GamesBeat 2014 mainstage agenda is best ever: With 101 speakers, 27 CEOs, 7 game VCs, and dozens of press

We’ve booked them. GamesBeat 2014 will have 101 speakers who comprise our strongest line-up in the event’s six-year history. It takes place Sept. 15 and Sept. 16 at the Parc 55 Wyndham Hotel in San Francisco. We’ve assembled a who’s who of games in one event that game industry followers won’t want to miss.

Above: Mike Gallagher, the president of the Entertainment Software Association.

Image Credit: Michael O'Donnell/VentureBeat

Our aim is to get the movers and shakers together and talking about our theme on “Total World Domination,” or global gaming.

You can check out the full GamesBeat 2014 agenda here. It’s packed with 27 CEOs, 20 fireside chats, seven breakout sessions, and 20 more solo talks that we’ve dubbed GamesBeat University. While the mainstage will have speakers with high-level vision, the university speakers will have tips, tricks, and practical advice for modern game companies. Our moderators are experts, journalists, and analysts who come from Magid Advisors, GTTV, IGN, Reuters, Wedbush Securities, GamesBeat, TechRadar.com, YetiZen, and others.

GamesBeat University’s speakers will deliver practical advice in a parallel track that happens at the same time as the mainstage talks. It includes topics like how to get Apple to love your game, how to get money from a publisher, monetization and user acquisition, and breaking into new markets like virtual reality or China.

Our emcees include Dean Takahashi, the lead writer for GamesBeat; Dan “Shoe” Hsu, the editor-in-chief of GamesBeat; Michael Pachter, the managing director at Wedbush Securities; Japheth Dillman, the co-founder of YetiZen; Jeff Green, a consultant at Hit Detection; Margaret Wallace, the CEO of Playmatics; and Joseph Olin, the CEO of It’s a Secret.

All told, we’ll have 53 sessions this year across the mainstage and GamesBeat University, compared to just 34 sessions last year. I’m really looking forward to our opening talk with Andrew Wilson, the CEO of Electronic Arts, which will be moderated by Mike Vorhaus, the president of Magid Advisors. We’ve got a lot of former Electronic Arts execs following him, like Owen Mahoney, the CEO of Nexon; and John Riccitiello, an investor and advisor and the former CEO of EA.

Some of these companies, like Unity Technologies, might be up for sale. And some of the companies that might want to buy them will also be on our stage. We have tech titans like Google and Amazon, as well as overseas leaders like Tencent and iDreamSky. All of that means that we’re going to live up to our theme of “Total World Domination” — or a global picture of the game industry and the strategies people are pursuing to rule it.

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Our previously announced speakers include:

• Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts
• Owen Mahoney, CEO of Nexon
• Rick Sanchez, vice president of product and marketing at OnLive
• Chris Akhavan, president of publishing at Glu Mobile
• Matt Higby, creative director for Planetside 2 at Sony Online Entertainment
• Dan Brody, vice president of business development at Tencent
• Oliver Miao, CEO of Pixelberry Studios
• Janis Zech, chief revenue officer and cofounder of Fyber
• Kym Nelson, SVP at Twitch
• Jeff Lyndon, president of iDreamSky
• Kristian Segerstrale, COO at Super Evil Megacorp
• Will Harbin, CEO of Kixeye
• Rob Weber, CEO of NativeX
• Monty Kerr, cofounder of Playstudios
• Jeff Hilbert, co-CEO of DDM
• Anatoly Ropotov, CEO of Game Insight
• Roy Liu, CEO of Forgame US
• AJ Redmer, head of Gumi North America
• Mike Vorhaus, president of Magid Advisors
• Jay Eum, managing director at TransLink Capital
• Mikihiro Yasuda, a partner at strategic investment office at DeNA
• James Zhang, CEO of Spellgun
• Aditya Rathnam, co-founder of Kamcord
• Taehoon Kim, CEO of nWay
• Simon Khalaf, president and CEO of Flurry
• James Iliff, chief creative officer at Survios
• Andy Zhong, CEO of FunPlus
• Mike Frazzini, vice president of games at Amazon
• Dan Connors, CEO of Telltale Games
• Chris Petrovic, head of corporate development and licensing at Kabam
• David Helgason, CEO of Unity Technologies
• Peter Molyneux, CEO of 22cans
• Clive Downie, chief operating officer of Zynga
• Jonathan Simpson-Bint, chief revenue officer at Twitch
• Malathi Nayak, a reporter for Reuters
• Bob Meese, global head of game business development at Google Play
• Lucy Bradshaw, a senior vice president of the Maxis label at Electronic Arts
• Rachel Franklin, general manager of The Sims Studio at EA
• Rick Thompson, chairman of Signia Ventures
• Chris DeWolfe, chief executive of SGN
• Phil Sanderson, a game-savvy partner at IDG Ventures
• Peter Levin, president of interactive ventures and games at Lionsgate, the film studio that made The Hunger Games and Divergent
• Mike Gallagher, president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association
• Jens Begemann, 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, founder of Engine Co. No. 4 (talking about seeing signs of trouble in game studios)
• Tim Chang, managing director at the Mayfield Fund

Additional speakers include:

• Melissa Blau, director at iGaming Capital
• Michael Carpenter, CEO of Ruby Seven Studios
• Maytal Ginzburg Olsha, casino-gaming expert
• Ilya Nikolayev, cofounder of InAppFuel
• Parmod Sharma, CEO of Tangible Play
• Rev Lebaredian, senior director of engineering at Nvidia
• Andy Hess, head of developer relations at Epic Games
• Will O’Neal, editor-in-chief at TechRadar.com
• Japheth Dillman, cofounder of YetiZen
• Sana Choudary, CEO of YetiZen
• Ash Kumar, CEO of Tapsense
• Jason Morse, vice president of mobile product at Criteo
• Victor Milligan, chief marketing officer of Nexage
• Zach Phillips, general manager of games at Upsight
• Ian Sherr, senior writer at CNET
• Steve Wadsworth, CEO of Tapjoy
• Michele Maguire, senior strategist at Niko Partners
• Christine Lee, director of business development at Chartboost
• Andrew Green, head of business development at TinyCo
• Konstantin Dieterle, managing director at AppLift
• Jeff Grubb, writer at GamesBeat
• Brian “Lionheart” Grayson, e-sports commentator and legal and business manager at Hi-Rez Studios
• Justin Wong, vice president of partnerships at Twitch
• Casey Lee, head of Com2Us USA
• AJ Redmer, head of Gumi North America
• Doug Creutz, analyst at Cowen & Co.
• Ann Burkett, venture partner with F50 Venture
• Cass Phillips, head of community at Pocket Gems
• Michael Ehrenberg, consultant
• Jim Ying, vice president of publishing at Tango
• Jesse Pujji, CEO of Ampush
• Terry Angelos, chief product officer at TrialPay
• Alina Soltys, analyst at The Corum Group
• Beth Kindig, senior manager of developer relations at Vserv.Mobi
• Gil Shoham, CEO of Supersonic
• Shai Magzimof, CEO of Nextpeer
• Thushar Makhija, head of business development at Helpshift
• Bruce Wooden, developer and community relations head at AltspaceVR
• Mark Robinson, CEO of DeltaDNA
• Rick Sanchez, vice president of product and marketing at OnLive
• Paul Thind, head of business development at InMobi
• Matt Higby, creative director for Sony Online Entertainment’s Planetside 2
• Roger Roman, chief operating officer at Visionary Works

Our advisers include:

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

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

Above: Dan “Shoe” Hsu, the editor-in-chief of GamesBeat, and Dean Takahashi, the lead writer for GamesBeat, opened day two of GamesBeat 2013 with a Halloween theme.

Image Credit: Michael O'Donnell/VentureBeat

Each year, GamesBeat follows a big trend. In 2009, we focused on how “All the World’s a Game” with the medium’s explosion 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”, covering 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 companies adapt, 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 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 companies get for speaking onstage and winning the event is invaluable. An all-star panel of judges will pick the most promising entry 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.

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

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Thanks to the following industry leaders for supporting GamesBeat 2014: NativeX as Corporate Partner; Tapjoy, Criteo, and SupersonicAds as Gold Partners; TrialPay, InMobi, deltaDNA, and TapSense as Silver Partners; Fyber, LifeStreet Media, SGN, Funplus, AppLift, Upsight, Helpshift, Personagraph, OnLive, Ampush, and Trumaker as Event Partners; Pwnit, Nudge, and VisiSonics as Nest Partners.