What’s the hottest sports ticket in Los Angeles right now? If you guessed the Lakers or the Dodgers, you’d be wrong! The season finals for League of Legends recently sold out the Staples center in under an hour (though the Dodgers weren’t that far behind for tickets of their playoff series with the St. Louis Cardinals). This massive event is the tip of the iceberg.
We’ll talk about this at our GamesBeat 2013 conference on Oct. 29-Oct. 30 at the Sofitel Hotel in Redwood City, Calif., in a panel entitled “The rise of e-sports.”
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Wim Stocks, executive vice president, Virgin Gaming
Mark Donovan, president, Xfire
Caleb Fox, head of e-sports, Wargaming America
Mike Sepso, president, Major League Gaming
Moderator
Brock Pierce, managing director, Clearstone Global Gaming Fund
Our theme for the conference is the “Battle Royal,” where all companies compete across platforms, territories, digital and physical markets, and categories of games.
Above: Battle Royal is GamesBeat 2013’s theme
We’ve entered an era where many firms are vying for gamers’ time in the same space. Apple and Google want to get in the living room and are waging war against Nintendo and Sony. Microsoft already has an edge in living room entertainment with its Xbox Live service, but it wants a piece of mobile as well. It’s a confusing time for gamemakers. Where should they take their titles? Which platforms will provide the best experiences? Who will make them the most money?
We’ll roll out a steady drumbeat of speakers as we get closer to GamesBeat 2013′s October date. We expect to have more than 80 of the gaming industry’s best lined up for our fifth annual event.
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,” investigating the busy intersection of games and mobile technology. In 2012, we explored “The Crossover Era,” the time when so many big game companies and startups were transforming themselves by expanding from one market to the next. Our judges, meanwhile, are already busy picking the finalists in the Who’s Got Game Innovation Showdown for the best game startup.
As companies adapt to change, we’re witnessing disruption, adaptation, consolidation, innovation, and the arrival of big money. We’re talking billions of dollars that are at stake. We’re expecting 400 notables from throughout the game industry — social, mobile, online, and console. Please join us.
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Thanks to the following industry leaders for supporting GamesBeat 2013 as sponsors: Ad2Games, AppLift, GamesAnalytics, NativeX, Renren Games, and Tapjoy as Gold Sponsors; Flurry, GameHouse, Kontagent, Playnomics, Storm8, and LifeStreet Media as Silver Sponsors; AppFlood, Twitch and Slashdot as Event Sponsors; Akamon Entertainment, Arkadium, OnLive and Virtuix as contributing sponsors. If you’d like to become a sponsor, please send a message to sponsors@venturebeat.com.