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Meet the 27 all-star moderators for GamesBeat 2015

Geoff Keighley at the launch of the PlayStation 4 in NYC.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

I’m very proud to introduce a cast of characters that you won’t find together at any other event. Besides myself, the moderators of GamesBeat 2015 include the following people.

As you can tell from the picture of the guy below, our moderators will show no mercy when necessary. But honestly, we’ve recruited them because they’re smart, they’re experts, they know gaming, and they can be transparent, fair, and entertaining. The sessions they will moderate are in parentheses:

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Above: At GamesBeat 2013, Dean Takahashi threatened the audience to get back on time after the break … or else.

Image Credit: Michael O'Donnell/VentureBeat

Atul Bagga, formerly of Zynga Asia (Amit Khanduja of Reliance Games)
Kat Bailey, senior editor of US Gamer (Kate Edwards of IGDA)
Gordon Bellamy (our GamesBeat Online emcee)
Daniel Bernstein (Megan Gaiser of Contagious Creativity)
Keith Boesky, founder of Boesky & Co. (Emily Greer of Kongregate)
AJ Glasser, strategic developer relations manager at Facebook (Chris Heatherly of Disney Mobile)
Jeff Grubb, news writer for GamesBeat (Jonathan Simpson-Bint of Twitch and Matt Wolf of Coca-Cola)
Perrin Kaplan, cofounder and principal at Zebra Partners (Jessica Rovello of Arkadium)
Geoff Keighley, founder of the Game Awards (Jason Rubin of Oculus VR)
Ophir Lupu, head of games at United Talent (Rajesh Rao of Dhruva Interactive/GameTantra)
Michael Metzger of Houlihan Lokey (Shintaro Asako of DeNA)
Steve Peterson, senior editor at The Gamer Network (Mark Skaggs of Zynga)
Martin Rae, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (game investments panel)
Stewart Rogers (our emcee)
Ian Sherr, executive editor of Cnet (Peter Levin of Lionsgate)
Greg Short, president of IEP (Mihai Pohontu of Samsung)

Mike Vorhaus, president of Magid Advisors (Jay Cohen of Wargaming America and Owen Mahoney of Nexon)

Our breakout session moderators include:

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Gordon Bellamy of USC (Diversity in people, perspectives, and products)
Mitch Dyer, esports writer at IGN (esports community)
Eric Goldberg (Raising money after the game boom is over)
Jeff Grubb, news writer at GamesBeat (How far will esports reach?)
Jeff Hilbert, cofounder and board member at DDM (Cracking the Asian market)
John Koetsier, vice president of research at VB Insight (monetization and user acquisition breakouts)
Chris Kohler, writer at Wired (The super geek gaming future)
Tim Merel, managing director of Digi-Capital (virtual reality: How soon will it get big, and when will that happen?)
Mike Minotti (Future of user-generated content)
Maarten Noyons, CEO and founder of the International Mobile Game Awards (How to cater to gaming’s whales)
Jason Wilson, managing editor at GamesBeat (Playing the branding game right)

I’m actually moderating seven sessions myself because I like to talk about games.

The aforementioned people represent the best of what we can bring to our GamesBeat 2015 event, located at the Grand Hyatt Union Square on October 12-13 in San Francisco. You can sign up for it now.

Gaming has many kingdoms: mobile, console, PC online, geographic, and more. In each of these powerful realms, companies are fighting to grow fast, to come out on top, and to cross boundaries to rule more than one empire. Playing the competitive game, making alliances, prepping for new platforms like augmented and virtual reality, and surviving the incredibly fast change in gaming right now is more difficult than ever. It’s more complex than the fantasy world of Westeros in HBO’s Game of Thrones … and it’s happening right in front of us all.

At GamesBeat 2015, we’ll dissect how these kings and queens are battling for gaming supremacy and growth. We’ll find out who’s leading and how they are winning.

We’ve got 104 speakers who will focus on bold ideas, transparency, global strategies, creativity, and diversity. Our speakers show that gaming has become a global and diverse business with many intricacies and strategies.

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

Above: Stewart Rogers of VB Insight and Kate Edwards of the IGDA

Image Credit: Michael O'Donnell/VentureBeat

Our GamesBeat 2015 advisory board:

  • 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

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