GamesBeat 2014 panel tackles partnering with Asian giants — without getting trampled

We are excited to announce five new speakers at GamesBeat 2014, our game industry conference that takes place Sept. 15 and Sept. 16 at the Parc 55 Wyndham Hotel in San Francisco.

Above: Jay Eum of TransLink Capital

Image Credit: Translink Capital

The speakers will be part of a panel entitled, “Partnering with Asian giants: How to ride on their shoulders without getting trampled.”

We know that many of the leading gaming companies reside in Asia. They are aggressively looking for partners with the latest and greatest technology and content. In fact, nine of the top 10 acquisitions of game companies in 2013 were by Asian companies, according to the Corum Group.

How can a U.S.-based start-up effectively work with these Asian giants and benefit from the partnership? This panel will provide insights and tips from both sides of the table. The breakout session is one more example of how our event will tackle the issues of global gaming. It is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 15 at 2:40 p.m.

Above: Mikihiro Yasuda of DeNA

Image Credit: DeNA

The moderator will be Jay Eum, the managing director of TransLink Capital. He is responsible for TransLink’s investments in Carbonite, Chartboost, EnterpriseDB, nWay, Peel, Quixey, SoundHound, Tango, and YuMe. He spends a lot of time with portfolio companies and customers in South Korea. He was previously the head of Samsung Ventures America.

The panelists include Mikihiro Yasuda, a partner at the Strategic Investment Office at DeNA. He is in charge of startup investments for Japan’s DeNA, which operates Mobage, a major social-mobile gaming network in Japan. DeNA has also become a big publisher of mobile games on a global basis. Yasuda focuses on investments in mobile games, e-commerce, the sharing economy, the Internet of things, and communications. He relocated to San Francisco two years ago.

Above: James Zhang, the CEO of Spellgun and Concept Art House

Image Credit: James Zhang

James Zhang is the CEO of Spellgun and Concept Art House. He also founded Concept Art House as a maker of world-class art for video games. Since 2007, the company has shipped art for scores of titles. This year, Zhang started Spellgun, which has received funding from Chinese mobile-game publisher Talkweb. Spellgun, based in San Francisco, will take games from U.S. developers and publish them in the Chinese market through partners like Talkweb, which published Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies 2 in China.

Above: Aditya Rathnam of Kamcord

Image Credit: Kamcord

Aditya Rathnam, the co-founder of Kamcord, helped start Kamcord as a gameplay-video recording and sharing service for mobile gaming devices. The service is now live in hundreds of Android and iOS games, and the company has raised funding from major VCs including TransLink, DeNA, Tencent, and others. Rathnam was previously a software engineer at 3LM, Cooliris, and Google.

Above: Taehoon Kim

Taehoon Kim, the CEO of nWay, is a serial entrepreneur in the high-tech online gaming sector. At nWay, he is focused on building next-generation session-based multiplayer online games. Previously, he made a big bet as the CEO at Nurien, creating the massively multiplayer online game MStar, which had realistically 3D animated characters. Prior to that, he was the president of Realtime Worlds Korea, the South Korean branch of the company founded by Grand Theft Auto creator David Jones.

We’ll have plenty of other speakers to come.

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Our previously announced speakers include:

• Andrew Wilson, the CEO of Electronic Arts
• Mike Vorhaus, the president of Magid Advisors
• Simon Khalaf, the president and CEO of Flurry
• James Iliff, the chief creative officer at Survios
• Andy Zhong, the CEO of FunPlus
• Mike Frazzini, the vice president of games at Amazon
• Dan Connors, the CEO of Telltale Games
• Chris Petrovic, the head of corporate development and licensing at Kabam
• David Helgason, the CEO of Unity Technologies
• Peter Molyneux, the CEO of 22cans
• Clive Downie, the chief operating officer of Zynga
• Jonathan Simpson-Bint, the chief revenue officer at Twitch
• Malathi Nayak, a reporter for Reuters
• Bob Meese, the global head of game business development at Google Play
• Lucy Bradshaw, a senior vice president of the Maxis label at Electronic Arts
• Rachel Franklin, the general manager of The Sims Studio at EA
• Rick Thompson, the chairman of Signia Ventures
• Chris DeWolfe, the chief executive of SGN
• Phil Sanderson, a game-savvy partner at IDG Ventures
• Peter Levin, the president of interactive ventures and games at Lionsgate, the film studio that made The Hunger Games and Divergent
• Mike Gallagher, the president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association
• Jens Begemann, the chief executive of German social-mobile game publisher Wooga
• Mitch Lasky, a general partner at Benchmark and an investor in Riot Games and Natural Motion
• John Riccitiello, a gaming investor and the former CEO of Electronic Arts
• Evan Hirsch, the founder of Engine Co. No. 4 (talking about seeing signs of trouble in game studios)
• Tim Chang, the managing director at the Mayfield Fund

Our advisers include:

• Eric Goldberg, the managing director of Crossover Technologies
• Michael Chang, the managing director of Mavent Partners
• Tim Chang, the managing director at Mayfield Fund

We’ll roll out more speakers as we get closer to the event. We expect to have about 100 speakers.

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,” focusing on 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. Last year, we talked about the “Battle Royal” as barriers between the different industry segments came down. Now, in the bid for “Total World Domination,” the competition to become the biggest global gaming company is wide open.

As game companies adapt to change, we’re witnessing disruption, change, consolidation, innovation, and the arrival of big money. Billions of dollars are at stake. Last year, more than 550 notables from throughout the game industry — social, mobile, online, PC, and console — attended the event. Please join us.

This year, we’ll see the return of our contest for the best gaming startup. The attention that these startups get for speaking onstage and winning the event is invaluable. An all-star panel of judges will pick the most promising game startup, based on freshness, innovation, and potential for business success. The top nominees will appear onstage, and the judges will pick the winner at the event.

We are still exploring our subthemes for the event and welcome your suggestions. If you’d like to sponsor, please send an email to sales@venturebeat.com.

Here’s what a couple of game industry leaders said about last year’s event:

“Thanks for the contributions GamesBeat has made for this industry.” –Bing Gordon, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

“It’s really refreshing listening to the cutting-edge innovation that is happening in the industry. I’m learning so much by being here.” –– Mike Gallagher, the president of the Entertainment Software Association

Purchase a ticket now and save $200!

Thanks to the following industry leaders for supporting GamesBeat 2014: NativeX as Corporate Partner; Tapjoy and SupersonicAds as Gold Partner; TrialPay, InMobi, and TapSense as Silver Partners; SponsorPay, LifeStreet Media, SGN, Funplus, AppLift and Personagraph as Event Partners; Pwnit and Nudge as Nest Partners.