The Business of Games
The Business of Games: A podcast for developers, publishers, and executives navigating the ever-changing game industry.
From monetization models to player behavior, from platform shifts to emerging markets, The Business of Games is your guide to all the things transforming how games are built, marketed, and scaled.
Hosted by Chris Hewish and Ed Lin, each episode blends strategic insight, cinematic storytelling, and candid conversations with the people driving the business of play. You'll hear from top executives inside studios and strategic partners across the ecosystem who are uncovering the ideas, tactics, and trends shaping tomorrow's opportunities.
Whether you're launching your first game or scaling a global studio, you'll find practical strategies, future-forward thinking, and real-world examples you can act on right away.
The Business of Games is brought to you by Xsolla, your strategic partner behind the scenes. We bring together "All the Things" to help you simplify operations, unlock new revenue, reach more players, and launch fast.
Visit xsolla.com to learn more, connect with our team, and access all the things you need to level up your business of play. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast, where we’ll be sharing updates, highlights, and continuing the discussion. And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, review, and share the podcast with friends and colleagues who want to learn more about the business of games.
The Business of Games
From floppy disks to the AI era: Garry Edwards on the industry's biggest shift yet
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Welcome to Coffee.Press.Play., brought to you by The Business of Games Podcast, powered by Xsolla. Recorded live at GDC 2026 inside the Xsolla Clubhouse, this series puts a twist on the traditional interview format: guests play a round of a classic video game against our Xsolla host and the outcome determines whether they face an easy question or a hard one.
In this episode, host Ed Lin sits down with Garry Edwards, Head of Business Development at Mindera — a global software services company helping game studios build back-end infrastructure, pipelines, and live ops without overloading their internal teams.
Garry has been in the industry for more than 20 years, with stops at Electronic Arts, TT Games, and Warner Bros., where he spent nearly a decade running business development. He's seen the industry transform from floppy disks to streaming and cloud — and he makes the case that what's happening right now, the convergence of AI, consolidation, and a fractured mid-tier, is the biggest transitional shift the business has ever seen.
What you'll hear:
- Why the current moment — AI, industry consolidation, and the shrinking mid-tier — is unlike anything Gary has seen in 20+ years
- How Mindera helps studios of all sizes build infrastructure without expanding headcount
- Why the democratization of game development shifted the challenge from creation to discoverability
- What Garry learned from his boss at EA about negotiating deals and leading without ego
- What it looks like to build an entirely new gaming vertical from the ground up
Let's get into it.
Coffee.Press.Play. is an ongoing mini-series, and more conversations with our GDC guests are on the way. Listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch full episodes on our YouTube channel.
Missed us at GDC 2026? Stay tuned to our LinkedIn page for announcements on where we'll be next. And catch up on recent episodes at xsolla.com/podcast.
For more insights and resources, visit xsolla.com/podcast. Want to join the conversation? Follow and comment on our LinkedIn page at The Business of Games Podcast. That’s where we’ll be sharing updates, highlights, and continuing the discussion. And don’t forget to subscribe, rate, review, and share the podcast with friends who want to learn more about the business of games.
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