LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 10, 2025--
Xsolla, a leading global video game commerce company that helps developers launch, grow, and monetize their games, today announced a unified lineup of programming during The Game Awards week in Los Angeles. Together, these initiatives showcase Xsolla’s commitment to bringing the community and ecosystem together to support creators, strengthen the relationship between games and their players, and enable games to reach more markets around the world. The week of activities includes its partnership with GamesBeat Hollywood & Games 2025, a featured role during Day of the Devs: The Game Awards Digital Showcase, Games for Love’s The Game Gala, and the unveiling of Xsolla’s refreshed brand identity.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251210688609/en/
The brand refresh is the centerpiece of Xsolla’s presence throughout the week, reflecting Xsolla’s future-forward vision of building all the things developers need to create successful video game businesses across multiple platforms.
“For over 20 years, Xsolla has always been about making the complex seamless for developers and publishers,” said Berkley Egenes, Chief Marketing & Growth Officer at Xsolla. “Our refreshed identity reflects our future mission to bring opportunities together and to build all the things for creators to help them create, monetize, distribute, and market great experiences. We believe in the future of games, from passion projects to the biggest studios all over the world.”
Xsolla will be participating and helping to bring the community together during The Game Awards week. The full schedule of activities includes:
Day of the Devs: The Game Awards Digital Showcase
December 10, 2025
10:00 AM PT
Streamed globally across YouTube, Twitch, and major platforms
The Game Gala
December 10 - Industry & Fundraising Day
9 AM-5 PM followed by The Game Mixer 7-10 PM PT
December 11 - The Main Event
9 AM-3 PM followed by VIP + Creator Masquerade Ball 7 PM-12 AM PT
Lightspace Studios, Los Angeles, CA
The Game Awards 2025
December 11, 2025
Opening Act: 4:30 PM PT / 7:30 PM ET
Peacock Theater, Los Angeles, CA
In-person at the Theatre and streaming free across major global platforms
GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood & Games 2025 — Presented by Xsolla & GamesBeat
December 11, 2025
8:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Grammy Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Featuring three cornerstone sessions shaping the day’s conversations:
• Cross-Platform Worldbuilding Session (9:25–9:50 AM) with Halley Gross and David Baronoff, moderated by Justin Berenbaum, SVP, Global Industry Relations and Funding, Xsolla
• Debate on the Future of Games Entertainment (11:25–11:50 AM) with Akash Nigam, CEO of Genies, and Derek Douglas, Head of Video Games at CAA, moderated by Berkley Egenes, Chief Marketing & Growth Officer, Xsolla
• The Big Show Podcast: Hollywood & Games Edition, hosted by Alex Lee of GamesBeat with featured guest Berkley Egenes and Founder & Chief Strategist, JadeInferno + Host, Deconstructor of Fun, Jen Donahoe
These sessions highlight the growing convergence between games, storytelling, and filmed entertainment, reflecting a shared vision between Xsolla and GamesBeat to foster dialogue around worldbuilding, adaptation, cross-platform storytelling, and the creative opportunities shaping the future of entertainment.
“With the industry advancing quickly, moments like The Game Awards week remind us how connected our community has become,” said Chris Hewish, President at Xsolla. “Developers, storytellers, and partners around the world rely on foundational systems that support their vision. Our expanded presence this week reflects our commitment to meeting those needs with clarity, consistency, and thoughtful collaboration. We’re proud to continue operating as the quiet force that helps creators bring their worlds to life.”
For more information about Hollywood & Games 2025, Day of the Devs: The Game Awards Digital Showcase, The Game Gala, The Game Awards 2025, event access, streaming availability, or Xsolla’s brand refresh, visit: xsolla.pro/brand-la
About Xsolla
Xsolla is a global commerce company with robust tools and services to help developers solve the inherent challenges of the video game industry. From indie to AAA, companies partner with Xsolla to help them fund, distribute, market, and monetize their games. Grounded in the belief in the future of video games, Xsolla is resolute in the mission to bring opportunities together, and continually make new resources available to creators. Headquartered and incorporated in Los Angeles, California, Xsolla operates as the merchant of record and has helped over 1,500+ game developers to reach more players and grow their businesses around the world. With more paths to profits and ways to win, developers have all the things needed to enjoy the game.
For more information, visit xsolla.com
Berkley Egenes – Chief Marketing & Growth Officer at Xsolla
Xsolla Banner - All The Things
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee executed Harold Wayne Nichols by lethal injection Thursday in Nashville for the 1988 rape and murder of Karen Pulley, a 20-year-old student at Chattanooga State University.
Nichols, 64, had confessed to killing Pulley as well as raping several other women in the Chattanooga area. Although he expressed remorse at trial, he admitted he would have continued his violent behavior had he not been arrested. He was sentenced to death in 1990.
“To the people I've harmed, I'm sorry,” Nichols said in his final statement. Before Nichols died, a spiritual adviser spoke to him and recited the Lord’s Prayer. They both became emotional and Nichols nodded as the adviser talked, witnesses said.
Nichols’ attorneys unsuccessfully sought to have his sentence commuted to life in prison, citing the fact that he took responsibility for his crimes and pleaded guilty. His clemency petition stated “he would be the first person to be executed for a crime he pleaded guilty to since Tennessee re-enacted the death penalty in 1978.”
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to issue a stay of the execution on Thursday.
In a recent interview, Pulley's sister, Lisette Monroe, said the wait for Nichols' execution has been “37 years of hell.” She described her sister as “gentle, sweet and innocent,” and said she hopes that after the execution she'll be able to focus on the happy memories of Pulley instead of her murder.
Nichols has seen two previous execution dates come and go. The state earlier planned to execute him in August 2020, but Nichols was given a reprieve due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, Nichols had selected to die in the electric chair — a choice allowed in Tennessee for inmates who were convicted of crimes before January 1999.
Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol in 2020 used three different drugs in series, a process that inmates’ attorneys claimed was riddled with problems. Their concerns were shown to have merit in 2022, when Gov. Bill Lee paused executions, including a second execution date for Nichols. An independent review of the state’s lethal injection process found that none of the drugs prepared for the seven inmates executed in Tennessee since 2018 had been properly tested.
The Tennessee Department of Correction issued a new execution protocol in last December that utilizes the single drug pentobarbital. Attorneys for several death row inmates have sued over the new rules, but a trial in that case is not scheduled until April. Nichols declined to chose an execution method this time, so his execution will be by lethal injection by default.
His attorney Stephen Ferrell explained in an email that “the Tennessee Department of Correction has not provided enough information about Tennessee’s lethal execution protocol for our client to make an informed decision about how the state will end his life.”
Nichols' attorneys on Monday won a court ruling granting access to records from two earlier executions using the new method, but the state has not yet released the records and says it will appeal. During Tennessee’s last execution in August, Byron Black said he was “hurting so bad” in his final moments. The state has offered no explanation for what might have caused the pain.
Many states have had difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs as anti-death penalty activists have put pressure on drug companies and other suppliers. Between the shortages and legal challenges over botched executions, some states have moved to alternative methods of execution including a firing squad in South Carolina and nitrogen gas in Alabama.
Including Nichols, a total of 45 men have died by court-ordered execution this year in the U.S.
People enter the area reserved for anti-death penalty demonstators outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
People gather in the area reserved for anti-death penalty demonstrators outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
An anti-death penalty demonstrator holds rosary bead outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
People enter the area reserved for anti-death penalty demonstators outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
An anti-death penalty demonstrator paces in an area reserved for protesting outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Chris Farrar stands in the area reserved for anti-death penalty demonstrators outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Bebe Harton, left, and Sam Shideler, right, hug in the area reserved for anti-death penalty demonstrators outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Rev. Rick Laude stands in the area reserved for pro-death penalty advocates outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
FILE - This undated photo released by the Tennessee Department of Corrections shows Harold Wayne Nichols in Tennessee. (Tennessee Department of Corrections via the Chattanooga Free Press via AP, File)
