Discover the latest innovations, tech practices, marketing trends, and more in our exclusive interview series, ExtraMile by HiTechNectar.
In our latest Q&A session, we had the privilege to host Bartosz Skwarczek, Founder of the world’s largest and most trusted marketplace for digital entertainment, G2A.COM. It is a platform that supports over 30 million individuals across approximately 180 nations in purchasing more than 100 million items.
In the discussions, Skwarczek shares about different elements and challenges of entrepreneurship. Alongside that, he highlights on the emerging security and advanced payment solutions. Let us learn about Skwarczek’s journey in establishing G2A.COM and taking the firm beyond success.
Welcome, Bartosz; we are glad that you could join us today!
Q1. It is indeed inspiring to learn how you took the concept of a digital marketplace and transformed it into a successful business. We would like to know about your entrepreneurial journey so far and the key highlights of your career.
Ans. Being an entrepreneur has been my dream and aim since high school. I wanted to prove that there are no limits and that everything is possible. Growing up in a non-wealthy family in a post-communist country in the 1990s, and having no money in my pocket, I was hungry for success, growth, and a prosperous life. To sate this hunger, I tried various jobs, starting as a tennis racket trainer and stringer, spent a few years as a sales representative, where I learned sales strategies, relationship-building, and negotiation and eventually an entrepreneur in the steel industry. In five years, I managed to establish a business that became one of the 20 largest in its industry. At the same time, I offered my services as a mentor to new and promising entrepreneurs. One of these young talents was Dawid, later co-founder of G2A.COM. He convinced me to try my hand in the gaming industry and start a new company.
When we founded G2A.COM in a small office in Rzeszow, Poland almost 15 years ago, we were just a handful of people with big dreams and even bigger ambitions. We aimed to become the best source for gamers to get their games, starting as an online store, and later evolving into a marketplace. Even though much of the industry’s attention was focused on physical boxes, we saw a trend to move from boxed distribution of video games into the world of digital.
Have in mind, that in 2010, almost 70% of the market was made up of physical games and offerings. In 2014, when we decided to move to a marketplace format, it was 39%, and by 2023 it was only 5%. Regardless of physical or digital distribution, our goal was to show the world that gaming as entertainment is for everyone.
Succeeding in the all-digital marketplace field was no small feat and required a clear vision of our goals. When we created the G2A.COM Marketplace, I posed a question to my team: “What does it take to build the largest marketplace in the gaming industry?” The answer came down to six factors: be on the top of the game in terms of payments, prices, range of offerings, support, security, and UX. We said, “Let’s do it” and the rest is history –ten years of relentless hard work, day after day.
Q2. Congratulations on being named the Company of the Year: Retail by Globee Business Awards! How important are such recognitions in the competitive industry?
Ans. Such recognitions are always very important in any industry, especially in competitive fields like gaming and e-commerce. They build credibility on the global scale and show other experts that we are knowledgeable about the industries we operate in.
Apart from business awards like this one, we are also frequently recognized in the cybersecurity industry, with our experts attending numerous events and sharing knowledge about the latest solutions in this area. I’m happy to say that we are regarded as an authority there, and I’m glad that our team has built such expertise.
To give you a few examples of other awards we’ve recently received: Best Digital Marketing Campaign award and Payments Innovations of the Year award during the eCommerce Expo 2024 or Best Pitch Winner at the Cross-Border Commerce C-Suite Spring 2024.
These recognitions are a result of hundreds, even thousands of hours of hard work and continuous development by our teams and departments. We are implementing new solutions aimed at making G2A.COM’s marketplace more secure and better for our users. These awards show that this effort is visible to everyone.
Additionally, we are active as experts at various conferences and podcasts, and we are members of organizations such as the Merchant Risk Council, that work to improve the state of global cybersecurity.
Q3. Similar to other industries, the marketplace for digital entertainment has also gone through several changes lately. Can you evaluate the prominent trends and practices in this regard?
Ans. We have been a leader in the digital marketplace industry for a long time, maintaining this position thanks to our ability to spot and act on new and emerging trends. We constantly seek out new technologies to implement and gain a competitive edge. Our dedicated team of researchers monitors trends, regional demands, and the latest reports to make sure we have the most recent data and can identify emerging opportunities for quick adaptation. Just as I mentioned when discussing the shift from selling boxed games to going digital.
Another trend we noticed was a change in the demographics of the digital industry, which began at the start of the COVID pandemic. We saw a spike in our user base, with a significant group of new users appearing on our marketplace – casuals. We quickly identified this emerging trend and broadened our range of offerings to include non-gaming products, such as subscriptions and gift cards. And we were right! According to McKinsey, e-commerce penetration in the U.S. grew by 10 years’ worth of progress in just three months in 2020, Netflix gained 16M users in Q1 of 2020 and Steam had a 30% increase of the gaming activity.
As time went on, we also observed a shift in user behavior, with a preference for local, familiar solutions, brands, and faces over global ones. In response, we adopted a ‘think globally, act locally’ approach in both business development and marketing. This strategy enables us to implement global solutions and run international campaigns, while also incorporating regional elements into our marketing efforts and offering the most popular local payment options to our clients.
Q4. G2A has a user base of more than 30 million, with a yearly website visit of over 130 million. How do you ensure offering top-notch services each time and meeting the expectations of your customers?
Ans. Our mission is to open the Gate 2 Adventure in digital entertainment, helping people discover its best aspects while empowering them to develop their potential in this field. G2A.COM strives to democratize access to digital entertainment, making it available to everyone, regardless of competence, age, gender, race, or status. We also aim to equip our community with the tools to learn how to be secure on the internet through webinars, guides, and other resources they can use.
We take user feedback very seriously, particularly regarding their experience and the entire customer journey. By conducting regular surveys and monitoring emerging trends and solutions on the market, we can develop plans to introduce new features. To ensure the best user experience, we’ve created a company-wide roadmap with over 200 initiatives.
Our Customer Service and Sellers teams are constantly gathering ideas on what to improve. This is how the Excellent Seller (a program emphasizing the best customer service in sellers, with the ones providing the most satisfaction receiving proper recognition) and item review from customers were implemented. We are also gathering feedback from the online community and media to see which activities we conduct are viewed positively and what can be improved.
Q5. With innovative payment solutions, security risks have also increased. What is your take on this, and how is your company ensuring robust security for its users?
Ans. Cybercrime is currently on the rise, with the costs addressing it expected to reach $9.5 trillion in 2024 alone. Companies in North America and Europe are, on average, spending 10% of their revenue managing and reducing payment fraud.
At G2A.COM security is our top priority. We are proud to have created a safe environment for everyone who visits our marketplace. Maintaining the highest security level is an ongoing process that includes various elements: technical, employee awareness, procedures for responding to threats, and legal requirements. We dedicate part of these expenditures to integrating cutting-edge, AI-supported security systems, like SentinelONE, Qualys, or Sonarqube. Recently we have partnered with Forter, a Trust Platform for digital commerce, to block fraud attempts and optimize payments globally.
We are committed to ensuring compliance with the latest directives and standards. For instance, we have implemented an AI usage policy within our organization that ensures all tools used by G2A.COM employees are thoroughly reviewed and approved.
In terms of adhering to global standards, we are aligning with the newly enforced NIS-2 directive in the EU. This directive outlines several responsibilities, including conducting dynamic risk analysis, ensuring supply chain security, developing and implementing business continuity and crisis management plans, and managing backup copies. We have already put solutions in place to address these responsibilities and continue to monitor new laws and regulations to ensure we remain fully compliant.
Besides staying compliant and secure, we enable our user to pay in their favorite method. According to PayPal, 60% of users are likely to abandon their shopping cart if they can’t use their preferred payment method. So, when we were expanding internationally, we have provided both global payment methods such as credit cards, PayPal, or Google Pay as well as local providers like Venmo in the US, Bizum in Spain or Sofort in Germany.
Q6. Being a frontrunner in the industry, what are your expectations and predictions for the future of online marketplaces?
Ans. With G2A.COM being built on the ability to predict and capitalize on emerging trends, we see several directions the industry is moving towards.
Firstly, community ties within gamers will continue to strengthen. Many studies, conducted by various platforms, emphasize the unique social value of gaming as a bridge for community-building, especially among diverse groups. It’s no wonder then that Microsoft decided to bring two-way friend requests back to Xbox after 10 years, offering more ways for players to connect with new and existing friends. Additionally, Discord’s growth (with projections to reach nearly 689 million users by 2025) reflects the platform’s appeal as a community space. With 19 million active servers in 2023, it remains a central platform for diverse groups to create safe spaces for social interaction. In total, gamers are looking to build communities, and companies are actively providing them with spaces for this.
Another trend, currently very popular in many industries, is AI and its influence on businesses. According to a recent CVL Economics report, the gaming industry has already integrated generative AI into its processes more extensively than sectors like television, film, or music. The report’s survey of 300 CEOs, executives, and managers also indicates that nearly 90% of video game companies reported adopting generative AI tools for various applications.
On the retail side of things, marketplaces utilize AI to curate highly personalized customer journeys, from product discovery to checkout, delivery, and even returns and exchanges. By utilizing customer data, such as browsing and purchase history, gaming marketplaces will be able to deliver personalized recommendations that resonate with customers while driving purchases.
There are, of course, many other trends we can see, such as diversifying payment methods by marketplaces, the nostalgic return of old franchises, or the growth of user-generated content, and we are actively watching all of them, judging which ones have the highest chance of breaking through.
Q7. Bartosz, you are an ardent tennis lover; do you think you might have pursued a career in the sport if you hadn’t found success in entrepreneurship?
Ans. Becoming an entrepreneur has always been my dream, and I knew early on that I wanted to pursue this career path. At the same time, I believe that having a passion or interest outside of work is crucial for personal growth. Sports are a great way to build character, and tennis has been my sport of choice. To excel in any discipline, dedication and resilience are key, and tennis provides both. In fact, I was once presented with the opportunity to become a professional tennis player, but I chose to focus on my entrepreneurial career instead.
Now, I regularly train (6 to 10 sessions each week) with people both from within G2A.COM and outside the company. Tennis offers a fantastic full-body workout that combines short bursts of intense activity with social interaction. It’s not only great for physical fitness but also has numerous mental health benefits. Studies show that racquet sports can reduce the risk of death from all causes, including heart disease. Playing tennis for just three hours a week can lower that risk by more than 50% and may even add 10 years to your life.
Do I love it? Absolutely. Would I trade my current career for professional tennis? That’s a tough question, but for now, my answer is no. I’m happy where I am.
Q8. What are the significant challenges of entrepreneurship, and how do we overcome them while attaining success?
Ans. Being an entrepreneur requires several key qualities, with accountability being one of the most important. Without a superior to answer to, all responsibility falls on your shoulders. As an entrepreneur, you must take ownership of everything that happens within your business, embracing it even though it can be overwhelming at times.
Another essential trait is a strong work ethic. Having been an entrepreneur for nearly 20 years, I’ve often worked upwards of 100 hours per week. Before the COVID pandemic, I took around 200 flights annually. Since the shift to digital meetings, my days now consist of 8 to sometimes 14 hours of virtual meetings and teleconferences. To maintain this pace, you must be physically and mentally prepared to sustain this level of intensity over the long term.
Loving what you do is also vital. Otherwise, it can become a struggle. While entrepreneurship offers freedom and the ability to pursue your vision, it also requires resilience, particularly when it comes to decision-making. You’ll frequently face time constraints, limited resources, and incomplete information. In these moments, you must be willing to take risks and sometimes bet everything on your decisions.
Finally, having a clear vision is crucial. You need to be courageous, with a precise understanding of where you’re headed and why. If you can answer the question ‘why,’ you’ll be able to keep moving forward, no matter the challenges.
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