Showcasing Brands: How to Reach Players Through Video Games and Previews the Holiday Video Games and Commerce Ebook at Xsolla Connect NYC 2027

Xsolla, a global commerce company, today announced it will be showcasing new channels for brands to engage with video game players, studios, and developers in New York City during Ad Week. Xsolla Connect NYC 2026 will bring together brands, studios, partners, and developers to discuss all the things to create direct-to-consumer experiences through video games. The Xsolla team will be active throughout Advertising Week New York 2026, October 5 to 8. Brands, studios, and developers will be joining the discussion around the new industry report focused on brands and games in Xsolla's Holiday Video Games and Commerce ebook.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261005988220/en/

Graphic: Xsolla

Video games are one of the largest categories of entertainment spending in the world, yet most brands still treat the category as an experiment: a one-off promotional stunt or a single media buy, not a lasting engagement program. The traditional formats brands default to were never built for players. Interstitial pop-ups disrupt gameplay, banner ads go unnoticed, and in-game activations remain cumbersome and expensive to execute.

At Xsolla Connect NYC, Xsolla will make the case for a different way for brands to reach players:

• The Audience: Players are among the most engaged audiences a brand can reach, yet most brands still haven't reached them at scale.
• The Relationship: Players and studios have trusted Xsolla with their transactions for over 21 years, and this experience has given the company first-party insights into what players value.
• The Solution: Branded quests meet players where they are, making a brand's product the reward rather than the interruption.

The relationship between players and games is built on the commerce infrastructure behind more than 6,500 games trusted by more than 70% of the top 100 highest-grossing games. The foundational infrastructure gives Xsolla insights into how players spend, what they value, and when they are most open to a brand. These signals come from real transactions, not modeled audiences borrowed from someone else's platform, and Xsolla uses them to connect brands with games. With branded quests, players are rewarded with a brand's product for hitting a milestone they actually care about, such as beating level 50 or dealing 50,000 points of damage. The brand adds value to the game rather than taking attention away. Xsolla calls this approach Rewarded Marketing.

"Brands have spent years trying to get players' attention by interrupting them," said Chris Hewish, President of Xsolla. "When a brand's product is the item a player claims, the brand becomes part of the win instead of the thing standing in the way of it. Advertising Week is where the people who decide brand budgets gather, and we're bringing them a model that puts their product inside the moments players care about most."

Xsolla Connect NYC takes place on October 5 during Advertising Week New York. The full Holiday Video Games and Commerce ebook follows in mid-October.

For more information about Xsolla Connect NYC and the Holiday Video Games and Commerce ebook, visit: https://xsolla.pro/Advertising-Week-2026

About Xsolla

Xsolla is a global commerce company that builds and provides all the things developers need to launch, grow, and monetize video games. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, the company supports studios of every size, from indie to AAA, with solutions across direct-to-consumer commerce, intelligent payments, entertainment-based IP, and player engagement products. Xsolla helps developers fund, distribute, market, and monetize their games at scale. Trusted by more than 70% of the top 100 highest-grossing games, Xsolla operates as the merchant of record across 200+ geographies with access to 1,000+ local payment methods worldwide. Grounded in a deep belief in the future of gaming, Xsolla is resolute in bringing opportunities together and unlocking growth for creators everywhere.

For more information, visit xsolla.com

© 2026 Xsolla. All rights reserved.

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