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Industry | Financial services, video games |
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Founded | 2005[1] |
Founder | Aleksandr Agapitov |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Aleksandr Agapitov, Konstantin Golubitsky, Chris Hewish |
Products | Pay Station, In-Store Store, Anti-Fraud, Launcher, Site Builder, Buy Button, Subscriptions, Login, Funding Club |
Services | Payment systems for game publishers, customer support and tax/VAT services |
Revenue | US$ 100 million (2021) [2] |
Number of employees | 490 [3] |
Website | www |
Xsolla is a global video game commerce company headquartered in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2005 by Aleksandr Agapitov in Perm (Russia), and is incorporated with subsidiaries globally. [4] [5]
Xsolla’s products include digital tools which help with in-game payments and enable alternative payment systems to be used for digital transactions. [6] According to research conducted by Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, Xsolla could be worth up to $3 billion. In 2020, the company's revenue was $67 million. [7]
Xsolla clients include Twitch, Smite, Fortnite, Phoenix Labs, Roblox, Warner Bros. Games, Nexters, WEMADE, Gaijin, NetEase Games. [8] [9] [10]
Founded in 2005 [1] by Alexander Agapitov, Xsolla (then 2Pay) provides payment services via local payment methods (cash kiosks, prepaid cards, money orders and e-wallets). The company was initially targeted at Russian game developers and publishers. Having added PayPal and SMS payment options, 2Pay entered the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States)[ clarification needed ] market and started its global expansion. [1] Several years after the founding, Xsolla and its core leadership team moved to the United States and officially reincorporated as a US company California Corporation. This allowed the company to greatly expand its operations globally.
In 2010, 2Pay headquarters moved to Sherman Oaks, CA. The company was renamed to Xsolla and transformed into an American company to expand its global operations. [11] [12] The company expanded its business portfolio by adding numerous payment systems.[ further explanation needed ]
On February 21, 2022, Aleksandr Agapitov announced the company’s launch of X.LA, a “community-driven organization designed to democratize how creators benefit from their work by utilizing novel technologies and concepts of Web3.” X.LA works by leveraging blockchain and Web3 technologies to enable revenue-sharing deals more accessible to creators globally through a decentralized protocol. [8]
Xsolla’s current monetization product offerings consist of 10 gaming-specific ecommerce tools: Xsolla Pay Station, In-Game Store, Player Inventory, Subscriptions, Buy Button, Site Builder, Web Shop, NFT Checkout, Multi-Platform Publishing, Digital Distribution Hub, and Anti-fraud solution. [28]
Xsolla Pay Station allows Xsolla partners to monetize their product by providing an interface for users around the world to pay for in-game purchases in game stores. The tool supports more than 130 world currencies. [29] [ non-primary source needed ]
The in-game store is a service for managing in-game purchases. The service functions as an in-game digital marketplace where players can purchase in-game and other digital items. Developers can access integrated marketing and price management tools. [30]
On April 5, 2022, Xsolla was announced as the winner of Mobile Games Awards “Best Service Provider” award. [38] On October 4, 2022, Xsolla received the Gold tier Merit Award for gaming. [39]
Aleksandr Agapitov is Xsolla’s Founder and former CEO. On February 2, 2022, Agapitov stepped down and appointed Konstantin Golubitsky as CEO. Chris Hewish is the current president of Xsolla. [40] [8] [7] [41]
In 2020, Bitbox Ltd. announced that it was shutting down its game Life Is Feudal: MMO, alleging that Xsolla was not paying them. [42] This has resulted in a lawsuit between the two companies. [43]
In 2021, Xsolla fired 150 employees based on their performance metric which was measured using big data and AI analytics. [44] [45]
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