GamesBeat speaker spotlight: ESA’s Mike Gallagher on changing games and gamers

Mike Gallagher, president and chief executive of the Entertainment Software Association, runs an organization that has represented game publishers over decades. But the ESA isn’t just the lobbying group for console game companies or the entity that stages the E3 show. It is in the midst of change as games and gaming audiences evolve themselves.

Gallagher, one of the best-known leaders of the video game industry, is the latest speaker we’re highlighting at GamesBeat 2013, and I’ll be very pleased to interview him in a fireside chat at our event on Oct. 29-30 at the Sofitel Hotel in Redwood City, Calif.

The ESA’s membership has changed, bringing aboard mobile and online game companies even as console companies disappear. Gallagher faces the challenge of representing game companies that may not share any game platforms in common, or gamers who don’t think of themselves as gamers any more than movie fans think of themselves as “moviers.”

Whether at E3 or while lobbying politicians or representing the diverse industry, Gallagher always has the front row seat to change. We’ll ask him about that in a candid and casual conversation at GamesBeat.

Gallagher joined the ESA in 2007, and he has served as the go-to source for perspectives on entertainment software across the board. He has helped launch education, health, and workplace initiatives to help improve the state of the industry and its impact on gamers.

Here are the rest of our announced speakers for the event:

• Julie Uhrman, CEO of Ouya
• John Riccitiello, an active game investor and former CEO of Electronic Arts
• Tony Bartel, president of GameStop
• Simon Khalaf, the CEO of Flurry
• Owen Mahoney, the chief financial officer and chief administrative officer, Nexon
• Brendan Iribe, the CEO of Oculus VR
• Frank Gibeau, the president of EA Labels at Electronic Arts
• Tim Chang, a partner at Mayfield Fund
• Robin Hunicke, the cofounder of Funomena
• Wim Stocks, the executive vice president at Virgin Gaming
• Mark Donovan, the president of Xfire
• Gabriel Leydon, the CEO of Machine Zone
• Geoff Keighley, the host of Spike TV’s GTTV
• Adam Sessler, the executive producer of Revision3 Games
• Martin Rae, the president of Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
• Bing Gordon, a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
• Clive Downie, the CEO of DeNA West
• Kevin Chou, CEO of Kabam
• Tim Merel, the managing director at Digi-Capital
• Sunny Dhillon, an early stage investor at Signia Venture Partners
• Brock Pierce, the managing director of Clearstone Global Fund

Our theme for the conference is the “Battle Royal,” where all game companies compete across platforms, territories, digital and physical markets, and categories of games.

We’ve entered an era where many varied companies are competing for gamers’ time in the same space. Apple and Google want to get in the living room and are waging war against Nintendo and Sony. Microsoft already has an edge in living room entertainment with its Xbox Live service, but it wants a piece of mobile as well. It’s a confusing time for gamemakers. Where should they take their games? What platforms will provide the best gaming experiences? Who will make them the most money?

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We’ll roll out a steady drumbeat of speakers as we get closer to GamesBeat 2013′s October date. We expect to have more than 80 of the gaming industry’s best lined up from our fifth annual event.

Each year, GamesBeat follows a big trend. In 2009, we focused on how “All The World’s a Game,” with the explosion of games on the global stage. In 2010, GamesBeat@GDC focused on “Disruption 2.0.” In 2011, our theme was “Mobile Games Level Up,” investigating the busy intersection of games and mobile technology. In 2012, we explored “The Crossover Era,” defined by the time when so many big game companies and startups were transforming themselves by expanding from one market to the next.

As companies adapt to change, we’re witnessing disruption, adaptation, consolidation, innovation, and the arrival of big money. We’re talking billions of dollars that are at stake. We’re expecting 400 notables from throughout the game industry — social, mobile, online, and console. Please join us.

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Thanks to the following industry leaders for supporting GamesBeat 2013 as sponsors: Ad2Games, AppLift, Games Analytics, NativeX, Renren Games, and Tapjoy as Gold Sponsors; Flurry, Kontagent, Playnomics, Storm8 and LifeStreet Media as Silver Sponsors; AppFlood and Slashdot and Totally Apps Holdings as Event Sponsors; Akamon Entertainment and Arkadium as contributing sponsors. If you’d like to be a sponsor, please send a message to sponsors@venturebeat.com.