GamesBeat Summit 2024 agenda: Lotsa talks on resilience and adaptation | The DeanBeat

I’m very excited to current our full agenda for our GamesBeat Summit 2024 occasion on Could 20-21 on the Marina del Rey Marriott in Los Angeles. You need to use this code gbs24dean25 for a 25% low cost on tickets.

It’s my pleasure to notice that is our sixteenth annual occasion, and our theme is Resilience and Adaptation. The sport {industry} had a reasonably unhealthy yr and a half relating to 20,000 layoffs. We now have felt that ache with you at GamesBeat. However we’re so glad to have your help and an opportunity to debate what issues with you. We now have 99 audio system throughout 48 periods. About 57% come from numerous backgrounds.

Deciphering what’s taking place in video games

We’re all searching for the concepts that may ship the following degree of progress for gaming. We consider the agora of the sport {industry} must deliver collectively the pondering of our greatest minds — and maybe AIs — to determine easy methods to get to the opposite aspect.

Why is that this taking place? Is that this a part of a cycle, or is there one thing structurally altering within the sport {industry}? And the way can firms and folks be extra resilient and adapt to the change, whether or not you’re simply beginning out your profession like my daughter or guiding the destiny of tons of or 1000’s as an {industry} chief?

These are a few of the questions will sort out at our flagship occasion, which is able to as soon as once more have on the Marina del Rey Marriott. We are going to have fun how sport skilled face this problem with innovation, creativity, resilience, neighborhood and collaboration.

Our convention will handle easy methods to adapt to a quickly altering world, and can handle huge subjects like GenAI, cross-media diversifications (video games and Hollywood), and the problem of layoffs in an {industry} that’s changing into a part of mainstream tradition. We’ll have to hold our eyes on the prize of billions extra clients on the planet whereas being cautious to not slip as we discover our footing on this downturn.

As Matthew Ball famous in a lengthy piece on the sport {industry}, gaming has sturdy secular tailwinds that sign good years forward. The brand new era of youngsters performs a number of video games they usually’re changing generations that not often performed video games. Gamers are gaining access to extra platforms with entry to high quality video games.

Gaming tradition is being elevated to the mainstream, and gaming is evolving as an artwork and tech platform. Entry to high-quality gaming gadgets continues to enhance. Gaming tradition continues to proliferate, and the artwork type of gaming continues to evolve. However these tailwinds don’t assure that yearly will see uninterrupted progress, vital progress, or worthwhile progress.

In different phrases, progress isn’t assured. We now have to work at it. We’ll deliver the highest minds within the {industry} to debate these subjects in an interactive format.

It takes a village

Every GamesBeat occasion begins with small steps. On February 5, I introduced our first speaker Purnendu Mukherjee, CEO of Convai, which is making AI-based non-player characters for video games and digital worlds. And 88 days later, we are actually almost full with our most numerous set of audio system ever.

Our subjects embody AI and video games, video games and Hollywood, openness, the way forward for sport engines, various net shops, profession resilience amid layoffs, funding/acquisitions, girls in gaming/range, digital actuality/metaverse, Web3 video games, video games for good, return to work, work equity and unionization, esports/creators, psychological well being and video games, user-generated content material, and the construction of the sport {industry}.

We recognize the help of our sponsors together with Xsolla, Stage Infinite, TikTok, the Leisure Software program Affiliation, Coda, Scopely, ESL FaceIt Group, FastSpring, MetalCore, Unchained Leisure, Lightspeed, Modulate, Heroic Labs, Jam Metropolis, Earn Alliance, Restricted Run and Ludeo.

Our neighborhood companions embody Midwest Video games, IGDA, Video games for Love, Ladies-led Video games and extra. Our emcees embody Lizzie Mintus, Zsuzsa James, Tadgh Kelly, Marie Ablaza, Elizabeth Olson and Jon Wolheim.

I’d wish to put out a name on your continued assist now as a result of we notice how robust it is going to be to get individuals to again our occasions and are available to them in such a tricky atmosphere for gaming. The gaming media has struggled as properly. We aren’t proof against that, however I consider our occasions have an actual neighborhood following and one thing particular to supply.

We may additionally use sponsor help and audio system for our different occasions, together with GamesBeat Subsequent on October 28 to October 29 in San Francisco and GamesBeat on the Sport Awards on December 12. We’ll be launching signups for these occasions as properly. Our sponsorship workforce is at gross sales@venturebeat.com.

Ladies in Gaming and Variety in Gaming occasions

We take the notion of neighborhood severely. I often introduce sport startups to an inventory of over 50 enterprise capitalists who deal with video games. We additionally attempt to create an actual neighborhood. Our most profitable enterprise on this entrance is the Ladies in Gaming Breakfast, which has been a mainstay for years. This breakfast would be the largest one we’ve ever had.

We’ll even have our second annual Variety in Gaming Breakfast at this yr’s occasion. We try to deliver steadiness and totally different views to our periods. We hope you come to our in-person days and have interaction within the meals, networking and thought-leadership periods.

We’ll shut the occasion with our annual GamesBeat Visionary Awards, hosted by Leah Hardy, previously of TikTok and Meta — a good friend of GamesBeat for years. We’ll give awards for our Visionary and our Up and Comer.

With out additional ado, right here’s who we’ll have at our GamesBeat Summit 2024 occasion.

Right here’s our full agenda for our GamesBeat Summit 2024 occasion on Could 20-21 on the Marina del Rey Marriott in Los Angeles.

Day 1 (Could 20, 2024)

12:40 pm – 12:45 pm

Emcee introduction

Lizzie Mintus, founder and CEO of Right here’s Waldo Recruiting

12:45 pm – 1:00 pm 

Intro panel

Dean Takahashi, lead author for GamesBeat
Jordan Fragen, GamesBeat author
Rachel Kaser, GamesBeat author
Mike Minotti, GamesBeat managing editor

1:00 pm to 1:10 pm

Constructing skilled resilience and adaptableness

Resilient leaders, groups and organizations don’t simply occur. Caroline Stokes has labored within the sport {industry} since 1992 and is aware of easy methods to anticipate and adapt to seismic market shifts. Combining neuroscience, management finest practices and an experimentation mindset, learn to create resilient environments to help organizational success in even essentially the most difficult instances.

Caroline Stokes, founder and government coach at Ahead

1:10 pm to 1:20 pm

In a ‘New Regular’ period for M&A and fundraising, what are your choices?

Alina Soltys, founder and accomplice at Quantum Tech Companions

1:20 pm to 1:50 pm

Hearth chat with Songyee Yoon of NCSoft

TBD description

Songyee Yoon, president and CSO of NCSoft
Moderator: Dean Takahashi

1:50 pm to 2:10 pm

VTubers: A Japanese phenomenon for constructing viewers and income

Uncover the ability of VTubers (digital YouTubers), a Japanese phenomenon that has captivated the web since 2020. This on-line presence has translated into many revenue-generating streams. You possibly can allow your characters and IPs for social media advertising and marketing, driving sport and merchandise gross sales whereas enhancing model storytelling and viewers engagement.

Jia Shen, CEO of AKA Digital

2:10 pm to 2:40 pm

Hearth Chat with Brian Ward of Savvy Gaming Group

TBD description

Brian Ward, CEO of Savvy Gaming Group
Moderator: Lisa Cosmas Hanson, president of Niko Companions

2:40 pm to three:10 pm

New Playbooks in Gaming: From engagement to income in a D2C period

Able to shake up the gaming {industry}? It’s time to deal with the ache factors of builders who need assistance getting by way of robust instances. Be part of this session to discover cutting-edge monetization methods; find out how Discord’s savvy engagement and loyalty applications are remodeling gamers into loyal followers and income streams. Step past conventional marketplaces with a dive into direct-to-consumer engagement fashions and net shops. Get insights on navigating app retailer complexities and crafting efficient go-to-market methods in our fast-evolving panorama.

Peter Sellis, SVP of product at Discord
Rick Phillips, chief working officer at Coda
Moderator: Dean Takahashi

3:00 pm – 3:15 pm

BREAK

3:15 pm – 3:45 pm

Answering the Name: Decoding Name of Responsibility’s lasting advertising and marketing success

Be part of Tyler Bahl, SVP and head of worldwide advertising and marketing at Activision, and Vanessa Chang, lead of worldwide gaming advertising and marketing, cross-platform at TikTok, for an enlightening hearth chat at GamesBeat Summit.

Embark on a journey by way of the ever-changing gaming panorama as we discover how Name of Responsibility has maintained its place as an {industry} powerhouse. Acquire worthwhile insights into how the model’s tradition of creativity and experimentation has fueled its potential to retain an enormous playerbase and appeal to new audiences.

We’ll spotlight actionable takeaways that may be utilized to your personal advertising and marketing technique, impressed by Name of Responsibility’s personal revolutionary strategy.

Tyler Bahl, senior vp and head of selling at Activision 
Moderator: Vanessa Chang, head of worldwide gaming enterprise advertising and marketing, cross-platform video games at TikTok

3:45 pm – 4:15 pm

Is now the time to launch D2C funds for cellular video games?

As lawsuits and rules stress Apple and Google to additional open their cellular ecosystems to direct-to-consumer (D2C) distribution and funds for sport builders, publishers world wide are questioning: Is now the precise time to increase into D2C?

On this panel, moderator David Vogelpohl, CMO at FastSpring, a D2C fee platform for video video games, interviews three industry-leading panelists about their ideas on cellular D2C lawsuits & rules, what’s allowed & wanted to achieve D2C right now, and the way forward for open computing & gaming.

Stephen McArthur, founding lawyer at The MacArthur Regulation Agency
Adam Lieb, CEO and founding father of Gamesight
Liam Broza, metaverse know-how influencer, open computing advocate, and CTO of Infinite Actuality
Moderator: David Vogelpohl, CMO at FastSpring

4:15 pm – 4:45 pm

Lightspeed Sport Changers

TBD description

Moritz Baier-Lentz, accomplice at Lightspeed Enterprise Companions
Chris Bell, cofounder and CEO of Gardens Interactive
Sophia Xing, product administration and information science lead at Inworld AI

4:45 pm – 5:30 pm

Roundtable 1 – Embracing neurodiversity: Cultivating inclusive work environments

Be part of Mark Chandler and Jason Docton for an insightful dialogue on embracing neurodiversity within the office, the place he’ll share private experiences and actionable methods for creating inclusive insurance policies that help people, whether or not they’re managers navigating groups or staff navigating their careers.

Mark Chandler, founding father of TIGS
Jason Docton, founding father of Rise Above the Dysfunction

Roundtable 2 – Constructing organizational resilience

On this collaborative session, leaders are invited to share their experiences of making resilient groups and organizations for a constructive influence on the underside line throughout robust financial instances. This roundtable is a win-win: Protecting areas together with expertise retention, innovation, and progress, you’ll study from different leaders and collect key, actionable ideas to take again to your workforce. On the similar time, you’ll assist encourage others to construct a extra sustainable firm and {industry} for everybody to prosper.

Caroline Stokes, founder and government coach at Ahead

Roundtable 3 – A dialog about choices in right now’s ‘New Regular’ period for M&A and fundraising

TBD description

Alina Soltys, founder and accomplice at Quantum Tech Companions

Roundtable 4 – Leveraging exterior improvement to construct video games that meet the wants of right now’s gamers

The video games {industry} is quickly evolving, pushed by the altering wants of youthful generations, the evolution of video games as a platform, and the expansion of recent gaming locations. This usually equates to greater budgets and extra scalability in resourcing. Builders are increasing their work with service suppliers and freelance expertise to ship video games that meet the wants of right now’s gamers. This Roundtable will drive dialog across the altering exterior improvement panorama, how firms are unlocking the freelance expertise goldmine, the ups and downs of working with exterior companions, and finest practices in constructing wonderful video games with exterior studios.

Jason Harris, chief industrial officer at Devoted Studios
Cindy Airey, vp of enterprise improvement at Devoted Studios

Roundtable 5 – Title TBD

TBD description

Alena Alambeigi, vp of selling and digital publishing at Restricted Run Video games

5:30 pm – 6:30 pm

Reception

8:00pm

Dinner

Day 2 (Could 21, 2024)

8:30 am – 9:50 am

Ladies in Gaming breakfast: How gaming is driving constructive world change (Sponsored by Xsolla)

Throughout instances like these, it’s simple to deal with the unfavorable. But, many organizations and builders are specializing in how their initiatives and video games could make the largest social influence world wide. What are organizations doing to make sure continued momentum on the social influence entrance? How can core programs (i.e. sport engines, others) assist speed up and amplify the influence that sport builders can have with their video games? As a sport developer, what decisions or sacrifices have to be made to steadiness survival with social good?

Jen Premisler, MasterCard
Bryna Dabby Smith, CEO of Brass Lion Leisure
Susanna Pollack, president of Video games for Change
Moderator: Rachel Kaser, GamesBeat author

9:50 am – 9:55 am

Emcee welcome

Zsuzsa James, senior commerce commissioner on the Consulate Common of Finland in LA

9:55 am – 10:00 am

Opening intro

Mike Minotti, GamesBeat managing editor

10:00 am – 10:30 am

TBD panel description

Ron Scott, Xsolla
Moderator: David Stelzer, president at Xsolla

10:00 am – 10:30 am in ROOM 2

Esports: The ability of rising the neighborhood

With 3.3 billion players worldwide, the video video games {industry} is price an estimated $184 billion. In a market more and more pushed by engagement and retention, it’s extra necessary than ever to ship distinctive experiences and construct sustainable communities. 

Esports not solely offers core gamers extra alternatives to compete, watch, and win of their favourite titles but in addition serves as a confirmed technique for publishers to develop their viewers round a title.

Be part of ESL FACEIT Group’s Chief Technique Officer, Mike Sepso and Digital Arts’ Senior Director of Esports Model & Advertising, Monica Dismore, for an insightful dialog on the worth proposition of esports as an engagement and retention device, the significance of constructing generational fandom, and easy methods to deliver communities collectively by way of a linked expertise.

Mike Sepso, chief technique officer, ESL FACEIT Group
Monica Dinsmore, senior director of esports model and advertising and marketing, Digital Arts
Moderator: Jordan Fragen, GamesBeat author

10:30 am – 11:00 am

Fostering neighborhood in video games throughout difficult instances

Alex Gombos, Christina-Marie Drake, and Amir Satvat talk about efficient methods and key insights for uniting players throughout, arguably, essentially the most tough interval the {industry} has confronted. Uncover actionable takeaways which you could apply to your personal profession and group to construct a resilient video games neighborhood.

Amir Satvat, enterprise improvement director at Tencent
Alex Gombos, former recruiting supervisor at PlayStation
Christina-Marie Drake, former recruiter at Naughty Canine
Moderator: Sarah Parvini, former workers author on the Los Angeles Instances

10:30 am – 11:00 am in ROOM 2 

Gaming’s Rising Stars: Builders constructing companies on Roblox

Discovering the precise viewers, tight improvement timelines, challenges constructing for a number of platforms, layoffs and excessive prices are plaguing the gaming {industry}. Amid this sea of unhealthy information, there are some vivid spots, and making video games on the Roblox platform is considered one of them. A number of the builders on the platform are the entrepreneurs of a brand new era. On this session, three main studio heads will delve into constructing a profitable enterprise on the UGC platform. They’ll share frequent challenges and confirmed options, discover their creation playbooks on constructing the following huge hit, and talk about monetization alternatives to increase your online business into the world of Roblox.

Clarence Maximillian, founder at Maximillian Studios
Anne Shoemaker, founder and sport designer at Fullflower Studio
RynityRift, Roblox UGC creator
Moderator: Dean Takahashi

11:00 am – 11:30 am

Constructing higher video games and a video games enterprise

TBD panel description

Ed Fries, founding father of 1UP Ventures
Mike Morhaime, CEO of Dreamhaven
Moderator: Eric Goldberg, cofounder of Playable Worlds

11:00 am – 11:30 am in ROOM 2 

Hearth Chat with Kim Kunes of Microsoft

TBD description

Kim Kunes, GM of Xbox belief and security at Microsoft
Moderator: Rachel Kaser, GamesBeat author

11:30 am – 12:00 pm

TBD hearth chat

Carter Huffman, CTO at Modulate

11:30 am – 12:00 pm in ROOM 2

AI and video games

TBD panel description

Purnendu Mukherjee, founder and CEO at Convai
Marguerite deCourcelle, CEO at Blockade Labs
Moderator: Ghaith Mahmood, accomplice and co-chair of Video Sport and Esports and lead of AI Activity Drive Observe, Latham & Watkins

12:00 pm – 12:30 pm

Small Screens, Large Enterprise: Scopely leaders talk about the street to cellular sport success

Be part of Scopely executives Walter Driver (co-CEO), Javier Ferreira (co-CEO), and Tim O’Brien (Chief Income Officer) for a energetic dialog on the journey of constructing a number one world video games enterprise. Now the highest cellular video games firm within the U.S., Scopely is contemporary off an unbelievable progress yr – which included launching the No. 1 sport of 2023 with Monopoly Go! debuting cross-platform variations of hit get together royale title Stumble Guys, persevering with to innovate long-time beloved franchises similar to Star Trek Fleet Command and Marvel Strike Drive, and getting acquired for a record-breaking $4.9B. However Scopely’s path to success has been something however linear. Hear from the corporate’s prime executives on the teachings discovered over the previous decade, pivotal selections that unlocked new alternatives, and the way they’ve created a tradition that embraces failure to drive the way forward for play ahead.

Walter Driver, co-CEO of Scopely
Javier Ferreira, co-CEO of Scopely
Tim O’Brien, CRO at Scopely
Moderator: Dean Takahashi

12:00 pm -12:30 pm in ROOM 2

The courageous new frontier of gaming: UEFN and different rising platforms

Alex Seropian was the cofounder of Bungie and waded into the deep finish of triple-A video games with Halo. He has had an extended profession in gaming and every time has been deliberate about his subsequent transfer. He moved into cellular shooter video games with Industrial Toys. And now his Look North World sport startup is targeted on UEFN video games, Epic’s Fortnite platform for creators/UGC. Yon Raz-Fridman, CEO of Supersocial, will quiz Seropian about this journey and discuss his personal contrasting deal with making totally different sorts of video games on Roblox.

Alex Seropian, CEO of Look North World
Moderator: Yon Raz-Fridman, CEO of Supersocial

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

Variety & Inclusion in Video games: Actions converse louder than phrases (Sponsored by the Leisure Software program Affiliation)

ESA senior vp of communications and public affairs Aubrey Quinn will lead a panel dialogue with representatives from ESA member firms the place they’ll share examples of how they’re creating extra inclusive video games for a various participant neighborhood, and exhibiting up for an more and more numerous workforce.

Farah Sutton, director of range and inclusion (D&I) at Riot Video games
Amy Lazarus, director of participant inclusion and product fairness at Digital Arts
Moderator: Aubrey Quinn, senior vp, communications and public affairs on the Leisure Software program Affiliation

12:30pm – 1:30pm

Roundtable – AI and UGC in video games

Many executives within the sport {industry} hope that AI would be the silver bullet that helps scale back prices. Is AI the silver bullet? This roundtable will probably be a energetic dialogue that explores the present state of AI in sport improvement, what the long run holds, the IP authorized battles that may emerge, and what efficiencies could be gained through the use of AI in sport improvement right now and sooner or later. Will we see the workforce sizes in improvement go down over time? What influence will it have on UGC?

Wealthy Vogel, founder and studio head at T-Minus Zero

1:30 pm – 2:00 pm

Hearth Chat with Warren Spector of OtherSide Leisure

TBD description

Warren Spector, chief artistic officer at OtherSide Leisure
Moderator: Dan “Shoe” Hsu, former editor-in-chief at GamesBeat

1:30 pm – 2:00 pm in ROOM 2

TBD panel identify

TBD description

Perkins Miller, CEO of Fandom
Larry Hryb, a.ok.a Main Nelson, former director of programming for the Microsoft gaming community Xbox Stay
Moderator: Mike Minotti, GamesBeat managing editor

2:00 pm – 2:30 pm

The way forward for Web3 video games: Retention, discovery and bridging to the mainstream

TBD panel description

Joseph Cooper, CEO at Earn Alliance
Dan Nikolaides, CTO at Studio369 
Canaan Linder, CEO of Stardust
Moderator: Jason Nelson, know-how reporter for Decrypt Media

2:00 pm – 2:30 pm in ROOM 2

TBD hearth chat

2:30 pm – 3:00 pm

Redefining “massively” in MMOs: What number of gamers can you slot in an internet multiplayer sport

TBD description

Mark Jacobs, CEO of Unchained Leisure
Rashid Mansoor, CEO of Meta Gravity

2:30 pm – 3:00 pm in ROOM 2

The way forward for sport discovery

14,532 Steam video games, 834 Sony PS5 video games, 631 Microsoft XboxOne video games, and 1,185 Nintendo Change video games. That’s the by platform breakdown of the variety of PC and console video games launched into {the marketplace} in 2023. Was your studio’s sport amongst them? Did gamers discover your sport? How did they discover it? A panel of gaming consultants and innovators talk about the evolution of sport discovery – what’s working, what isn’t and the way finest to succeed in your gamers in 2024.

Craig Mitchell, vp of selling at Warner Bros. Discovery
Asaf Gazit, CEO of Ludeo
Moderator: Yoshio Osaki, president of IDG Consulting

3:00 pm to three:30 pm

BREAK

3:30 pm – 4:00 pm

The evolving construction of the video games {industry}

TBD panel description

Steve Chiang, president at Fortis Video games
Tim Morten, CEO of Frost Big Studios
Sibel Sunar, Fortyseven Communications
Lucy Hoffman, COO of Carry1st

3:30 pm – 4:00 pm in ROOM 2

TBD panel description

4:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Hollywood and Video games

TBD description

Derek Douglas, head of video video games at CAA and investor at Join Ventures
Maureen Fan, CEO of Baobab Studios
Josh Yguado, CEO of Jam Metropolis

4:00 pm – 4:30 pm in ROOM 2

Hearth Chat with Marc Whitten of Unity

TBD description

Marc Whitten, chief product and know-how officer at Unity
Moderator: Mike Vorhaus, CEO of Vorhaus Advisors

4:30 pm to five:00 pm

GamesBeat Visionary Awards

TBD description

Host: Leah Hardy, world advertising and marketing chief

Dialog room agenda

Emcee: Elizabeth Olson

10:00 am – 10:30 am

TBD description

Dom Cole, co-founder of Left Fielder Media
Sheloman Byrd, chief operations officer at Streamline Media Group

10:30 am – 11:00 am

TBD description

Alexey Menshikov, CEO of Beatshapers

11:00 am – 11:30 am

TBD Lucy Hoffman

11:30 am – 12:00 pm

From Developer to Distributor: Methods to break away from the platforms

Everybody’s speaking about net retailers and various funds. However the reality is, direct-to-consumer isn’t a brand new development in gaming – Riot, Epic and others have been main the way in which for years. On this speak, you’ll get insider data on how Riot constructed and grew League of Legends’ first-party distribution technique – which supplies them full entry and possession to their most engaged customers (with out having to pay Steam, Apple, or Google a cent). That features their customized launcher, Arcane, and main world esports franchises. Regardless of in case you’re a PC or cellular sport developer, Riot’s D2C technique is one you’ll wish to hear and apply to your personal sport.

Archie Stonehill, head of product at Stash

12:00 pm – 12:30 pm

TBD description

Susan Cummings, CEO of Tiny Insurgent Video games
Tipatat Chennavasin, basic accomplice of Enterprise Actuality Fund

12:30 pm

LUNCH BREAK

1:30 pm – 2:00 pm

Unions in gaming

TBD description

Jakin Vela, government director of the IGDA
Zeke Alton, voice and on-camera actor, activist, SAG-AFTRA Interactive Media Settlement Negotiating Committee Member

2:00 pm – 2:30 pm

Rethinking the Engine: Godot – A strong various for contemporary studios

This session explores Godot, the quickly rising open-source engine that’s attracting main studios. Uncover its advantages: flexibility, possession, and cost-efficiency in comparison with conventional choices. We’ll delve into Godot’s thriving neighborhood and its evolution into knowledgeable powerhouse.

Pablo Selener, managing director of W4 Video games

2:30 pm – 3:00 pm

Distant work

TBD description

Jing Wang, VP of product at Fortis
Kevin Hovestad, founder at Blue Sky

3:00 pm

BREAK

3:30 pm – 4:00 pm

Paving the way in which for the following era of sport builders

TBD description

Jim Huntley, affiliate professor and head of selling for USC Video games
Moderator: Rachel Kaser, GamesBeat author