Microsoft’s Xbox Design Lab, a service that lets gamers design their own custom Xbox Wireless Controllers and Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Controllers, has partnered with ESW to relaunch and expand distribution into 27 countries.
ESW, an ecommerce company, serves as a digital retailer and payments company.
“This relaunch marks a major milestone for Xbox Design Lab,” said Tejaswi Kotekar, product manager for Xbox Design Lab at Microsoft, in a statement. “We needed a merchant of record that would provide a high level of customer service and product road map. ESW’s agility and support were critical in helping us to achieve our goals.”
ESW’s technology and expertise reduce the complexities of international ecommerce,
enabling brands to quickly and compliantly serve customers worldwide. For Xbox, ESW
is serving as Xbox Design Lab’s Merchant of Record and international ecommerce
partner.
Dublin, Ireland-based ESW successfully created a customized and fully embedded checkout experience meeting the critical accelerated timeline for Xbox Design Lab relaunch. A joint product roadmap addresses future expansion and functionality to meet growing consumer needs.
Future plans include additional payment options. Xbox Design Lab’s distribution now covers North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific and includes Canada, the U.S., Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Denmark, Germany, Italy, and the U.K, among others.
“Xbox Design Lab is one of the most innovative and immersive online shopping experiences available today, giving gamers the power to personalize their controllers at scale,” said Tonia Luykx, chief revenue officer at ESW. “ESW brought the same high degree of customization to Xbox in order to meet the needs of its consumers in 27 different international markets. We are proud to partner with Microsoft to increase the brand authority of Xbox Design Lab and to deliver this highly personalized experience to its legions of fans everywhere.”
“They wanted to relaunch in a more extensive way, a more global manner, and so Microsoft Xbox came to us with the challenge that they were facing,” said Luykx in an interview with GamesBeat. “They needed a very accelerated timeframe to relaunch.”
Microsoft had a highly customized experience and they didn’t want to compromise on the quality. They reached an agreement in April and the relaunch was done in a matter of months.
The customized Xbox controllers are more complicated to assemble and then ship to customers in international markets. There are different trade compliance and regulatory issues in different countries.
“You need localized checkout in the right language,” Luykx said. “We make it so that the customer feels like they’re buying from Xbox at every stage of the journey.”
ESW makes worldwide ecommerce better by partnering with the world’s top brands and retailers to deliver international ecommerce solutions that reduce cross-border complexity. By localizing the online shopping experience, ESW creates moments that matter between brands and consumers, drives global revenue, and helps build brand loyalty.
ESW addresses the complexities of international markets with tailored solutions, including frictionless checkout, fast and reliable shipping and returns, and reduced compliance and regulatory risk. Overall, 15-year-old ESW reaches 200 international markets. Tommy Kelly started the business and Ascendia bought it three years ago.
How it works
While ESW handles supply chain matters for many customers, it does not do that for Xbox.
“We understood their focus on brand, and respected that and worked tirelessly to ensure that we could deliver against that,” Luykx said. “We pride ourselves on being a pure enterprise player. These large organizations need a high level of customer service and so the dedicated customer support team is pivotal.”
About 75% of the company’s customers are tier one enterprise brands.
“We’re focusing on building an engine to acquire more tier one and tier two brands across consumer electronics and other verticals,” Luykx said. “We’ve always been in the merchant of record space, providing that full suite of services. The complexities are so big now that the cost of doing it yourself is high and is changing on a daily basis.”
That means that dealing with price changes as a result of tariffs is a real challenge. Luykx said that providing localized payments solutions in many countries isn’t easy. Luykx is talking to other gaming organizations but isn’t ready to announce anything.
ESW also recently added agentic AI capabilities that enable it to complete orders and manage them better. It also launched with Shopify as a partner.
“We truly operate in a platform-agnostic capacity, and with our partnership with Shopify, it means that we can operate on every single commerce platform, including in-house, Luykx said. “That makes us a really strong partner.”
The countries include:
Canada
United States of America
Australia
Japan
South Korea
New Zealand
Singapore
Austria
Belgium
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom