GamesBeat 2012 features more than 80 of the game industry’s best and brightest

We have more than 80 of the gaming industry’s best and brightest minds lined up for our fourth annual GamesBeat 2012 conference. We’re grateful that so many leaders of the game industry have stepped forward to talk at our event on July 10-11 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

Each year, GamesBeat follows a big trend. In 2009, we focused on how “All The World’s a Game,” with the explosion of games onto a global stage. In 2010, GamesBeat@GDC focused on “Disruption 2.0.” Last year, our theme was “Mobile Games Level Up,” focusing on the busy intersection of games and mobile technology. This year, we focus on the Crossover Era, when so many big game companies and startups are transforming themselves by expanding from one market to the next.

As companies adapt to change, we’re witnessing disruption, change, consolidation, innovation, and the arrival of big money. We’re talking billions of dollars that are at stake. We’re expecting 500 notables from throughout the game industry — social, mobile, online, and console. Please join us.

Here’s our complete agenda as of now. It is subject to change as we lock in our final speakers.
Agenda

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

8:00 – 9:10     Registration & Continental Breakfast hosted by GREE
9:10 – 9:20     First Floor Grand Ballroom
General Opening Remarks
Matt Marshall, CEO & Editor in Chief, VentureBeat
9:20 – 9:45     Grand Ballroom
MobileBeat & GamesBeat Joint Keynote Fireside Chat
Speaker
Mark Pincus, Founder, CEO, CPO, Zynga
Moderator
Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat Lead Writer, VentureBeat
A Conversation with Mark Pincus on the Industry Opportunity for Play
Mark Pincus and Dean Takahashi will discuss the opportunity for play, what Zynga needs from the mobile ecosystem, a vision for the future of mobile games, and how to steer clear of zero-sum battles and create brand new markets.
9:45 – 9:55     Transition to GamesBeat Ballroom
9:55 – 10:00     Opening Welcome
Dean Takahashi, Lead Writer, GamesBeat
10:00 – 10:40     First Floor Gold Ballroom
Opening Keynote
Personal Gaming
A pioneer in games looks at what is coming next.
Speaker
Will Wright, Founder, Stupid Fun Club
10:40- 11:10
First Floor Gold Ballroom
Game Investment Panel
Disruption + Adaption
Key investors and analysts discuss the disruptive force of the current Crossover Era.
Speakers
Atul Bagga, Senior Equity Research Analyst, Lazard Capital Markets
Tim Merel, Managing Director, Digi-Capital
Nabeel Hyatt, Venture Partner, Spark Capital
Jeremy Liew, Internet & Mobile Investor, Lightspeed Venture Partners
Moderator
Martin Rae, President, AIAS
11:10 – 11:25
Morning Coffee Break
11:25 – 11:50     First Floor Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
A Conversation with Bing
While “gamification” and game-playing are at an all-time high, the games business faces more upheaval than any time since the introduction of the original game consoles, like the Nintendo Entertainment System or perhaps the original Playstation. Bing Gordon has seen three decades of change, from the Commodore 64 to MMO’s, from casual games to Facebook and iOS.  In a no holds barred discussion, we’ll talk about what’s next for game-makers, publishers marketers and investors.
Speaker
Bing Gordon, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Moderator
Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat Lead Writer, VentureBeat
11:50 – 12:15
First Floor Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
Speakers
David Ko, Chief Mobile Officer, Zynga
Moderator
Chris Kohler, Editor of Game Life, Wired
12:15 – 1:30     Hosted Lunch by Pontiflex
First floor: Ralston Room
Second floor: Twin Peaks
1:25 – 4:30     Second Floor Napa Room
Animoca Lounge

Come network, recharge your devices and hang out.
Also, refresh yourself with beer from 2:30-4:30 PM daily.
1:30 – 1:55     First Floor Gold Ballroom
Afternoon Keynote
Digital is Different
The gaming industry’s digital transformation is well underway.  But even with more ways to play and larger audiences playing, every gaming platform today – from consoles to mobile to social networks and more – is facing unprecedented challenges.  As EA’s EVP of Digital, Kristian Segerstrale will discuss the new realities of the digital gaming roadmap, what we’ve learned in the transformation so far and how it informs an outlook for games and gamers of the future.
Speaker
Kristian Segerstrale, EVP of Digital, Electronic Arts
1:55 – 2:20
Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
Game Rewards
Should you be paid to play games?
Speaker
Brian Kiip, Founder & CEO, Kiip
Dennis Fong, CEO, Raptr
Moderator
Chris Kohler, Game Life Editor, Wired.com
2:20 – 2:30     Transition Break to Second Floor
2:30 – 3:15     Panels, Networking, and Round Tables
1. PRESIDIO
Social Casino Games: The Hottest Game in Town
Casino games are hotter than farm or city simulations on Facebook now. Why is there such an attraction for social casino games, which feature relatively simple gameplay? Is the investment in this space getting overheated, or is it just getting started?
Speakers
Dave Bezahler, CEO, Blitzoo Games
Nicholas Talarico, CEO, 12 Gigs
Christopher Griffin, CEO, Betable
Jesse Jasonov, VP & General Manager, Zynga
Moderator
Brock Pierce, Managing Director, Clearstone Global Gaming Fund
2. SEACLIFF
Ask the Analysts Roundtable
Speakers
Jesse Divnich, Vice President, EEDAR
Bertrand Schmitt, CEO, AppAnnie
Colin Sebastian, Senior Equity Research Analyst, RW Baird
David Cole, Founder & Analyst, DFC Intelligence
Moderator
Matthaus Krzykowski, Founder, Xyologic
3. PACIFIC HEIGHTS
Indie Games: Where they are, and where they’re going
In this fireside chat the creators of Braid, Cave Story, Spy Party, and Super Meat Boy will gather to discuss the current state of indie gaming, and how they see it evolving alongside the push towards cloud gaming and next-generation consoles.
Speakers
Tyrone Rodriguez, Founder, Nicalis
Jonathan Blow, Founder, Braid
Tommy Refenes, Co-Founder & Co-Creator, Team Meat & Super Meat Boy
Chris Hecker, Game Developer, Definition Six, Inc.
Moderator
Sebastian Haley, Culture Editor, GamesBeat
4. MARINA
The Asian Games Roundtable
Speakers
Benjamin Joffe, Founder, Cmune
Phyllis Guo, Chief Strategist, The9
Naoki Aoyagi, CEO, GREE International
Kyu Lee, Vice President, Gamevil USA
Moderator
Chris Baker, Senior Editor, Wired Magazine
3:15 – 3:35     Afternoon Coffee Break & Transition to Downstairs
3:45 – 4:10     Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
King.com’s Crossover Saga
Riccardo Zacconi talks us through King.com‘s “saga,” from portals to cross-platform titles. Find out how the online tourney giant changed its game throughout 2011 and into 2012 to become the No. 2 game developer by daily active users on Facebook (as recorded by AppData). Hear what’s in store for King.com in international markets and on new platforms in 2013.
Speaker
Riccardo Zacconi, Co-Founder & CEO, King.com
Moderator
AJ Glasser, Managing Editor, Inside Social Games
4:10 – 4:40
Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
Future Perfect
Three ages when we thought video games would die. But they didn’t; they just changed.
Speaker
Seamus Blackley, President & Co-Founder, Innovative Leisure
Moderator
Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat Lead Writer, VentureBeat
4:40 – 5:05     Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
Angry Birds – The Service & Beyond
Speaker
Peter Vesterbacka, CMO & Mighty Eagle, Rovio
Moderator
Steve Fowler, GM, [a]list games
5:05 – 5:25     Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
Creating the Next Generation of Disney Characters Speaker
Bart Decrem, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Disney Mobile Games will discuss how Disney is, for the first time, creating new characters and franchises developed on mobile first. This discussion will cover how entertainment companies like Disney are changing their consumer experiences to serve a generation growing up with mobile and tablet devices as their screen of choice.
Speaker
Bart Decrem, Senior Vice President, Disney Mobile
Moderator
Eric Eldon, Co-Editor, TechCrunch
5:25 – 5:30
Gold Ballroom
Closing Remarks
Dean Takahashi, Lead Writer, GamesBeat
6:00 – 8:00     Opening Reception Hosted at Zynga Headquarters
After a day of panels and high-level discussion, come unwind with us with hosted food, drink, great networking and entertainment. Meet the people behind your favorite Zynga games as well as senior executives from other leading mobile, social media and technology firms.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012
8:00 – 9:00     Registration & Continental Breakfast
9:00 – 9:05     Gold Ballroom
Opening Remarks
Dean Takahashi, Lead Writer, GamesBeat
9:05 – 9:35     Gold Ballroom
Opening Panel
Crowd-funding your games: What could go wrong?
With the sizable successes of big-name Kickstarters like Double Fine Adventure and Wasteland 2, it would seem that crowd-funding has become the next big gold rush for the games industry. But nothing in life is ever truly free. Tim Schafer, Brian Fargo, and Crowd-Funding Bible author Jon Kimmich join moderator and GamesBeat Culture Editor Sebastian Haley to discuss the lessons learned from these and other Kickstarter campaigns.
Speakers
Tim Schafer, President & CEO, Double Fine Productions
Brian Fargo, CEO, InXile Entertainment
Paul Trowe, Founder, Replay Games
Jon Kimmich, CEO, Software Illuminati
Moderator
Sebastian Haley, GamesBeat Culture Editor, VentureBeat
9:35 – 9:55     Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
Retail & Digital Convergence – How Retail Can Meet the Evolving Needs of the Gamer
Chris Petrovic is in charge of the digital strategy for GameStop, one of the world’s largest gaming retail chains. During his fireside chat, we’ll explore how traditional retail can evolve to meet the needs of its customer base amid an ever-growing tide of new game platforms and business models, and how it can leverage direct relationships with customers into a billion-dollar-plus digital business.
Speaker
Chris Petrovic, General Manager, GameStop Digital Ventures
Moderator
Dan “Shoe” Hsu, Editor-in-Chief, GamesBeat
9:55 – 10:15
Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
Jumping into Mobile
Greg Canessa talks about leading Activision into mobile games.
Speaker
Greg Canessa, Vice President of Mobile, Activision Mobile
Moderator
Justin Davis, Mobile Gaming Editor, IGN
10:15 – 10:30     Morning Coffee Break
10:30 – 10:50     Fireside Chat
The Changing Nature of Publishing
With digital distribution and app stores, do we still need game publishers? What is driving consumer engagement?
Speaker
Mitch Lasky, General Partner, Benchmark Capital
Moderator
Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat Lead Writer, VentureBeat
10:50 – 11:10     Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
The Real Platform Wars: Consoles vs. Browsers
Traditionally, boxed retail sales have driven the market, but as next-gen consoles prepare to make their highly anticipated debuts, they will be launching during an unprecedented period of growth and innovation – with an industry pivoting towards a disruptive business and distribution model for games treated as live services. With more people playing games than ever before, online and social games are continuing to attract users away from traditional consoles to the browser. As a free, open and hyper-accessible platform, the browser is providing developers of all sizes with an opportunity to create new genres and experiences that rival the high production value and quality of console games – as well as being able to establish greater cost-efficiency, velocity of scale, and a valuable direct to consumer relationship. Rapid advancements in technology such as with Flash 11 and Unity are also helping to push 3D games forward on the browser, and further legitimize the platform as a community for traditional gamers. What does the future hold for consoles and browsers, and which platform will ultimately win the wallets and attention of gamers?
Speaker
Will Harbin, CEO, KIXEYE
Moderator
Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat Lead Writer, VentureBeat
11:10 – 11:20     Transition Break to Second Floor
11:20 – 12:10     Panels, Networking, and Round Tables
1. PRESIDIO
Case Studies in Crossover Strategies
Speakers
Jack Buser, Senior Director, PlayStation Digital Platforms
Peter Relan, CEO of CrowdStar and Chairman of YouWeb
Chris Early, Head of Digital, Ubisoft
Torsten Reil, CEO, Natural Motion
Moderator
Jane Pinckard, Associate Director of the Center for Games & Playable Media, UC Santa Cruz
2. SEACLIFF
Overcoming Hurdles in Monetization, Distribution and Discovery
Given the ever changing landscape of the mobile industry (especially among mobile tracking in the past few months), panelists will discuss trends in terms of successful monetization business models, current app market opportunities and recommendations for analytics tools that track engagement, recommendations and discovery among consumers.
Speakers
Mihir Shah, CEO, Tapjoy
Joe Bayen, CEO, ICS Mobile (FreeAppADay.com)
Brian Doxator, Vice President of Business Development, PlayHaven
Josh Williams, President, Kontagent
Andy Yang, CEO, Playhaven
Moderator
Mark Friedler, Game Executive, Worlds and Games

3. PACIFIC HEIGHTS
App User Acquisition Today & Tomorrow – Where is it all headed?
The cost to acquire users for mobile games continues to rise. Learn from top experts representing game studios large and small how they are evolving their marketing campaigns to find the best users and how they are optimizing their games to maximize profitability. Key topics will include how is social impacting discoverability now and into the future in light of recent changes by social platforms. We’ll talk about which marketing campaigns have been successful and which campaigns are failing, the tactics that are moving the needle with respect to monetization to improve profitability from user acquisition, the changing methods of user identification and the impact on performance measurement, and how indies are competing with large players to acquire users.
Speakers
Gabriel Leydon, CEO, Machine Zone
A.J. Yeakel, Mobile Strategy Consultant
Rob Weber, Co-Founder, W3i
Ben Vu, Co-Founder & CEO, SkyVu Entertainment
Moderator
Steve Peterson, West Coast Editor, GameIndustry International
4. MARINA
Platform Showdown
With the explosion of devices and social platforms, game developers have a bewildering number of options. We’ll have representatives from Zynga, Qualcomm, Ludei and Nvidia’s GeForce Grid to talk about choosing the best platforms for your game, and the work they’re doing to lure developers.
Speakers
Manuel Bronstein, General Manager, Zynga
Phil Eisler, General Manager of Cloud Gaming & 3D Vision, Nvidia
Mike Yuen, Senior Director of Snapdragon Gaming, Qualcomm
Joe Monastiero, President, Ludei
Moderator
Anthony Ha, Writer, TechCrunch
12:10 – 1:30     Hosted Lunch on Both Floors
First Floor: Ralston Room
Second Floor: Twin Peaks
1:30 – 2:30
Gold Ballroom
Who’s Got Game Start-Up Contest
Eight companies will present on stage in four-minute sessions. Our three judges and moderator will listen and decide who has the best pitch. Our all-star panel will ask questions and offer comments.
Judges
Ann Burkett, CEO, Game Dojos/IGDA-SV
Gordon Bellamy, Executive Director, International Game Developers Association
Eric Goldberg, Managing Director, Crossover Technologies
Michael Chang, Senior Director of Corporate Development, Electronic Arts
Moderator
Gus Tai, General Partner, Trinity Ventures
2:30 – 2:55     Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
Crossing Over from Japan to the U.S., from the U.S. to Japan
As the CEO of U.S.-based ngmoco and the director of DeNA in Japan, Neil Young is in the perfect position to talk about the games industry stretching from the East to the West. Young will share his lessons from Japan and how they apply and play out in the U.S. and vice versa. He will address the key success factors involved when taking games across different territories, cultures, and formats, letting everyone know what works and what doesn’t.
Speaker
Neil Young, CEO & Founder, ngmoco
Moderator
Dan “Shoe” Hsu, GamesBeat Editor-in-Chief, VentureBeat
2:55 – 3:15     Afternoon Coffee Break
3:15 – 3:40
Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
The Past, Present and Future of Tencent’s Gaming Services
Tencent is the largest gaming company in China but has an increasingly global footprint. In recent years many participants in the Western gaming industry have been learning more about Tencent, and a growing number of prominent relationships have been struck with Western market leaders. The company made headlines with investments in Riot Games and Epic Games. David Wallerstein has been with Tencent since the early start up days, and in this fireside chat, will share the story of how Tencent got into online gaming, and where it’s going from here. What is Tencent’s unique approach to gaming? What lessons can be learned going beyond the concepts of “free to play” or “virtual goods?” And ultimately, “what are the core principles of Tencent’s mission?”
Speaker
David Wallerstein, Senior Executive Vice President, Tencent
Moderator
Dean Takahashi, Lead Writer, GamesBeat
3:40 – 4:05     Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
Bringing the Magic to Social Games
John Spinale, Disney’s Senior Vice President of Disney Social Games will discuss Disney’s focus on bringing its most popular brands and franchises to the world of social gaming.  It will cover the role IP is expected to play in the future of social gaming, and what to expect from content creators developing new characters and storylines for this fast-growing platform.
Speaker
John Spinale, Senior Vice President of Social and General Manager, Playdom
Moderator
Hal Halpin, President, Entertainment Consumers Association
4:05 – 4:20     Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
Speaker
Patrick Minotti, Head of Games, Flurry
Moderator
Dean Takahashi, Lead Writer, GamesBeat
4:20 – 4:25
Joint Closing Remarks & Startup Competition Winners Announced
Matt Marshall, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, VentureBeat & Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat Lead Writer, VentureBeat
4:25 – 5:30
First Floor Garden Court
Closing Reception

We want to thank the industry leaders that are supporting GamesBeat 2012: W3i as Platinum Sponsor; King.com as Corporate Sponsor; Flurry & Tapjoy as Gold Sponsors; Greystripe, LifeStreet Media, Ludei & Nokia Developer as Silver Sponsors; and Betable, Game Insight, Gree, Kontagent, Nexage, PayPal, Pontiflex, Swrve & Xyologic as Event Sponsors.

GamesBeat 2012 is VentureBeat’s fourth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. This year we’re calling on speakers from the hottest mobile, social, PC, and console companies to debate new ways to stay on pace with changing consumer tastes and platforms. Join 500+ execs, investors, analysts, entrepreneurs, and press as we explore the gaming industry’s latest trends and newest monetization opportunities. The event takes place July 10-11 in San Francisco, and you can get your tickets here.