The big companies are moving into esports, which wandered for many years in the wilderness.
Esports is expected grow to $892 million by the end of this year, market researcher SuperData forecasts, and that 1 billion people will know about competitive gaming. Investors, startups, and giant game publishers alike are rushing to stake out territory that they believe will be valuable in the future.
That’s why our next speaker for our GamesBeat 2016 event is particularly interesting. I’m happy to announce that Peter Moore, the chief competition officer of Electronic Arts, will speak about where esports is heading. Moore is a former pro soccer player, and so he understands the emotion and passion around sports. He believes that esports can be every bit as exciting as televised physical sports.
He leads EA’s newly formed Competitive Gaming Division, with a focus on global competitions for EA franchises such as FIFA, Madden NFL, and Battlefield. He was previously chief operating officer of EA, president of EA Sports, corporate vice president at Microsoft’s game business, president of Sega of America, and marketing chief at Reebok.
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Above: Clinton Foy, managing director at CrossCut Ventures.
Above: David Baszucki, CEO of Roblox.
Our previously announced speakers include:
David Baszucki, the founder, co-creator, and CEO of Roblox
Roblox is like a virtual world made from Lego-like blocks where players can build anything and even create their own games. A pioneer in pushing the boundaries of the imagination, Baszucki has helped champion millions of young and up-and-coming developers in the video game industry via the Roblox platform. He’ll be part of a panel on our AR/VR day on August 1, focusing on the topic of user-generated VR.
Clinton Foy, managing director and general partner at CrossCut Ventures
Foy is managing director of an early-stage venture capital firm in Los Angeles. Foy is also the chairman and co-owner of the pro esports team The Immortals, which just bought a Brazilian Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team. Foy has deep experience in running game and tech companies, including gaming giant Square Enix (where he was chief operating officer and general counsel), and Super Evil Megacorp. Foy has led investments in Mobcrush, Vulcun, Little Labs, and Instant eSports. In seven years at Square Enix, Foy oversaw more than 100 product launches across a dozen platforms.
Above: Mike Sepso is senior vice president for Media Networks at Activision Blizzard.
Image Credit: Activision Blizzard
Mike Sepso, senior vice president for Activision Blizzard
Sepso was the cofounder of MLG, which Activision Blizzard acquired last year. Now he focuses on esports and runs Media Networks, a division devoted to creating the best esports experiences for fans across games, platforms and geographies at one of the world’s largest video game companies.
Sepso played a key role at MLG, focusing on strategy, key partnerships, corporate development, and product and technology development.
Above: Richard Marks, senior research engineer at Sony Interactive Entertainment
Image Credit: Sony
Richard Marks, a senior research engineer at Sony Interactive Entertainment
He’ll be one of the speakers at our AR/VR day, which will focus on strategy for the augmented reality and virtual reality markets. Marks’ topic for his fireside chat is “What Works in VR and What Doesn’t.” He should know, as he is one of VR’s pioneers, recently running the Sony PlayStation Magic Lab that came up with the PlayStation VR technology. Sony is making a major investment in PlayStation VR and plans to launch it in October.
Above: Michael Pachter kicks off GamesBeat 2015.
Image Credit: Michael O’Donnell/GamesBeat
Michael Pachter, the managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities
Pachter has more than 20 years of experience as a financial professional, and he has been analyzing game companies for a long time in addition to following the broader entertainment industry.
Pachter follows big game companies such as Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, GameStop, Nintendo, Take-Two Interactive, Ubisoft, and Zynga. He has an M.B.A. from the University of California at Los Angeles and degrees from Pepperdine University, the University of Florida, and California State University at Northridge. He has an acerbic wit and is often quoted in both the gaming and mainstream press when it comes to analysis of the game industry’s leading companies. And he is the host of the video series “Pachter Factor” on Siftd.net.
Above: David Haddad is president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
Image Credit: Warner Bros.
David Haddad, president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Haddad spoke last year at our inaugural GamesBeat Summit event, and we’re happy to have him back. Haddad was appointed to his current post in October 2015. In this role, he is responsible for all aspects of WBIE’s overall operations, including publishing, operations, sales, marketing, digital/mobile games, business development, and game production.
Under Haddad’s oversight, WBIE creates games across all platforms utilizing its wholly owned, award-winning development studios: TT Games, Rocksteady Studios, NetherRealm Studios, Monolith Productions, Turbine, WB Games Montreal, and WB Games San Francisco. Last year, Warner Bros. had its most successful year ever with a number of hit games, including Mortal Kombat X on console and mobile and Batman: Arkham Knight, Lego Jurassic World and Lego Dimensions.
Lego Marvel’s Avengers launched in January 2016, and the highly anticipated Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens will launch on June 28, 2016. As the head of WBIE, Haddad also serves on the board of the Entertainment Software Association. Haddad joined Warner Bros. in 2013 as head of digital publishing.
Above: Kevin Chou, CEO of Kabam
Image Credit: Kabam
Kevin Chou, CEO of Kabam
Chou runs Kabam, a maker of free-to-play mobile games such as Marvel: Contest of Champions. He cofounded a company in 2006 that morphed into Kabam in 2009. And since that time, he has navigated the difficult currents of the ultra-competitive game industry. By 2014, Kabam had grown to hundreds of employees and more than $400 million in revenue, with a valuation in excess of $1 billion. More recently, Chou has tried to take the lead in disruption, and he has focused Kabam around fewer, bigger games. He has secured licenses with Hollywood studios such as Disney, Lionsgate, MGM, NBCUniversal, Paramount, and Warner Brothers for games based on some of the world’s most beloved movie franchises.
Last year, Chou launched a multipartner effort to take Marvel: Contest of Champions into the Chinese market. And most recently, Marvel: Contest of Champions hit the No. 1 game in downloads in China.
Above: Roy Taylor, corporate vice president of alliances at AMD.
Image Credit: AMD
Roy Taylor, corporate vice president of alliances at AMD
Taylor is a seasoned veteran of the video game and semiconductor industries. He is currently an expert in AMD’s relations with major retailers and specialty retailers, and he’s an advocate for gaming content and VR that runs on AMD platforms. He previously held senior positions at Rightware, MasterIMage 3D, and Nvidia.
Above: Jason Rubin, head of studios at Oculus
Image Credit: Oculus
Jason Rubin, head of Oculus Studios
Rubin runs the team at Facebook’s Oculus division that creates, funds, and works with developers to build first party games and experiences for the Oculus Rift VR headset and the Samsung Gear VR. Rubin’s job is to create exciting entertainment that will draw consumers to the new platforms.
A 30-year veteran of game development, Rubin was the cofounder of Naughty Dog, where he created the hit games Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter. He also cofounded the media mashup tool Fleeter, which he sold to Fox Interactive, and he was president of THQ. He spoke at GamesBeat 2015 about how VR is the toughest learning curve in games.
Peter Levin, president of Lionsgate Interactive Ventures & Games
Levin joined Lionsgate as president of interactive ventures and games in 2014. He is responsible for expanding Lionsgate’s content creation into video games and other interactive ventures, including incubation of new properties, investment in existing games and digital media vehicles and leveraging Lionsgate’s franchises and other branded properties into the gaming space.
It’s no accident that Lionsgate has announced a bunch of game-related deals, such as planting the seeds for an esports TV show and backing Hong Kong game studio Fifth Journey. He has been a frequent speaker at our GamesBeat events.
Above: Chris Fralic, partner at First Round Capital
Image Credit: First Round Capital
Chris Fralic, partner at First Round Capital
Chris Fralic joined First Round Capital in its New York office in 2006. He has focused on investment areas such as advertising, marketing technology, social/mobile, e-commerce, travel, gaming, and connected devices. He has worked with acquired companies such as Flurry (Yahoo!), Invite Media (Google), and Demdex (Adobe). And he is currently working with game companies that include Beyond Games, Mobcrush, and Roblox.
Above: Geoff Keighley tells The Game Awards crowd why Hideo Kojima couldn’t come.
Image Credit: The Game Awards
Our confirmed moderators include Geoff Keighley, game broadcaster and host of the Game Awards
Keighley is a seasoned game broadcaster and host of The Game Awards. The event last December drew 2.3 million viewers for a two-hour awards show. Keighley came to our event a year ago and interviewed Jason Rubin of Oculus Studios. He has been writing about games since he was 13.
And Martin Rae, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
Above: Martin Rae of AIAS
Image Credit: AIAS
Rae runs the professional academy of game industry peers that stages the annual DICE. Summit and the DICE Awards in Las Vegas each year. He has been the head of the nonprofit since 2010 and is a champion of the game industry. Rae has traditionally hosted our panel on venture capital investments in games.
Who should attend?
This event is specifically designed for gaming executives, investors, developers, and entrepreneurs. Here’s our link to stories from last year’s event. 2015 was all about the Game of Thrones, or the battle among game companies for supremacy. At our recent GamesBeat Summit, we focused on the underdogs of gaming. This summer, we have a bit of a fixation on Star Wars. Our theme is a nod to that and to the fact that gaming has a lot of new platforms arising.
Mobile has become ascendant as the largest game platform, with more than a billion users. But there are new platforms coming in the console market (hi, Nintendo) as well as virtual reality and augmented reality. The mobile, console, and PC platforms will see new innovations in game technology this year, and we’ll be talking about all of them.
Our advisory board for this event includes:
- Michael Chang, senior vice president of corporate development at NCSoft West
- Greg Essig, head of business development at Mobcrush
- Megan Gaiser, senior creative leader and strategist; principal at Contagious Creativity
- Perrin Kaplan, principal at Zebra Partners
- Ophir Lupu, head of games at United Talent Agency
- Wanda Meloni, executive director at the Open Gaming Alliance
- Ali Moiz, CEO at Vulcun
- Maarten Noyons, CEO of the International Mobile Gaming Awards
- Ian Sharpe, CEO of Azubu
- Mike Vorhaus, president of Magid Advisors
- Sunny Dhillon, partner at Signia Venture Partners
- Alejandro Manchado, strategic partner development lead at Google
- Daniel Cho, chairman of Innospark
- Mike Capps, former president of Epic Games
For general event information, please contact events@venturebeat.com and reference “GamesBeat”
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