Video Game Junkie Quietly Builds $3 Billion Payments Powerhouse

Aleksandr Agapitov is little known inside video gaming circles, let alone the business world.

Yet his company is one of the leading players in the $135 billion video game payments industry, in which gamers spend real money to acquire virtual items.

Aleksandr “Shurick” Agapitov

Photographer: Bobby Quillard/Xsolla

Xsolla, which Agapitov founded in 2005, allows video game producers to sell in-game digital items -- such as “skins” that change a character’s appearance or virtual pets -- in exchange for about a 5% cut of the sales. Its clients include some of the hottest companies in the industry, including Epic Games, Valve and Roblox Corp., whose ...