Roei Barassi, Co-Founder and General Manager at Appcharge — Interview Series

Appcharge, an all-in-one D2C payment platform by trade, is currently making sharp progress in the field of mobile gaming by integrating AI-driven programs into countless monetized applications. To learn a bit more about some of the work that the team is doing, as well as gain an insight into some of the updates that the platform is shaping up to implement over the coming months, we decided to catch up with co-founder and general manager Roei Barassi.

Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, Roei. Before we dip our toes into the D2C space, let’s talk about your background as a co-founder and general manager. Who are you, what brought you to this position in the gaming industry?

Roei: I’ve spent over two decades in software and gaming, with a focus on monetization and store building to drive engagement, retention, and profitability. Before joining Appcharge, I led engineering operations at Moon Active, Autodesk, and Amdocs. When we launched Appcharge in 2022, our goal was to bring positive change to the mobile games industry by doing things differently, and now we’re seeing that happening at scale – both with more members joining our team and top-grossing publishers whose stores we power. We help publishers sell directly to their players and form stronger connections with them. This direct-to-consumer (DTC) ecosystem creates a win-win scenario for both players – who get more value, and publishers – who benefit from better financials and improved player experience.

Could you tell us a bit more about the work that you’re doing at Appcharge? How does it work, and what are some of the steps you take to ensure your clients’ success?

Roei: Appcharge is the leading DTC platform for mobile game publishers to maximize profits through owning player relationships.

We are the fastest-growing all-in-one global payment solution, but Appcharge goes beyond providing a payment service; it drives revenue growth for its partners by powering up stores with unique monetization features – features that exemplify the deep roots our team has in building and scaling mobile games ourselves. 

The key features that drive our client’s success include: 

• Fully branded store that feels native to the game.
• Monetization features that boost conversion and retention – like bonuses, coupons, special offers, deep links, and more
• Having stores react in real time to our client’s existing player segments and monetization rules – so the offers each player sees on the store are perfectly personalized for them.
• Global checkout offering which supports over 100 currencies and 500 payment methods, and could be integrated into any web store, or even in-game with our Unity SDK.
• SOC-2 certified Merchant of Record services, such as taxes, compliance, and dispute management at scale.
  

Speaking of success stories, we’d love to hear about some of the brands that you’ve been able to attract and develop since the company’s inception. Are there any standout projects or collaborations that you’d be willing to tell us about?

Roei: While I can’t go into specifics about the companies working with us, I can say one-third of the top-grossing mobile games chose Appcharge to power their own D2C web stores, with many of them seeing incremental revenue growth of 20-30%.

So tell us, why is it that video game publishers are opting to cut out the middlemen? Is this an approach that you’d recommend to all aspiring creators?

Roei: The main reason publishers choose to bypass the middlemen, like Apple, is the hefty 30% fee these platforms take from every transaction. This means developers have to take matters into their own hands to maximize their revenue growth instead of waiting for these big platforms to change their policies.

In fact, 65% of the top-grossing mobile games in 2024 are already operating their own web stores, and for a good reason. It's essential to incorporate web stores into their marketing mix to boost profits. I understand it might seem daunting to set up and maintain a web store, from designing and coding to handling global payments and compliance. But it's not as challenging as it sounds. Most publishers use the help of a 3rd party partner like Appcharge to manage the design, operations, payments, and compliance of their store, and some publishers prefer to design and build their stores in-house, and only integrate our checkout payments solution into their stores.

So the benefits are clear: web stores offer significant profit growth and new ways to reward players. The numbers are also clear: compared to in-app stores, web stores see higher repeat purchase rates (60% compared to 45%), repeat visit rates (67% compared to 55%), and average purchases per paying (5 compared to 3).

So, what’s next for Appcharge? Do you have any plans to further expand the business model over the coming weeks, months, or years? If so, could you please share a few details about what you’re working towards?

Roei: We’re truly taken aback by the demand we see from the market for our offering. Our team is rapidly growing, and our features roadmap is already packed full of new monetization features and special requests from our partners. Since we work with the biggest mobile publishers in the industry – we view our partnership with them as one that comes with a great deal of responsibility. If they raise a dream feature they feel would improve their store conversion rate and player experience — we want to be able to make it a reality for them.

Is there a way for potential clients to stay up to date with your upcoming projects? Are there any social channels or helpful reading materials that we should be taking note of?

Roei: You can follow Appcharge on LinkedIn, I always love to share our Manifesto which provides more background on why we do what we do at Appcharge.

Any final words for our readers?

Roei: The D2C revolution is well underway in mobile gaming, and we are excited to play a part in it.

Thanks for your time, Roei!

Roei: Of course, and thank you for the opportunity to share our mission and values.

To stay up to date with the latest developments from Appcharge, be sure to check in with the team over on their official social handle here. Alternatively, you can visit the website for additional information here.