two & a half gamers 🤔 What if games paid players back?
What if paying players actually made games more profitable?
In this episode, we sit down with Ben Cousens (Chief Strategy Officer at ZBD) to unpack how embedded payouts, loyalty rewards, and regulated payments infrastructure can radically change retention, LTV, and monetization in mobile games.
This is payments, psychology, and monetization design.
Topics covered
• Why gaming has a payments problem
• Embedded rewards vs cash-for-tasks
• How ZBD increases retention by 180%
• Sharing ad revenue with players
• Anti-fraud & compliance realities
• UA creatives that attract better cohorts
• Bank payouts & real-world spend in 2026
More on ZBD SDK: https://zbd.gg/z/rewards-sdk
Case studies mentioned: https://zbdpay.com/en/case-studies
ZBD: https://zbdpay.com
Ben Cousens : https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencousens/
RSVP to Game of Tones II: https://luma.com/07c3ffq0?utm_source=twoandahalfgamers
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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: Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric
Special guest: Ben Cousens
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencousens/
Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipg
Chapters
00:00 — Why 180% retention sounds like BS?
01:35 — Ben’s background: games, banking, VC, ZBD
04:25 — What ZBD actually is (and isn’t)
06:20 — The real payments problem in gaming
09:10 — Money lifecycle in games: pay-in, move, pay-out
11:15 — Why pay-outs are allowed when pay-ins aren’t
13:00 — Embedded rewards vs “cash for tasks”
14:30 — Bitcoin Miner & easter-egg rewards explained
17:20 — Why sharing ad revenue increases LTV
19:40 — From Bitcoin wallets to direct bank payouts
22:00 — How rewards change player behavior long-term
24:00 — Fraud, bots & anti-abuse systems
26:50 — Why this works better than classic rewards apps
29:35 — Tech integration & SDK reality
31:40 — UA creatives and signaling “this game pays you”
33:45 — Regulation costs & why others can’t copy this
35:10 — What’s coming in 2026 (bank, real-world spend)
37:10 — Blurring virtual and real economies
39:20 — Who should actually use ZBD
41:10 — Final take: owning the player relationship
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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
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Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me
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