Where is gaming technology going?
Above: Seamus Blackley of Innovative Leisure
We’ve had tantalizing glimpses of the future with demos of augmented reality, virtual reality, user-generated content, esports, and the coolest new mobile devices. At the high end, gaming PCs using Intel’s Skylake processors, and dedicated graphics chips can power multiple screens and even motion simulators. For gamers, we only know that it’s going to get better.
It isn’t easy prognosticating about the future. Thomas J. Watson, the former chairman and founder of IBM, predicted in 1958 that there would be a global market for five computers. When we’re faced with uncertainty, we fill it things that we know. But we’ve gathered some interesting seers to make their own predictions in a panel entitled “The super-geek gaming future” at 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.
Chris Kohler, writer on gaming at Wired, will moderate the session. Our panelists include Sinjin Bain, CEO of Maxplay; Kristan “Krispy” Uccello, developer advocate for games at Google; Seamus Blackley, cofounder of the Xbox and Innovative Leisure; and William “Rhys” Dekle, director of worldwide business development at Microsoft Game Studios.
Above: Chris Kohler of Wired
Above: Kristan “Krispy” Uccello, developer advocate for games at Google.
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’re screening our speakers for 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. This year, we’ll have as many as 105 speakers and many well-known moderators over the course of two days.
Above: William “Rhys” Dekle of Microsoft
Our previously announced speakers include:
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games.
Anatoly Ropotov, CEO of mobile-game company Game Insight.
Graeme Devine, chief creative officer and vice president of games at Magic Leap.
Owen Mahoney, CEO of Nexon.
Michael Pachter, research analyst at Wedbush Securities.
Phil Sanderson, managing director at IDG Ventures.
Sunny Dhillon, partner at Signia Venture Partners.
Jason Rubin, head of Worldwide Studios at Oculus VR division of Facebook.
Shintaro Asako, the CEO of DeNA West.
Matt Wolf, global head of gaming at Coca-Cola.
Chris Fralic, partner at First Round Capital.
Niccolo De Masi, CEO of Glu Mobile.
Brianna Wu, head of development at Giant Spacekat.
Emily Greer, head of Kongregate.
Rajesh Rao, CEO of GameTantra and Dhruva Interactive.
Jessica Rovello, CEO of Arkadium.
Kate Edwards, executive director at the International Game Developers Association.
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 and Authy (a Twilio company) as Silver Partners, and PlayPhone, Fuel Powered, Utomik, Glispa, and Bluestacks as Event Partners.
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