Game companies do not have to choose between app stores and direct sales, or between a new release and the long work of keeping older games alive. The hybrid approach is to combine distribution, revenue and engagement strategies: retain the reach of app stores while building direct player relationships, and pair that with sustained live operations, market-specific decisions and new ways to play and discover games. These are strategic options, not a proven formula that guarantees growth.
What does “hybrid” mean for the games business?
The term can describe more than one thing. In GamesBeat’s coverage of its May 2025 summit, the central strategy was additive distribution: keep selling through app stores while expanding to developer-owned webstores and other direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels. It does not mean abandoning platforms. As Xsolla chief strategy officer Chris Hewish put it: “This whole model is not an either-or; it’s not about leaving the platforms to go direct-to-consumer. It’s about expanding your business to embrace both.”
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Hybrid can also describe a mix of revenue sources—such as direct purchases and advertising—or a game that reaches players through cloud streaming, subscriptions, bundles and dedicated hardware. These meanings overlap, but they are not interchangeable. A studio can pursue DTC alongside app-store sales without adopting cloud gaming, for example, or combine purchases with advertising while remaining on one platform.
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How can game companies grow revenue without abandoning app stores?
App stores can provide a large discovery surface, convenient purchasing and familiar privacy assurances. A developer-owned webstore can give a studio more control over offers and pricing, and a more direct relationship with players. The trade-off is that the studio takes on the work of attracting players to that store and earning their trust. GamesBeat and Boston Consulting Group describe the opportunity, but do not establish a universal cost, margin or conversion rate for running a webstore.
| Route | Potential value | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| App-store sales | Reach, discoverability and a familiar purchase flow, as described in GamesBeat’s 2025 summit coverage. | That an app-store presence alone gives a developer the same control over customer relationships, offers or pricing as a direct channel. |
| Developer-owned webstore | More direct player relationships and greater control over offers and pricing, with a potential margin opportunity, according to GamesBeat and BCG. | A guaranteed revenue lift, a quantified operating cost, or a single result that applies across games and regions. |
Hewish said companies expanding beyond app stores were seeing an average of 14–16% additional revenue on top of what they already made, in GamesBeat’s account of the 2025 summit. GamesBeat did not publish the methodology behind that figure. Treat it as a statement attributed to Hewish—not as an independently established average, a forecast for a particular studio or proof that DTC caused the increase.
BCG’s Video Gaming Report 2026, published December 9, 2025, offers a separate indicator of player uptake. In a survey of 2,972 respondents fielded July 9–18, 2025, 33% of adult gamers and 40% of teens said they had made at least one purchase from a developer-owned webstore. That measures reported experience with a webstore, not how often respondents bought there or how much revenue those purchases generated.
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A practical interpretation is to let app stores remain a route to discovery and convenient purchasing while giving interested players a clear, trustworthy direct option. The two channels should not be treated as identical storefronts that automatically serve the same audience. A webstore needs a reason for players to visit, an understandable offer and a purchase experience they trust; the cited sources do not specify which incentives work best or how much webstore operations cost.
Before expanding, a studio can define what it wants the direct channel to accomplish—such as a closer relationship with players or greater control over offers—and track results separately from app-store performance. Hewish’s reported 14–16% figure is not a substitute for measuring a studio’s own revenue, repeat purchasing and player response.
How do live operations keep older games competitive?
For an established game, a hybrid strategy may be less about adding another storefront than about giving players reasons to return. GamesBeat reported at the 2025 summit that games on the market for more than six years accounted for over 50% of in-app purchase revenue at the time. The coverage credited continued engagement to live operations, including new competitions, modes and experiences. It did not give a breakdown by genre or explain how the revenue share was calculated.
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That figure challenges the assumption that commercial value belongs only to new releases. It is evidence that older games can remain significant, not a promise that every long-running title can do so. Live operations require a fit between new content and the game’s existing audience; extending a schedule without maintaining that fit is not the same as sustaining engagement.
- Refresh the experience: GamesBeat’s examples include competitions, modes and other experiences that give returning players something new to do.
- Connect updates to retention: Assess whether updates bring players back and sustain engagement, rather than judging an update only by a short-term purchase spike.
- Keep monetization aligned with play: A commercial offer should support the experience, not make continued participation feel dependent on spending.
Why do emerging regions require local understanding?
GamesBeat’s summit discussion identified emerging regions as a potential source of growth, while emphasizing the need to understand local markets. Reach alone is not a market strategy: studios need to consider whether a game, its offers and its routes to purchase make sense for the players they hope to reach.
The cited coverage does not provide country-by-country adoption, pricing, payment or regulatory data. It therefore supports a principle—build around local understanding—not a claim that one region is the next guaranteed growth market or that a single localization plan will work everywhere. App-store policies and regulatory conditions can differ by jurisdiction and change over time; the sources discussed here do not settle current legal requirements for individual territories.
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How are cloud play, subscriptions and creators changing access and discovery?
BCG describes a landscape in which players can encounter games through cloud streaming, multigame subscriptions and hybrid or bundled models, while dedicated hardware remains relevant. That points to a more connected set of access routes, not the disappearance of consoles or other dedicated devices.
In the July 2025 survey reported in BCG’s December 2025 report, 60% of surveyed players said they had tried cloud gaming; 80% of those respondents reported a positive experience. These are survey responses, not a prediction that cloud gaming will replace local play or succeed equally across games, regions and network conditions.
BCG also treats user-generated content and creator ecosystems as engagement and discovery mechanisms. In its survey, 55% of gamers said they would try a new game if their favorite creator switched to it. That signals a possible discovery path through creators, not a guarantee of installs, retention or sales. Studios considering these routes still need to judge whether their game benefits from community creation, creator-led exposure or cross-device continuity.
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What does “hybrid monetization” add?
Hybrid monetization means mixing revenue methods, rather than combining app-store and DTC distribution. PwC’s guidance includes direct player purchases and advertising, including opt-in rewarded video, with attention to effects on engagement and revenue metrics. A player who chooses to watch a rewarded ad is a different proposition from one who encounters an ad that interrupts play; whether either model fits depends on the game and its audience.
BCG’s wider account of industry options includes tiered prices, subscriptions, release windowing and advertising, alongside alternative distribution and bundled access. These are choices studios can evaluate, not guaranteed winners or a checklist every game should adopt. Adding a revenue stream is useful only if its contribution is assessed alongside the experience it creates for players.
What role might AI play in the next phase?
GamesBeat’s summit coverage framed AI as a tool for development and discovery. Hewish cautioned against treating it simply as a way to shrink teams: “It’s not about reducing teams or reducing the size of your company,” he said. “It’s about being able to create something bigger, deeper, more engaging.” That is a strategic argument about what teams might do with AI, not evidence that a particular tool will improve quality or reduce production time.
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How should a studio choose its mix of strategies?
The sources point to several possible growth levers, but do not show that any one combination works for every studio. A useful decision starts with the constraint the studio is actually trying to address:
- If the challenge is reach or discovery, consider what app stores, creators or other distribution routes can contribute before assuming a direct storefront will attract players on its own.
- If the challenge is ownership of the player relationship, assess whether a developer-owned webstore can serve a clear purpose alongside existing sales channels, and account for the trust and operational work it requires.
- If an established game is losing momentum, consider whether new competitions, modes or experiences can renew engagement before treating the title’s age as a reason to move on.
- If growth depends on a new audience or market, evaluate local fit rather than treating global availability as proof of demand.
- If a new revenue or access model is under consideration, measure its effect on both commercial results and player engagement rather than assuming that more options are automatically better.
The evidence has limits. GamesBeat’s revenue and legacy-game figures are reported summit claims, not a universal forecast; BCG’s findings reflect a defined 2025 survey; and the available sources do not establish current market outcomes or jurisdiction-specific rules beyond their publication dates. The strongest takeaway is therefore about the shape of strategy: combine routes when each has a distinct job, and evaluate the result against the needs of the game and its players.
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