Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson to talk about game industry change at GamesBeat 2014

We are excited to announce today that Electronic Arts chief executive Andrew Wilson is a speaker at GamesBeat 2014, our game-industry conference that takes place Sept. 15 and Sept. 16 at the Parc 55 Wyndham Hotel in San Francisco.

Wilson will do an opening fireside chat with Mike Vorhaus, the president of Magid Advisors. It’s called “How EA is navigating big industry transitions.”

Above: Mike Vorhaus, president of Magid Advisors

Image Credit: Magid Advisors

Video games have always been a roller-coaster industry. But now the pace of change has quickened. Andrew Wilson became CEO at industry giant Electronic Arts last year, and that seems like a lifetime ago. A veteran of EA’s game studios, Wilson took charge at a momentous time as digital game platforms gathered steam and next-generation consoles launched into the market. What has gone as planned, and what surprises have happened, during this past year?

At the start of the conference on Sept. 15, Vorhaus talks with Wilson about how the last year has gone at EA, what his vision for the future is, and how the gaming industry will change in the years ahead.

Wilson became the CEO of EA in September 2013. Before that, he was executive vice president of EA Sports and Origin, which is EA’s consumer platform for digital game distribution. Prior to leading EA Sports, he directed worldwide development across EA Sports’ game portfolio. He also ran Asia Online Publishing and the EA studio in Seoul, Korea. He was responsible for EA’s FIFA soccer games, and joined the company in 2000. He is a native of Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

Vorhaus runs Magid Advisors, a unit of Frank N. Magid Associates. He founded the Internet and new media practice in 1995, with AOL and Excite as his first two clients. He began the gaming practice in 2001 with EA and Sony as his first two clients. He now works with most of the major game publishers.

Vorhaus has been a regular columnist in the magazine Advertising Age and is regularly quoted in publications such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Reuters, and numerous gaming and new media journals and blogs.

We’ll have plenty of other speakers to come.

Purchase a ticket now and save $200!

Our previously announced speakers include:

• Simon Khalaf, president and CEO of Flurry
• James Iliff, chief creative officer at Survios
• Andy Zhong, CEO of FunPlus
• Mike Frazzini, the vice president of games at Amazon
• Dan Connors, 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, 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.