GamesBeat 2014 panel shows how to move from the East to the West

We are excited to announce five more 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. Yesterday, we announced a panel about moving games from West to East. Now we’re doing the opposite.

Above: Jeff Hilbert of Digital Development Management

Image Credit: DDM

The speakers are part of the “Taking games into the West” panel. Jeff Hilbert, the co-CEO and chief strategy officer at agency Digital Development Management, heads the panel. Hilbert can sense your presence in a room. In Shanghai, I walked up to him. He was typing a text on his smartphone. Without looking up, he said, “Hi Dean.” As a story about Hilbert in Businessweek noted, “Agents go where there’s money.” And Hilbert was in Shanghai pursuing deals.

Hilbert founded DDM as a talent agency for games. He has more than 22 years of experience in game management and business development. His first client was Virgin Interactive, and since then, he has secured deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide. DDM has offices in California, Massachusetts, and four other countries. He’s a good pick to run this breakout session at our event.

Above: Kyu Lee of Gamevil

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

A lot of Eastern companies are trying to break into Western markets, whether that’s moving from Eastern Europe into the U.S., or from Asia into Europe. Our session will address these topics and illustrate once again why gaming has become a global business.

Kyu Lee, the president of Gamevil USA, founded the Torrance, Calif.-based division of South Korean mobile game publisher Gamevil back in 2006. He is a familiar figure at game events and has been at Gamevil since 2000. Gamevil has now grown into a publicly traded mobile game publisher, and it acquired Com2us, a rival mobile game publisher, last year. The company has expanded into the West and it is publishing lots of titles every year in North America.

Above: Anatoly Ropotov, CEO of Game Insight

Image Credit: Game Insight

Anatoly Ropotov became the CEO of mobile game publisher Game Insight this summer, shortly after the company moved its headquarters from Moscow to Villnius, Lithuania. He was previously the chief experience officer at Game Insight, and he has about 15 years of service in games. His charter at Game Insight is to move the company into high-quality hardcore 3D games on mobile devices and to expand its reach into the West. It already has 250 million players worldwide.

Above: Roy Liu, CEO of Forgame US

Image Credit: Forgame

Roy Liu, CEO of Forgame US, started his career as a mobile game developer in 2006. He joined Forgame recently to help expand its reach from Asia to the West. Founded in 2009, Forgame Group made web games. In 2012, it launched its first mobile game, The Era of Storms. Now the company has more than 200 million registered users and more than 100 games that are played throughout China. The parent company went public in Hong Kong last October. Liu previously worked at Chartboost, Gimmie, and PopCap Games.

Above: AJ Redmer of Gumi

Image Credit: Gumi

AJ Redmer is head of Gumi North America. Redmer just became the man leading the Western charge of Japan’s Gumi, which has seen its fortunes rise with the launch of the hit game Brave Frontier. Gumi is plowing the profits from Brave Frontier into building new game studios aimed at spreading its influence worldwide. Redmer will handle the North American studios. Previously, he spent seven years at Microsoft’s Xbox division, taking on important roles like planning the Xbox 360 and managing the racing game studio that produced Project Gotham Racing and Forza Motorsport, which have become giant franchises for Microsoft.

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
• Jay Eum, managing director at TransLink Capital
• Mikihiro Yasuda, partner at strategic investment office at DeNA
• James Zhang, CEO of Spellgun
• Aditya Rathnam, cofounder of Kamcord
• Taehoon Kim, CEO of nWay
• 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.