APAC is not only the gaming region largest in revenue globally, it’s also arguably among the most localized, featuring a broad array of languages, cultures, and strongly held preferences. Every country, and even individual regions within countries, requires a unique strategy for success, and that target is always moving. To spotlight the trends and opportunities emerging in the region, GamesBeat Live, and Editorial Director Dean Takahashi, caught up with Berkley Egenes, Chief Marketing and Growth Officer at Xsolla, and Juyeon Lee, Senior Vice President APAC at Xsolla, at Tokyo Game Show 2025.
“You have to think about individual countries and territories,” Lee said. “Otherwise–we often talk about a European market, but what is the European market? It’s the same thing. Customization for each market is extremely important. It’s hard for developers outside of this region to break in.”
“We see that localization is a huge opportunity in this market, versus others like Europe where you can roll out a standard package,” Egenes added. “The localization of taking your game from one platform to another is critical to success.”
Of course, it’s not just the differences between console, PC and mobile, but monetization practices. Developers need to go beyond just offering what’s available in a particular country, but find how their target audience prefers to pay in order to actively reduce friction. And in a region where indies are gaining dominance, and legal and regulatory changes are in flux, the direct-to-consumer conversation is heating up.
Direct-to-consumer gaining traction
In the US, courts recently required that Apple allow developers to advise users about external payment options. In the EU, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) mandates that both Apple and Google support third-party app stores and payment providers. Similar laws are emerging in the APAC region, especially South Korea and Japan, in an effort to put a stop to platform monopolies, and that’s a huge opportunity for developers in an area where several alternative app stores are already widely used.
“What may work in one geography may not so much in another, or even within one country,” Egenes said. “Putting that together to be able to own that experience gives developers the opportunity to take back control, to create customized offers and very personalized approaches, creating those opportunities online, outside the platforms and these marketplaces that the Asian consumer is used to experiencing. The power and the control is back with the developers, which is great for the industry as a whole. The players are going to win from those experiences too.”
Challenges for developers from the west
One of the biggest challenges western developers and publishers encounter is continuing to approach APAC as a whole, rather than a huge territory with many languages and cultures, complex regulations, restrictions, and market preferences. Localization is a challenge, so it’s important to look outside the game for guidance, Lee explained.
“You’re going to need a lot of resources,” she said. “Find the right partner in each local region that can help you with compliance and regulations. Even for us, tax is an issue in this region. It changes a lot. Different governments are involved. If you have the right partner and you’re ready to put your app on the market–it’s a growing market. You have to come here. We can definitely help with entering this market.”
Xsolla in APAC
2026 will bring more support for developers in the APAC region, Egenes said.
“We’re going to continue to focus on growth and providing opportunities for our partners to be successful,” he explained. “We’ll be adding more payment methods into our roster of more than 1000 different payment methods. We brought in LINE and PayPay over here for Japan specifically, and it’s made a huge difference for developers and players here in the market.”
The company recently announced that Xsolla Pay Station now supports a number of Southeast Asia payment options, including: ShopeePay, which dominates Malaysia and Singapore e-commerce and FPX, used by 90% of Malaysian consumers; K PLUS, Thailand’s top mobile banking app and AIS, Thailand’s #2 mobile carriers with 44M users; Indosat, Indonesia’s key carrier billing provider; and MerPay, a Japanese e-wallet that serves 16.8M users.
Checkout flows are fully localized, providing players with regionally tailored language support for a more intuitive, frictionless payment experience, to increase conversion, reduce abandonment and help developers reach new regions.
Another big focus will continue to be educating developers about the possibilities for direct to consumer.
“What you can do from the web shops, what you can do with your mobile game and monetizing outside the platforms, really taking control of that experience, we’re having more conversations about best practices,” Egenes said. “There’s a lot more events still to go for the year. There’s a lot of conversations to be had. We can set up going into the next year to have a very successful 2026 for the game industry.”
GamesBeat LIVE, presented by Xsolla, was filmed at Tokyo Game Show 2025 and broadcasted on Oct 7, 2025. Watch the whole presentation here.
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GB LIVE is GamesBeat’s coverage of industry events in tech, AI, entertainment, and gaming — featuring exclusive footage either streamed live or filmed on-site and then aired at a scheduled time. Whether broadcasted in real time or released later, GB LIVE delivers high-impact conversations, insights, and thought leadership from the forefront of innovation. Content is streamed across GamesBeat and social channels, then also made available on demand as part of post-event coverage.