GamesBeat Summit 2022 returns with its largest event for leaders in gaming on April 26-28th. Reserve your spot here!
I’m very excited about our upcoming GamesBeat Summit 2022 event taking place April 26 to April 28. We’ve booked more than 120 speakers across 51 sessions.
Our first day includes a Women in Gaming Breakfast on April 26 at our in-person venue in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton, and we will continue the fun with dozens of online talks on April 27 and April 28. About 51% of our speakers come from diverse backgrounds.
We’ll also have our annual Visionary Awards on the 27th to celebrate leaders in the gaming business.
We previously announced that Reggie Fils-Aime, former president of Nintendo of America and current managing partner at Brentwood Growth Partners, will be a keynote speaker at the beginning of the event. Reggie will do a fireside chat entitled “Entertainment Disrupted” in a session moderated by Danny Peña, founder and host of Gamertag Radio as well as games editorial lead at G4.
Fils-Aime had a colorful history at Nintendo and he is leading a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) aimed at acquiring a game company and taking it public. He also has a book coming out this spring dubbed Disrupting the Game. He also crushed me a couple of times playing Wii Sports.
Here’s our agenda. Our VIPs will be able to attend in person and participate in roundtables, networking, and live Q&As. We have a few TBDs where we are filling in speakers. You can register for 50% off using the code Dean.
GamesBeat Summit 2022
Day 1 (April 26): In-person day in Los Angeles at Beverly Hilton
8:00 – 9:30
Women in Gaming Breakfast
Andrea Rene, What’s Good Games
Tanya Watson, COO of Bad Robot
Christina Heller, CEO of Metastage
TBD
9:00 – 09:30
Coffee
9:30 – 9:35
Emcee Welcoming Remarks
Danny Peña, G4/Gamertag Radio
9:35 – 9:45
Opening Remarks
Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat
9:45 – 10:30
Entertainment Disrupted!
Reggie Fils-Aime spent his early years in a poor neighborhood in the Bronx. Through capability and opportunity, he rose to become president of Nintendo of America. Now he has written a book, Disrupted! about his life and business experiences. He is also actively investing gaming’s future. Reggie will talk in a fireside chat with Danny Peña of G4/Gamertag Radio about the lessons he has learned and his observations about the current industry consolidation, the high-level strategies for gaming companies, the roles of content, community, creators, and pop culture. We’ll also learn what he thinks of the dreaded words “metaverse,” “crypto,” “blockchain,” “NFTs,” and “play to own.”
Reggie Fils-Aime, former president of Nintendo of America, fireside chat with Danny Peña of G4/Gamertag Radio
10:30 – 11:00
VR Gaming: This time it’s for real
Moderator: Jon Goldman, Greycroft
Chris Busse at Skydance Interactive
Anthony Batt at WeVR
Troy Jones at Status Pro
11:00 – 11:30
Paper, dice, and digital: How Wizards of The Coast is embracing new platforms
The storied company that grew Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering into a billion-dollar business has been expanding its expertise and base with big moves in digital gaming. Wizards of the Coast President, Cynthia Williams, will discuss the strategy and significant efforts Wizards has been making to enable it to be as successful in video games as it’s been in tabletop dominance.
Cynthia Williams, CEO of Wizards of the Coast
Moderator: Rachel Kaser
11:30 – 12:00
Global opportunities for mobile games
In the mobile games industry, the number of global opportunities are endless, but navigating the process of international expansion can be daunting. In this keynote, Greg Hartrell (Director of Product Management at Google Play / Android) and [Partner] will sit down with Dean Takahashi to discuss how to successfully scale your games globally as well as current and future multi-screen opportunities in the Android ecosystem.
For scaling your games globally, you would have some discussion around export, launch, engaging a global audience, development tactics, and go-to-market/community building tactics. For multi-screen opportunities, you would discuss Android games on phones, tablets, Chromebooks, and now PCs.
Greg Hartrell, Product Director, Games on Play/Android, Google
In conversation with Dean Takahashi
12:00 – 1:00
Lunch Break
Roundtable discussion
Shame! Shame! Personal reflections on DEI, #MeToo, and the Future of Games
Jane Hoffacker, CEO of Incredible Dream
Moderator: Rachel Kaser, GamesBeat
Shail Mehta, CEO of The Last Gameboard
TBD
Open for VIPs
1:00 – 2:00
Roundtable discussion
Growth marketing & Web 3: A different world from free-to-play games
Brian Murphy, Head of Gaming, AppsFlyer
Open for VIPs
1:00 – 1:30
The future of user-generated content
Brands have been trying to find authentic integrations into Roblox, but how does a brand measure success? In attempts to appeal to Gen-Z audiences, brands like Nike, Wendy’s, Adidas and even luxury brands like Gucci have all created specific activations within Roblox and metaverse platforms. However, checking a box and receiving successful results are two different things. This panel of digital creators, gaming executives and developers will discuss how brands can create lasting brand awareness through impactful integrations through an everchanging landscape.
Ricardo Briceno, chief business development officer at Gamefam
Austin Tindal, creator
Matthew Cohen, CAA
Moderator: Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat
1:30 – 1:50
Building the mindful metaverse
Nanea Reeves is no stranger to both the practice of mindfulness and meditation, as well as the technological advancements that have brought forth the metaverse. In this talk, she will discuss the future of how metaverse technology can be applied to meditation practices with the goal of building an environment of thoughtful well being by not just embracing technology to get oneself there but by also being at the forefront of it, leveraging advancements to play a major part in personal growth.
Nanea Reeves, CEO of Tripp
1:50 – 2:20
Brands and the metaverse: redefining how to engage consumers in this exciting new channel
As brands look to move into the metaverse, where are the biggest opportunities and challenges. How should their brand be represented and how do they come across as authentic to the community and their brand? This panel will take a deep dive into what pitfalls to avoid and how brands should approach this new channel to be successful.
Admix CEO Samuel Huber
Angelic Vendette VP and Head of Marketing at Alo Yoga
Gabrielle Heyman, Zynga
Moderator: Dean Takahashi
TBD
2:20 – 2:50
The changing face of live ops in 2022
Moderator: Jon Radoff, CEO of Beamable
Jason Bailey, CRO at East Side Games
Josh Yguado, cofounder and COO of Jam City
2:50 – 3:20 pm
A perspective on the metaverse and web 3
Snail Games has been a leader in the MMOs for some time with titles like Age of Wushu and Ark: Survival Evolved. But now the company sees a more interesting future ahead with the opportunities around the metaverse and web 3. Hai will talk in a fireside chat with Dean Takahashi about the opportunity to bring different worlds together in a metaverse with a lot of user-generated content where plates get to own their share of the proceeds.
Snail Games, Shi Hai chairman
Moderator: Dean Takahashi
3:20 – 3:50
Coffee Break
3:50 – 4:20
Reverse Transmedia: Games to movies panel
David Stelzer of Epic Games
Carter Swan of Sony
dj2 Entertainment Dmitri Johnson
Moderator: Alexandra Del Rosario, TV Reporter, Deadline Hollywood
4:20 – 4:50
The $300B elephant (avatar) in the room: The in-game economy opportunity
Virtual economies represent an enormous opportunity for game developers and publishers – estimated at $300B by 2024. Brad Oberwager, Executive Chairman of Tilia, the all-in-one in-game payments platform built to power virtual economies, will discuss the critical components of a robust, functioning virtual economy as well as the key factors and hurdles to consider when building and implementing your own in-world economy.
Linden Lab Brad Oberwager
Moderator: TBD
4:50 – 5:20
Building positive play in the metaverse
Justin Davis, CEO of Spectrum Labs;
Lauren Bigelow, chief product officer Together Labs
Moderator: Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat
5:20 – 5:50 pm
The NFT debate
David Kim (Wax)
Moderator: Jon Radoff of Beamable
Rami Ismail
5:50 – 7:00
Drinks Reception by Jam City
Day 2 (April 27) Virtual
8:00 – 8:05
Emcee welcoming remarks
Andrea Rene, What’s Good Games
8:05 – 8:10
Opening remarks
Mike Minotti, GamesBeat
8:10 – 8:45
The game studio startup boom
Steve Chiang, CEO of Fortis
Moderator: Steve Goldstein, Turtle Rock Studios
8:45 – 9:15
India – a key part of your Asia growth strategy
Moderator: Lisa Cosmas Hanson, moderator, president of Niko Partners
Manish Agarwal, Nazara
Sean Sohn, PUBG India/Krafton
Salone Sehgal, Lumikai
9:15 – 9:45
The European games investment landscape
Alexis Bonte, COO at Stillfront
Henric Suuronen, Playventures or Harri
Sofia Dolfe, Index Ventures
Moderator: Nicolaj Nyholm, Scattershot
9:45 – 10:15
Retention
Robert Antokol, CEO of Playtika
Moderator: Dean Takahashi
10:15 – 10:45
Evolving and adapting your creative team’s culture
Moderator: Rob Pardo, CEO of Bonfire
Ilkka Paananen, CEO of Supercell
10:45 – 11:15
Learning to love UGC: Harnessing player choice
A discussion on the opportunities and learnings which UGC presents to a studio and publisher, exploring official mod support in their games.
Moderator: Jeff Grubb, GamesBeat
Scott Reismanis, mod.io
Romain De Waubert, Amplitude Studios
Damien Mauric, Sega
11:15 – 11:45
Lines in the Sand – The Geopolitics of Game Creation
As games are carriers and a reflection of our culture, it is inevitable that real-world geopolitics and cultural tension will intersect not only the market distribution of games but also the in-game representation of peoples and places. How we decide to respond to such issues is ultimately a reflection of our core values as companies who are striving to maximize the global reach of our creative vision. Moderated by Kate Edwards, a geographer who has performed geopolitical and culturalization consulting in games for 28+ years, this panel explores how games are both affected by and influenced by current events.
Alexey Menshikov, CEO, Beatshapers
Yaraslav Kot, Game Designer & Researcher, Farm 51
Moderator: Kate Edwards, CEO of Geogrify and cofounder of Set Jetters
11:45 – 12:15
This is the way the metaverse ends…up!
As the metaverse prepares to enter the Trough of Disillusionment, Eric Goldberg and SuperJoost chart the path to the Slope of Enlightenment after last Fall’s overhype of a technology that will eventually change the world. How can you and your team make that change happen sooner? In a discussion that mines 30 years of metaverse prior art, our speakers cover the splintered metaverse (and why Snow Crash and RP1 aren’t happening for 10+ years); the mass-market metaverse that’s already here (and isn’t primarily games); and a few great metaverse opportunities that are there for the taking in the next few years.
Moderator: Eric Goldberg, Playable Worlds
Joost van Dreunen, SuperJoost
12:15 pm – 12:45 pm
How Scopely aims to meet players where they are
Leading mobile-first video game company Scopely has one of the most diversified portfolios of award-winning, top-grossing franchises in the industry. The company’s portfolio spans both original and beloved IP with games such as “Star Trek Fleet Command,” “WWE Champions,” “Scrabble GO,” and more. The secret to their success? Meeting players wherever they are. In this fireside chat, Scopely Chief Business Officer Aaron Loeb and General Manager & Vice President of Product, David Eckelberry will discuss Scopely’s player-first approach and how the company has extended iconic game universes across multiple platforms to deliver highly engaging experiences for players everywhere. The pair will also discuss how Scopely’s method unifies players, deepens social engagement in-and-out of game, and enables seamless play across devices to create thriving, passionate communities.
Moderator: Mike Minotti
Aaron Loeb, Chief Business Officer at Scopely
David Ecklberry, General Manager & Vice President, Product at Scopely – Star Trek Fleet Command
12:45 pm – 1:15 pm
Games for Health
Moderator: Noah Falstein, owner of The Inspiracy
Carrie Shaw, CEO and founder of Embodied Labs
Kristina Academia – Senior Development Director, Akili Interactive,
Marientina Gotsis of USC Games
12:15 – 1:15 Lunch break
Roundtable session
Metaverse Forum: Science fiction, tech, and games
Moderator: Dean Takahashi
Sean Keith, Mythical Games
Kimberly Unger, Meta
Jon Neverdie Jacobs, actor, filmmaker, and avatar
1:15-1:45
Women in video game voice acting
This panel of esteemed voice actors will discuss the evolution of acting for video games from the feminine perspective – discussing representation and inclusion of women in games and how the roles have changed and improved over the years. We’ll look at ways to enable actors to shine such as addressing the hopes and dreams of actor inclusion earlier and in deeper ways in the game development process. We’ll discuss the opportunities and obstacles of working as an actress in the game industry, the role of community in their careers, and what they would like to see moving forward.
Moderator: Julia Bianco Schoeffling
Cissy Jones
Jennifer Hale
Anjali Bhimani
1:45-2:15
Alternative stores for games
Moderator: Dean Takahashi
Neil Davidson, cofounder of Codashop
2:15-2:45
Handcrafting unforgettable scares with horror engineering
Description: Making a blockbuster game is all about sweating the small stuff – especially when you’re making a horror game. In this session, Glen Schofield, CEO of Striking Distance Studios, discusses how he uses a process he calls “Horror Engineering” to create iconic scares – from his role as the creator of Dead Space, to his newest project The Callisto Protocol.
Moderator: Glen Schofield
Moderator: TBD
2:45 – 3:15
Games for Impact – can games companies embrace both profit and social impact
María Sayans, Ustwo
Yoan Fanise, Digixart / Koch
Leo Olebe, head of game partnerships for Google Play
Moderator: Susanna Pollack, Games for Change
We can’t deny the power that the videogames industry has – with access to the greatest share of entertainment time of children and young adults, the question becomes, how do we make sure we are using that power not just for profit, but also for the benefit of people and planet?
We know many examples of games for good, games that have an impact – but is it possible to construct entire companies around it, can they scale, can they attract talent, can they deliver returns to shareholders? What challenges and limitations are these companies likely to find along the way? What opportunities?
3:15 – 3:35
The state of mobile gaming
In this session, Lexi can provide a deep-dive on the latest trends related to the state of mobile gaming globally. Some particular areas that can be explored with custom data from data.ai include:
Top mobile games and areas of growth among subgenres, including astonishing growth in hypercasual games, the democratization of mobile games and demographic trends highlighting the genres and game preferences based on age and gender (e.g. Gen Z/Baby Boomers; male/female), and mobile game case studies featuring a deeper dive into games that have seen recent growth/reached notable milestones.
Lexi Sydow, head of market insights, data.ai
3:35 – 4:05
Why being late to the market isn’t worrisome
Simon Zhu NetEase
Michael Metzger
Q&A will happen
4:05 – 4:35
Level Infinite and the Global Games Market
Michelle Liu, Tencent Games Global CEO, joins GamesBeat for the first time to discuss her role in managing Tencent’s games publishing business and its new brand, Level Infinite. She will touch on Tencent’s thoughts on games as a whole, the company’s approach to global publishing, how it works with its diverse group of studios and developer teams and much more.
Michelle Liu, head of publishing for Level Infinite
Andrea Rene, What’s Good games
4:35 – 4:55 pm
Visionary Awards
Host: Tammy McDonald, Axis Game Factory/Griffin Gaming Partners
4:55 PM
Emcee closing remarks
Andrea Renee, What’s Good Games
5:00 – 6:00 Virtual reception
Day 3 (April 28) Virtual
8:00 – 8:05
Emcee welcoming remarks
Andrea Rene, What’s Good Games
8:05 – 8:10
Opening remarks
Rachel Kaser, GamesBeat
8:10 am – 8:40 am
The new citizens of the Metaverse
Richard Bartle, University of Essex
Richard Garriott
8:40 am – 9:10 am
M&A: Explaining how the gaming world will change
Chris Petrovic of Funplus
Frankie Zhu of Liontree
Moderator: Alina Soltys, cofounder, Quantum Tech Partners
Hemal Thaker, vice president, Goldman Sachs
9:10 – 9:40
Video games and movies: A Tale of Two Sons
Josef Fares and Hazelight have taken a far different approach than other game studios when it comes to creative storytelling and how to execute it. Rami Ismail will talk with Fares about how Fares came to this approach in games after starting in film, and then refining it over the years. And where will Hazelight and gaming go next?
Josef Fares, CEO of Hazelight
Moderator: Rami Ismail
9:40 – 10:00
How blockchain games will go mainstream
Animoca Brands Yat Siu
Moderator: Dean Takahashi
10:00 – 10:20
Connected TV: Gaming & marketing in one channel
With ad spend expected to reach $30 billion in the US alone by 2025, Connected TV (CTV) is rapidly becoming a key channel for any marketer. But it doesn’t stop there: more and more people use their CTV devices not only to watch Netflix, but also to play games. For you, that means CTV is not only a place where you find your users, it is also where your product will be used. Join CTV expert Gijsbert Pols for an in-depth look on how to best leverage this burgeoning channel, and learn how having the right tools in place can make CTV an integral part of both your UA Strategy and your product experience.
Gijsbert Pols, Lead Product Strategist, Adjust
10:20 – 10:50
TBD
Owen Mahoney
Mitch Lasky, Benchmark
10:50 – 11:20
U.S. investor panel
Moderator: Eric Goldberg, Playable Worlds
Shanti Bergel, Transcend Fund
Amy Wu, FTX
Phil Sanderson, Griffin Gaming Partners
11:20 – 11:50
Games are good for us
Robby Ratan, Associate Professor at Michigan State University’s Department of Media and Information
Aaron Tramell, Assistant Professor of Informatics, UC Irvine,
Danbi Lee, Senior Product Manager, Geodata Platform at Niantic
Moderator: Mike Minotti, review editor at GamesBeat
11:50 – 12:20 pm
Building diversity and equity into the games industry through college
Gina Jackson OBE education panel online
Carolina Cruz-Neira, Professor in Computer Science University of Central Florida
Jim Huntley, USC Games
Moderator: Gonzalo Frasca
12:20 – 12:50 pm
Games designed for women
Jill Wilson of Robin Games
Susan Cummings, tiny Rebel Games
Julia Palatovska of Dorian
Ariella Lehrer, CEO of Legacy Games
Wanda Meloni, M2 Research (moderator)
11:50 – 12:50
Roundtable Breakout Session
How leaders can change systems to improve mental health
Moderator: Swatee Surve, CEO of Litesprite
Mark Chandler, founder of TIGS
Raffael “Dr. B” Boccamazzo, clinical director of Take This
12:50 – 1:30
Fostering positive human connections through games
Thatgamecompany, creators of flOw, Flower, Journey and Sky, envisions games as a medium that can make people feel less alone, with the power to bring out the best in each other. In this talk, Thatgamecompany co-founder and CEO Jenova Chen, joined by LA Times Game Critic Todd Martens, will explore the power that games have to deepen human connection and deliver meaningful emotional impact.
Jenova Chen, CEO of Thatgamecompany
In conversation with Todd Martens, Interactive Entertainment Writer, Los Angeles Times
1:30 – 2:00
Making mobile games in 2022
Anthony Mendoza, Director of Business Development, Global at Xsolla
Hannah Zhang, Business Development Manager, USA at Xsolla
2:00 – 2:30
The future of immersive games and gamified experiences
Jesse Schell, Schell Games
Tommy Palm, Resolution Games
John Bevis, Recroom
Moderator: Ivan Fernández Lobo, Meetaverse
2:30 – 3:00
Why some game (veterans) see big opportunities in blockchain
Join Neil Young, Forte, and David Gardner, Co-Founder and General Partner at LVP, in a conversation analyzing the real opportunity in blockchain games. As a veteran gamemaker on every platform, Neil will talk about why he made the transition to focus on the value Web3 presents for games. They’ll discuss how Web2 and mobile developers are exploring the space, the potential innovations that blockchain can bring to gaming experiences, the disruption it can bring to revenue and user acquisition models, and why it’s critical to capture this emerging market.
Moderator: David Gardner, London Venture Partners
Neil Young, Forte
3:00 – 3:30
Africa’s growing game industry
Cordel Robbin-Coker, cofounder and CEO of Carry1st.
Jay Shapiro of Usika games
Lual Mayen, CEO of Junub Games/Lual Mayen Foundation
Moderator: Nvidia’s Kate Kallot
3:30 – 4:00
Building the future of dance, expression and movement in games for the metaverse
At the intersection of the metaverse’s new entertainment experiences – leveraging everything from virtual concerts to gaming – an opportunity is emerging to help shape people’s in-the-moment expressions to build connection in games. Simultaneously, with the advances in technology platforms and blockchain, players are clamoring for new ways to create and even own their digital creations. HiDef, a gaming startup co-founded by entertainment, technology, and culture crafters Anthony Castoro, Jace Hall, Rick Fox and Dr. David Washington, is taking on this challenge with their unique technology platform and notable partnerships. HiDef is setting out to build the biggest dance party at the center of the metaverse, and they welcome everyone to join.
Anthony Castoro, HiDef, Dancing in the metaverse
Moderator: Randy Eckhardt
4:00 – 4:30
Krafton’s plan to grow through investments
Krafton grew rapidly in the past few years with the success of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, which established the battle royale genre within the FPS market and enabled the company to go public. Now it is making investments and acquisitions that it hopes will enable it to continue to grow. How can it find new hits in the accelerated pace of the modern game industry? We’ll host a conversation between Drake Star’s Michael Metzger and Damian Lee, head of investments at Krafton.
Damian Lee, Krafton
Michael Metzger, Drake Star Partners
4:30- 4:50
GamesBeat team closing podcast
4:50 – 4:55
Closing remarks
Dean Takahashi
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