GamesBeat 2014’s newest speakers feature execs from Nexon, OnLive, and Glu Mobile

We’re pleased to announce three more speakers at GamesBeat 2014, our sixth annual game industry conference that takes place Sept. 15 and Sept. 16 at the Parc 55 Wyndham Hotel in San Francisco.

Our newest speakers include:

Owen Mahoney, CEO of Nexon. Mahoney became president and chief executive of Tokyo-based, free-to-play publisher Nexon in March. He joined the company in 2010 and previously served as chief financial officer and chief administrative officer. During his tenure, he helped Nexon go public in a $1.2 billion initial public offering. Before that, he was senior vice president of corporate development at Electronic Arts from 2000 to 2009. Mahoney made news recently expanding from the East to the West by partnering with well-known American game developers John Schappert, Cliff Bleszinski, and Brian Reynolds. He will talk with Dean Takahashi, lead news writer for GamesBeat, in a fireside chat about “Making strategic partnerships successful.”

Above: Rick Sanchez of OnLive

Image Credit: OnLive

Rick Sanchez, vice president of product and marketing at OnLive. The cloud-gaming platform had a near-death experience in mid-2012 when it ran out of money under its previous management. But investor Gary Lauder acquired the company and brought aboard veterans like Mark Jung and Sanchez to restore the company’s luster. In March, the new OnLive relaunched its service, which allows gamers to play high-end titles on low-end devices such as tablets. Sanchez has been part of the team launching new products and grabbing new properties for the platform. He’ll give a talk on the “myths and facts of cloud gaming” in our GamesBeat University track.

Above: Chris Akhavan, president of publishing at Glu Mobile

Image Credit: Glu Mobile

Chris Akhavan, president of publishing at Glu Mobile. Akhavan cut his chops on free-to-play games as an early employee at mobile monetization firm Tapjoy. Now, he has become responsible for free-to-play mobile games and advertising at Glu Mobile, which has knocked its competitors flat with the surprising success of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. He oversees worldwide business operations, user acquisition, marketing, ad monetization, strategic partnerships, business intelligence, and international expansion. He will be part of a panel on user acquisition dubbed “Adapting customer acquisition strategies in a rapidly changing world.”

You can check out the full GamesBeat 2014 program below. It’s packed with more than 88 industry-leading speakers (with about 18 more in the approval process), high-value discussions, breakouts, exclusive announcements, and brand-new networking sessions. Make sure to register today.

Our previously announced speakers include:

• Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts
• 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

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.

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.

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!

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.