A small train game reveals the business behind Yodo1: handling the ads, publishing and brand deals that keep a good game earning long after launch.
Game studios once came to Sanlo for money. Now they also come for a way around the app-store tollbooth - a small shift in plumbing that can rearrange the economics of a hit game.
Apple, Google and Steam made game distribution easy - and expensive. Xsolla built a 20-year business around the awkward alternative: helping studios sell directly, get paid locally and keep the player relationship.