Final GamesBeat 2015’s epic agenda features 116 of gaming’s brightest leaders

Our GamesBeat 2015 conference is just 11 days away. It’s going to be an epic and efficient show with some of the industry’s best minds.

We’ve lined up the royalty of the game industry for our event, which carries the theme of “A Game of Thrones.” These are the conquerors who will dominate territories such as mobile, console, PC online, virtual reality, augmented reality, and beyond. I’ve spent the past six months recruiting the lords and ladies of the great houses of gaming. We hope you’ll agree it’s a stellar lineup. We’ve got about 43 CEOs, a bunch of top game journalists and analysts, and even two mystery speakers.

The event will be at the Grand Hyatt Union Square on October 12 and October 13 in San Francisco. You can sign up for it now. (Prices go up $200 on Friday at 5 pm Pacific time).

There is one last open speaking slot? I’m still trying to land a “whale,” or consumer who spends a lot of money in free-to-play games. You’re welcome to recommend someone to me.

Monday, Oct 12 2015

8:00am-9:15am

Registration & Continental Breakfast

9:15am-9:30am

Grand Ballroom

General Opening Remarks

Dean Takahashi/Stewart Rogers (emcee)

9:30am-940am

Opening analyst talk:

Speaker: Michael Pachter, Wedbush Securities

Title of talk: Opening Analyst Talk: The state of the game business

Description of talk: Analyst Michael Pachter has followed the game industry closely since 2000, from small startups to big public companies. He’ll give us a download on how he views the state of gaming.

9:40 am to 10:10 am

VC panel

Speakers:  Phil Sanderson, managing director at IDG Ventures; Sunny Dhillon, partner at Signia Venture Partners; Jason Kay, venture partner at AID Partners

Moderator: Martin Rae, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

Title: Esports: The rise of the giant

Description: Evolving in a very short time from a niche driven, event focused experience to the rapidly expanding successful business ecosystem of today, this panel of VC experts explore the challenges and opportunities they see in the world of esports.   How can entrepreneurs capitalize on leverage points within the industry?  What can we predict about the future, and where might the best undiscovered opportunities lie?  And in their look at the space, where might the train already have left the station?

10:10 am to 10:30 am

Speaker: Niccolo De Masi, CEO of Glu Mobile

Moderator: Dean Takahashi

Title: The celebrity strategy

Description: In the summer of 2014, Glu disrupted the mobile gaming industry with the breakout success of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. Amidst a year of success for the pop culture phenomenon that is KKH, several studios emerged hoping to duplicate that success with their own celebrity titles. Glu itself has announced partnerships with Katy Perry, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Nicki Minaj, Britney Spears, and Jason Statham – amassing the support of nearly 650 million social followers in the process. The mastermind behind it all, Glu Chairman and CEO, Niccolo de Masi joins Dean Takahashi for a candid on-stage discussion about the power of celebrity IP and his predictions for the future.

10:30 am – 10:50 am

Fireside chat

Speaker: Mystery speaker

Moderator: Dean Takahashi

10:50 am to 11:10 am

Fireside Chat

Speaker: Matt Wolf, head of games at Coca-Cola and Jonathan Simpson-Bint, chief revenue officer at Twitch

Moderator: Jeff Grubb, GamesBeat writer

Title: Reach gamers wherever they are

Description: Twitch and Coca-Cola teamed up last year in an esports partnership. What does this say about how to reach the right audiences in the modern era?

11:10 am-11:30 am

Morning Coffee Break

11:30 am – 12:20 pm

Breakout Sessions

Second Floor

#1 Session:

Title: How to cater to gaming’s whales

Description: Social and mobile gamers who spend money in free-to-play games are a rare breed. Less than 5 percent of players spend money in free-to-play titles. Those who do are “whales,” and every company jealously guards them.  We’ll talk with whales and other experts about how to hunt whales without killing them.

Panelists: Dmitri Williams, CEO of Ninja Metrics; Jeferson Valadares, Bandai Namco; Patrick Walker, vice president of insights and analytics at EEDAR

Moderator: Maarten Noyons, head of the International Mobile Gaming Awards

#2 Session

Title: How to use data to improve user acquisition, engagement, monetization

Description: Mobile gaming is a competitive field, and developers must use all available resources to create great game play, acquire new users and increase monetization. Gathering the right data, understanding it and reacting to it is critical for engaging players and increased monetization. On this panel we will cover how to use data to drive acquisition, engagement, and monetization, and specifically how to use it to acquire players, optimize IAP and increase ad revenue.

Panelists:  Mark Rosner, CRO, Applovin; Gil Shoham, CEO of Supersonic; Bill Grosso, CEO of Scientific Revenue; Kai Bolik, CEO of GameDuell

Moderator: John Koetsier, vice president of research at VB Insight

#3 Session

Title: Virtual reality: How soon will it get big, and when will that happen?

Description: The multibillion dollar question for the game industry is whether players will embrace the hottest trend in game technology. Startups and big companies are starting to invest in VR projects. But when should those projects move from experimental to full-blown commercial products?

Speakers: Richard Marks of Sony PlayStation Magic Lab; Tommy Palm of Resolution Games; James Iliff, cofounder of Survios; Justin Moravetz, CEO of Zero Transform

Moderator: Tim Merel, managing director at Digi-Capital

#4 Session
Title: How far will esports reach?

Description: Games like League of Legends have taught us that esports have arrived. The idea of people watching pros play games is no longer silly. It’s a big business. What have some of the most successful esports companies learned about how to do it right? And what are their predictions for how the business will grow in the future? We’ll talk about the companies as well as the opportunities that shoutcasters and broadcasters are creating.

Panelists: Ian Sharpe, CEO of Azubu; Kristian Segerstrale of Super Evil Megacorp; Dennis Fong, CEO of Raptr; Matt Zitzmann, CEO of Kamcord

Moderator: Jeff Grubb, writer for GamesBeat

12:20 pm – 1:40 pm

Hosted Lunch

1:40 pm to 2 pm

Fireside Chat

Speaker: Jason Rubin, head of worldwide studios at Oculus VR

Moderator: Geoff Keighley

Title: Creating the best virtual reality experiences

Description: Consumers are excited about VR, but they don’t know what it will be like yet. Chances are it will be hit if and only if there are experiences you can get in VR that can only be done in the new medium. What kind of experience do you want to have in VR? We’ll explore the possibilities in this fireside chat between Geoff Keighley and veteran game maker and Oculus stduio head Jason Rubin.

2 pm – 2:20 pm
Fireside Chat

Speaker:  Owen Mahoney, CEO of Nexon

Moderator: Mike Vorhaus, Magid Advisors

Title: Nexon’s evolution as an early pioneer in free-to-play gaming

Description: We will discuss Nexon’s history in F2P gaming and what it and other Asian companies can teach us in the West. What is Nexon’s long-range planning for continued success? What is Nexon’s strategy and achievements in the West to date?

2:20 pm to 2:30 pm

Fireside Chat

Speaker: Mystery speaker

Moderator: Dean Takahashi

2:30 pm to 2:50 pm

Fireside Chat

Speaker: Graeme Devine, creative director at Magic Leap

Moderator: Dean Takahashi

Title:  Designing for Mixed Reality

Description: Designing interactive/narrative experiences is unlike any other medium, and understanding what works and what doesn’t work has been an interesting path. Classic console and video games do not necessarily translate well, and the exciting opportunity for an entirely new form of entertainment seems to be at our fingertips. Graeme Devine will discuss the thought process at Magic Leap and what the road travelled thus far has taught him.

2:50 pm to 310 pm

Fireside Chat

Speaker: Tim Sweeney of Epic Games

Moderator: Dean Takahashi

Title: The way ahead in mobile games, VR/AR, and game engines

Description: At the helm of Epic Games for two decades, technology guru Tim Sweeney has seen it all, and that makes him an excellent seer of the future. We’ll discuss topics such as the race to reality with VR and AR, and how they could display other devices for billions of people. We’ll also discuss the “indiepocalypse” in mobile games and the flight to quality. And we’ll talk about the state of the game engine wars.

310 pm to 3:30 pm

Fireside Chat

Speaker: Mark Skaggs, Zynga 

Moderator: Steve Peterson

Title: The evolution of action strategy on mobile

Description: Mark Skaggs, former senior vice president of games at Zynga and veteran RTS developer, will share insights into the explosive growth of the Action Strategy category on mobile, including the challenges and opportunities in bringing the RTS genre from PC and console to mobile platforms.

3:30 pm to 4 pm

Afternoon Break

4 pm – 4:20 pm

Fireside Chat

Speaker: Emily Greer, head of Kongregate

Moderator: Keith Boesky

Title: How to choose a multiplatform strategy

Description: Each year making games seems to become a little more challenging for developers big and small alike. Emily Greer will draw on nearly 10 years of experience in the fast changing world of free to play games to talk about using multi-platform strategies to maximize a studio’s chance at success.

4:20pm – 4:40 pm

Fireside Chat

Speaker: Rajesh Rao, CEO of GameTantra/Dhruva Interactive

Moderator: Ophir Lupu, head of games at United Talent Agency

Title: Is India the next China?

Description: India could very well be the next China, in terms of growth for its internal gaming market. How ready is the Indian game industry to make the promise into a reality? What can global game companies do to prepare for the growth? United Talent Agency’s head of games Ophir Lupu will talk with India’s gaming veteran, Rajesh Rao, about the current landscape, the cultural climate for games, and the potential challenges for entrants in this emerging market.

4:40pm – 5 pm

Fireside chat/panel:

Speakers: Brianna Wu, head of development at Giant Spacekat

Moderator: Dean Takahashi

Title: Making waves and making games

Description: Brianna Wu has been an outspoken advocate for women and diversity in gaming, particularly in the past year. On top of that, she has created a female-run game studio that published a mobile game, Revolution 60. And now she’s taken an interest in designing for virtual reality. We’ll talk to her about the state of the game industry and how to make it better.

5 pm-5:20 pm

Speaker: Chris Heatherly, Disney

Moderator: AJ Glasser, Facebook

Title: How Disney Interactive is balancing brands and platforms to tell new stories for fans

Description: Disney Interactive, with access to one of the most extensive IP portfolios in entertainment, also has one of the enviable dilemmas in games publishing:  Choosing the right opportunities from across an unprecedented collection of brands to serve the most vocal fan bases in the world. Chris Heatherly joins GameBeat 2015 to discuss how the company is making development and publishing decisions for a slate of games that spans the casual, kids and mid-core categories and includes the Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars brands. Heatherly will offer insight into Disney’s approach to balancing in-house and licensed development, and share his thoughts on platforms beyond mobile.

5:20 pm – 5:25 pm

CLOSING REMARKS

Speaker: Dean Takahashi, Lead Writer, GamesBeat

5:25 pm – 6:30 pm

Day #1 Opening Reception

9 pm onward: GamesBeat 2015 official party sponsored by Microsoft

Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015

8:00 am-9:15 am

Registration & Continental Breakfast

9:15 am – 9:30 am

Opening Remarks by Dean Takahashi

9:30 am-9:40 am

Analyst talk

Speaker: John Koetsier, vice president VB Insight

Title: Mobile user acquisition: what’s working, what’s changing, and where costs are going

Description: 731 mobile developers and 14 billion ads showed us what’s hot and what’s changing in mobile user acquisition. We talk about moving models, current top methods, and why costs are surging.

9:40 am – 10 am

Fireside Chat

Speakers:  Jay Cohen, Wargaming

Moderator: Mike Vorhaus

Title: The spoils of war

Description: Jay Cohen is a seasoned game executive who can talk about the success of Wargaming’s World of Tanks and other titles. We’ll focus on free-to-play monetization, the addition of new platforms, and other expansion plans for Wargaming.

10 am – 10:20 am

Speaker: Jessica Rovello, CEO of Arkadium

Moderator:  Perrin Kaplan, Zebra Partners

Title: You can succeed in gaming despite uncertainty

Description: Making smart choices for growth during great times and surviving during extreme and unexpected down times would break a lot of executives. But Arkadium has adapted. Get the inside peek into its choices, as told by Jessica Rovello, CEO.  From gaming and mobile to the incredible challenge of putting back together a studio blown up by the Crimean war and Russian annexation.

10:20 am – 10:40am

Fireside Chat

Speaker: Amit Khanduja, CEO of Reliance Games

Moderator: Atul Bagga

Title: Unlocking potential of next billion mobile players

Description: The head of India’s top mobile gaming company talks about everything from making branded games to the growth of India’s gaming industry. He’ll also talk about how to localize, regionalize, and monetize games in the new mobile world.

10:40 am – 11 am

Fireside Chat

Speaker: Anatoly Ropotov, CEO of Game Insight

Moderator:  Dean Takahashi

Title: The constant need to reinvent

Description: The games industry, although lush with opportunity, is extremely competitive and requires constant adaptation for survival much less success. This is especially true for independent developers and boutique studios, who are often facing games giants with huge budgets for affiliate programs, Super Bowl advertisements and deep pockets. Anatoly Ropotov will talk about lessons his company has learned in seven years of constant change.

11 am – 11:20 am

Transition Break

11:20am – 12:10 pm

#1 Session  

Title:  Raising money after the game boom is over

Description: Getting money for a game company is no longer impossible. But the path keeps changing. Venture capitalists flooded into games after Zynga’s rise,  but in the wake of its fall, VCs have become gun-shy and have moved on. Only a few specialist investors remain in the U.S. Asian investors stepped up their involvement, but China’s stock market troubles have led to a scaling back on the deal frenzy. So, what’s the right way to raise money now?

Moderator: Eric Goldberg, Crossover Technologies

Panelists:  Mark Stevens, partner at Fenwick & West; Michael Chang, senior vice president of NCSoft, Jay Eum, managing director of Translink Capital; Justin Bailey, CEO of FIG.

#2 Session

Title:  International expansion: Cracking the Asian markets?

Panel Description: Doing business in China, Japan, and South Korea is becoming a must for global gaming companies. But Westerners have had trouble breaking into the market.  What will the Eastern markets embrace next? How do you form the right relationships and get deals done? And what will be the hot markets beyond China? We’ll also address how Asian companies are moving into the West.

Moderator: Jeff Hilbert

Panelists: James Zhang, CEO of Spellgun; Shirley Lin, head of business development for Yeah Mobi; Daniel Cho, chairman of Innospark;  Michael Zhang, CEO of Firefly Games

#3 Session

Title: The emerging esports community

Description: Twitch broadcasters. YouTubers. Professional gamers. We’ll hear what it’s like to be on the edge of the esports as it expands rapidly around the world.

Moderator: Mitch Dyer, esports writer at IGN

Panelists:  Ali Moiz, CEO of Vulcun; Geoff “iNcontrol” Robinson; Martin Klimscha, CEO of Hitbox; Alex Novosad, team manager of the Gankstars

#4 Session

Title: User acquisition in the new age of Facebook mobile ads

Description: Facebook considered making changes to how it handles user data for its mobile ads. After game developers and publishers protested, the social network giant decided to relent and it killed the policy change. But what is the future of the way that user data should be tracked and used to targeting advertising messages? We’ll talk to the experts who have studied the scope of the problem and what companies can do about it.

Moderator: John Koetsier, vice president of research at VB Insight

Panelists: Peli Beeri, CEO of Bidalgo, Charles Manning, CEO of Kochava; Paul Muller, CTO of Adjust, and Nancy Roberts, general manager of Glispa North America

12:10pm – 1:50 pm

Hosted Lunch

1:50 pm 2:40 pm

Breakout sessions

#1 Session  

Title: Diversity in people, perspectives and products

Description: Any studio not catering to diverse audiences is leaving money on the table. The past few years have been a wake-up call for the game industry. The industry has become much more aware of the lack of diversity in leadership and content. How can both genders partner to overcome the challenges and create healthy cultures, thriving employees, new market opportunities and revenue streams?

Moderator: Gordon Bellamy

Panelists: Katy Jo Meyer, Sr. Global Diversity & Inclusion Manager at Microsoft; Megan Gaiser of Contagious Creativity; Justin Hefter, Co-founder & CEO, Bandura Games

#2 Session

Title: Diversity in people, perspectives and products

Panel Description:  Nobody wants to start out making a bad branded game. But duds are still coming out. How do some of the best specialists in branded gaming create high-quality titles that make money and generate attention for a brand? And how will gaming-first brands fare in the broader entertainment world?

Moderator: Jason Wilson, managing editor, GamesBeat

Panelists: Chris Petrovic, SVP at Kabam; Blair Ethington, general manager at Crowdstar; Perry Tam, CEO of Storm8; Andrew Sheppard, chief operating officer at Gree International

#3 Session

Title: The supergeek gaming future
Description: This session is where we get the seers to discuss everything from cloud gaming to the Holodeck. What’s going to wow gamers or make life easier for game developers?

Moderator: Chris Kohler, Wired

panelists: Mystery guest; Seamus Blackley, co-creator of Xbox; Kristan Uccello, developer advocate at Google; Rhys Dekle, senior director of business development at Microsoft Game Studios;

#4 Session

Title: The future of user-generated content
Description:  The evidence is abundant, from Minecraft to MOBA mods, that user-generated content can create a vibrant ecosystem and healthy economy around a game. How do the best companies out there foster a community of users to do their work for them?

Moderator: Mike Minotti, community lead at GamesBeat

panelists: Dave Baszucki, CEO of Roblox; Scott Hartsman, CEO of Trion Worlds; Rahul Sandil, Microsoft; Amy Jo Kim, cofounder of Shufflebrain

2:40 pm – 3:00 pm

Afternoon Coffee Break

3:00 pm – 3:20 pm

Fireside chat

Speaker: Mihai Pohontu, Samsung

Moderator: Greg Short, president IEP

3:20 pm to 3:40

Fireside chat

Speaker: Shintaro Asako, CEO of DeNA West

Moderator: Michael Metzger

Title: Global Growth and Surge of M&A in Mobile Gaming

Description: The mobile gaming market is experiencing explosive growth globally and at the same time is becoming increasingly competitive. Shintaro Asako, CEO of Japanese giant DeNA’s western division, will discuss the company’s mobile gaming strategy including partnerships, the reasons behind an upcoming massive consolidation, and DeNA’s M&A interest.

3:40 pm – 4 pm

Fireside chat
Speaker: Kate Edwards, executive director, IGDA

Moderator: Kat Bailey, senior editor at USgamer

Title: Are Game Developers “Satisfied”?

Description: The game industry is a collective of highly creative individuals who strive to express their visions and perfect their craft. But as an “industry”, game development shares familiar challenges and concerns with any other major industry – creative or otherwise. A cornerstone of good business is ensuring the overall happiness and satisfaction of employees, considering benefits that are both intangible (love of work, joy of creation, etc.) and tangible (compensation, holiday time, etc.). At the IGDA Leadership Summit in Sept. 2015, the IGDA released the results of its 2015 Developer Satisfaction Survey, an annual research tool aimed to gauge the perception of these factors. As the IGDA’s Executive Director, Kate will provide a current glimpse into how developers perceive their work and their broader industry, and how that impacts the future of our craft.

4 pm- 4:20 pm

Fireside Chat

Speaker: Megan Gaiser, CEO of Contagious Creativity and Daniel Bernstein of the Corum Group

Moderator: Dean Takahashi

Title: Creative Leadership to Make Meaning and Money

Description: Opportunities for progressing our industry depend on diverse leadership for meaningful engagement and multidimensional products. Unconscious bias for either gender is the enemy of innovation, groundbreaking products, healthy cultures and sustainable revenues. The fireside chat will discuss the importance of investing in creative leadership to inspire inclusive cultures for diverse people, perspectives and products that create both human and financial capital.

4:20pm to 4:40 pm

Fireside Chat:

Speakers:  Peter Levin, Lionsgate

Moderator: Ian Sherr, executive editor of Cnet

Title: VR Games: How the next platform will deepen the relationship between Hollywood and gaming

Description: VR is in its infancy, but putting together deals is a complicated thing. Peter Levin, president of interactive ventures and games at Lionsgate, will talk about virtual reality projects such as a new John Wick game that brings together the movie studio with Starbreeze, Valve, Grab Games, and WEVR.

4:40 pm to 4:50 pm

Closing Remarks

4:50 pm-6 pm

Day #2 Closing Reception

Thanks to the following industry leaders for supporting GamesBeat 2015: Game Insight as Featured Partner; Microsoft as Platinum Partner; RockYou, AppLovin, and Samsung as Gold Partners; TrialPay as Silver Partner, and PlayPhone, Fuel Powered, Glispa, Utomik, and Bluestacks as Event Partners.

Our GamesBeat 2015 advisory board includes:

• Ophir Lupu, head of video games at United Talent Agency
• Jay Eum, managing director at TransLink Capital
• Phil Sanderson, managing director at IDG Ventures
• Sunny Dhillon, partner at Signia Venture Partners
• Reinout te Brake, CEO of GetSocial
• Mike Vorhaus of Magid Advisors
  

  Above: Peter Levin, Lionsgate’s president of interactive ventures and games, has been booked as a GamesBeat 2015 speaker.

  Image Credit: Michael O'Donnell/VentureBeat