.
The piece concludes by illustrating how companies can misallocate resources by failing to recognize shifts in player behavior, such as the adoption of new payment methods, and thus emphasizes the importance of comprehensive intelligence to inform decisions.
