🎯 The 2026 D2C Survey: Why 41% of studios still DON'T have a web store (and why they're wrong)
two & a half gamersShow Notes
FastSpring surveyed 110 senior mobile decision-makers — directors, VPs, C-suite — about direct-to-consumer, and the results premiere right here before Gamescom. The headline: 59% now have a web store, but the 41% who don't are held back by three fears that are all out of date. And the #1 reason studios adopt D2C isn't profit anymore.
Matej Lančarič, Jakub Remiar, and Felix Braberg welcome back Chip Thurston (FastSpring) for the sixth D2C episode — a full breakdown of FastSpring's 2026 D2C survey (Q2 2026, 110 respondents, all senior manager or above, 92% from 100+ person studios, 91% doing over $10M/year, split across US/Europe and casual/core).
They unpack why web-store adoption barely moved year-over-year (57%→59%) despite 60% planning it — game dev is hard and roadmaps slip — and the three "reasons not to adopt," which Chip reframes as misconceptions: technical complexity (rooted in confusing a merchant of record like FastSpring with a payment service provider like Stripe — the MoR handles all the tax, compliance, and audit exposure for you), damaging Apple/Google relationships (a fear anchored in 2023, when there were real repercussions; in 2026 both platforms have defined, approved D2C compliance paths), and legal uncertainty (the terms are actually solidifying — Epic/Google settling, Apple's Japan/Brazil compliance as the bellwether).
The most surprising finding: profit margins ranked only #4 among reasons to adopt — behind brand visibility & loyalty (#1), customer data & insights (#2), and pricing/promotion control (#3).
The takeaway: the fears are outdated, the data problem means the industry's "decline" is partly an illusion, and D2C is now about owning the player relationship — not just dodging the 30%.
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
00:00 The 2026 D2C survey — who FastSpring actually asked 05:30 Adoption barely moved (57%→59%) — why plans slip 07:30 Reason #1 not to adopt: "too technically complex" 09:30 Merchant of record vs payment service provider, explained 16:30 Reason #2 & #3: Apple/Google fear and legal uncertainty 25:45 The ping-pong-ball estimate — how much D2C is hidden? 32:30 The big surprise: profit is only the #4 reason to adopt 39:00 The new terms — Google's 20% fee and Apple's window --------------------------------------- For an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale. Our sponsor FastSpring: Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 years They power top mobile publishers around the world Launch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg. --------------------------------------- This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously. Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric, Chip Thurston
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--------------------------------------- Matej Lancaric User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant https://lancaric.me Felix Braberg Ad monetization consultant https://www.felixbraberg.com Jakub Remiar Game design consultant https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar
🎤 GUEST Chip Thurston — FastSpring
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