Video game commerce company Xsolla has reshuffled its executive board. Chris Hewish, who was previously president of the Sherman Oaks-based company, has been appointed its interim chief executive officer. His predecessor, Konstantin Golubitsky, was appointed as Xsolla’s chief executive in February 2022, after serving as its chief technology officer for about nine years. The company declined to comment on the reason for Golubitsky’s replacement.
“During Golubitsky’s tenure, Xsolla has seen significant growth and has secured partnerships with major players like Epic Games, NetEase, Nexters, Roblox Co., Twitch and Ubisoft,” the company said in a statement. “As interim CEO, Hewish will continue to drive Xsolla’s global business, while nurturing the company’s culture and workforce.”
Xsolla is a merchant and seller for game developers whose tools facilitate in-game payments, subscription plan development, customer purchase management and more. It supports gaming titles including Playstudios, Valve Co. and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.
Hewish previously held leadership roles at entertainment giants including Glendale-based DreamWorks Animation, Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard Inc. and Marina del Rey-based Survios. He was president of Xsolla for about three years and has designed and produced more than 50 games.
Alongside the internal promotion of Hewish, Xsolla is partnering with mobile marketing platform YouAppi. The partnership will be active in Xsolla’s Web Shop, which is an e-commerce site for game developers to sell virtual items and currencies that operates with Xsolla’s in-game payment interface.
“This partnership is designed to bring optimal value to companies that integrate the web shop solution and are selected for our program,” an Xsolla spokesperson said. “YouAppi will play a critical role by driving retargeting initiatives and effectively directing players to the company’s web shop, which can significantly boost customer engagement and sales.”
The company said that, with YouAppi, it wants to increase commercial metrics, such as the average purchase amount and number of repeated purchases in the Xsolla web store, and help partners boost their revenue. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
“Xsolla’s understanding of increasing user monetization through its Web Shop uniquely complements YouAppi’s ability to increase user retention through mobile app retargeting,” YouAppi Chief Executive Moshe Vaknin said in a statement.