Coda 的 Daria Berdnikova 谈直接面向消费者与全球商务

PG Connects Nordics takes place in Helsinki on October 20th and 21st.
Berdnikova will outline how webstores link-outs and distribution can work together as part of a direct-to-consumer strategy.

Pocket Gamer Connects Nordics will take place in Helsinki on October 20th and 21st, bringing together industry experts to discuss a range of topics over the two days.

Daria Berdnikova, Coda's senior director of sales for EMEA, is among the speakers. She leads partnerships with gaming publishers and digital platforms to scale and monetise global monetisation and commerce.

At the event, she will share a practical framework to help publishers grow direct-to-consumer (D2C) revenue.

PocketGamer.biz: Please give us a summary of what you’re speaking about and why it’s important.

Daria Berdnikova: D2C is the fastest-growing layer in mobile gaming. This session gives publishers and partners a practical framework for capturing that growth through three connected levers: web stores, link-outs, and distribution. You will walk away with real performance benchmarks, a clear view of the regulatory shifts making this possible, and a playbook for connecting all three into one commerce strategy.

Where are the next big opportunities in the mobile games market?

There is a huge opportunity in how publishers reach and monetize players beyond the app stores. D2C is a big part of that, but it’s not just about launching a webstore. Distribution, local partnerships and payment choice all matter, especially as publishers expand internationally.

What works in the US won’t necessarily work in Japan, Korea or Southeast Asia. The opportunity is to build a more flexible approach where publishers can reach players through the channels they already use and give them a buying experience that makes sense locally.

What is the single biggest challenge facing the mobile games industry today?

For me, it’s the complexity of operating globally while still getting the local experience right. Games can reach a global audience quickly, but commerce is much more fragmented. Payment preferences, pricing, regulation, tax and how players buy content can all differ from one market to another.

The challenge for publishers is managing those differences without having to build a completely separate operation for every country they enter. Getting that balance between global reach and local relevance right is becoming increasingly important as publishers look for growth across more markets.

What developments do you think have been undervalued by the mobile games industry?

I’d say distribution. There’s been a lot of focus on D2C and owning the relationship with players, but publishers also need to think about reach. How do you get your game and offers in front of players who aren’t already coming to your webstore? At Coda, we see distribution as complementary to D2C.

Working with the right local marketplaces and commerce partners can help publishers reach new audiences, particularly in markets where they may not yet have a strong presence of their own.

What key trend should we be paying attention to in the next 12 months?

I’d watch how D2C evolves beyond the webstore itself. Publishers are starting to think more broadly about how webstores, link-outs, payments and distribution work together as part of one strategy.

Having an alternative checkout is only one piece of the puzzle. You also need to think about how players discover it, why they would choose to buy there and how you make that experience relevant in different markets. I think the conversation will increasingly shift from simply having a D2C channel to making that channel perform.

What do you enjoy most about working in the mobile games industry?

I really enjoy how global and fast-moving the industry is. You can be speaking with a publisher about an opportunity in Japan one day and discussing a completely different challenge in Europe or Southeast Asia the next.

There’s also a real openness to testing new ideas and learning from what works in different markets. For me, the most interesting part is working with publishers and partners to solve those challenges together. The industry keeps evolving, so there’s always something new to learn and a new problem to work through.