This week on the Konvoy Newsletter audio edition, host Jackson Vaughan unpacks how mobile web shops are breaking Apple and Google’s stranglehold on payments. What started as a regulatory experiment in South Korea and Europe has exploded into a global shift — and by 2025, 72% of top-grossing mobile games now run their own direct-to-consumer storefronts.
With turnkey platforms like Xsolla, Stash, and Appcharge making setup easier than ever, publishers from Playtika to Stillfront are already seeing up to 40% of revenue flow through web shops. The payoff is higher margins, better conversion, and deeper customer relationships — but also new responsibilities around fraud, compliance, and refunds.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
• How regulation forced Apple and Google to open up payment systems
• Why web shops now outperform app stores in personalization and conversion
• Which genres and publishers are leading adoption — and who’s falling behind
• How public gaming companies are reporting 20–40% of revenue from direct sales
• The risks and responsibilities developers now carry when going direct
• Why web shops, not web apps, are the real industry breakthrough
Whether you’re building games, investing in the mobile economy, or tracking platform regulation, this episode reveals how web shops went from fringe experiments to industry standard — and what that means for the future of mobile gaming.
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