Naavik Gaming Podcast Why UGC Creators Need Webshops Too
Jan 14, 2026
Liam Wiltshire, General Manager at Tebex and a key player in its acquisition by Overwolf, dives into the evolving landscape of direct-to-consumer models in user-generated content. He highlights the shift from traditional webshops to tailored monetization strategies for games like Minecraft and Rust. Liam discusses the importance of player relationships, innovative e-commerce tactics like loyalty programs, and the need for studios to adapt to regulatory changes. He also emphasizes the potential of community-driven experiences and self-publishing for enhancing engagement and maximizing revenue.
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Humble Origins Solved Creator Pain
- Liam Wiltshire described Tebex's origin as BiCraft solving payments for Minecraft servers so creators could focus on building.
- He recalled saving War Bandits over a thousand hours by handling chargebacks, tax, and fraud for them.
D2C Is Native For Private Servers
- Private servers and mods create a native D2C behavior where webshops are expected by players.
- That makes D2C on PC fundamentally different from mobile, which must retrain players to buy outside app stores.
Keep Value Circulating Inside The Game
- Keeping spend inside a game's ecosystem increases lifetime value and developer capture of transaction share.
- Liam argued studios should prefer capturing that cut over banks taking it.