It’s time to talk about a couple of more new speakers for our GamesBeat Summit on May 5 and May 6 at the Cavallo Point resort in Sausalito, Calif.
Last year, Sony released more than 100 games from indie game developers for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita consoles. That’s a lot of software, and according to Adam Boyes, the head of third-party publishing at Sony Computer Entertainment America, the publisher isn’t slowing down on releases in 2015.
We’re seeing a definite race on to grab these kinds of super-creative developers, Boyes told VB — companies with less than 10 people who are coming up with “crazy-new-fresh ideas.” They’re the ones that have the potential to help platforms grow and add new life to the growth of the game industry.
“The best way to attract them is transparency, accountability, honesty, [and] having a good, mutually beneficial relationship,” Boyes explained. “We’re making sure that people play the games and see them.” And Sony now has more than 1,000 developers licensed for self-publishing on its platforms.
Boyes will certainly be addressing future plans for the PlayStation ecosystem in detail at the summit. This is an intimate, invite-only event designed to promote open dialogue and debate among the industry’s top execs.
You can still reserve before the price goes up at 5 p.m. today. See if you qualify here.
Also joining the lineup is Kent Wakeford, chief operating officer of Kabam. Wakeford’s been strongly outspoken about the urgency for North Amercian mobile game developers and publishers to take their apps to the trade 
routes of Asia. This is one of the key themes of the summit — the need to create top gaming experiences that can cross geographic boundaries and develop loyal audiences in multiple markets.
According to Wakeford, the challenge for Western game makers is that Asia is a complex market. Android rules in places like China, but the market is fragmented across many different app stores. In different countries, different devices rule.
“You have firewall, hosting, and payment issues,” Wakeford said. “There are things you have to address to get in. But if you can, it’s a tremendous opportunity.”
Wakeford’s company recently announced it will take its Marvel: Contest of Champions mobile game into the Chinese market.
Overcoming challenges like these to leverage essential opportunities will be the subject of vigorous debate when 180 top gaming executives come together to develop a blueprint for the industry’s expansion in 2015.
More GamesBeat Summit speakers
Super Evil Megacorp COO Kristian Segertrale, whose pedigree includes executive stints at EA, Playfish, and Glu Mobile, joins us for a fireside chat session. Super Evil Megacorp has focused solely on the development of core gaming for touch devices, as evidenced with the company’s multiplayer online battle arena, Vainglory, released last November.
Kate Edwards, executive director of the International Game Developers Association International Game Developers Association, addresses essential issues around sexism and diversity for the industry to thrive going forward.
Yoichi Wada, the founder and CEO of Shinra Technologies, and Jacob Navok, senior vice president of business development for Shinra, join for a fireside session. Shinra recently demoed its cloud supercomputer that breaks the one-processor, one-user model, and will enable developers to create huge worlds that can measure as much as 20 miles-by-20 miles of virtual space.
David Haddad, the executive vice president and general manager of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Peter Levin, the president of interactive media and games at Lionsgate, will be on hand for a couple of those main stage discussions.
Unity Technologies CEO John Riccitiello is also part of the Summit. Unity is one of the most important companies in game development thanks to its Unity game engine, a cross-platform technology that enables developers to make works for just about any device that plays games. The company recently announced its Unity 5 tools at the Game Developers Conference 2015 in San Francisco.
Few people have had as much influence on the game industry over the last 20 years as Riccitiello. He served as the chief operating officer for gaming giant EA in his first stint at the company and returned to be its CEO, helping the publisher as it became a major player in the mobile and online gaming sectors.
Also speaking at the Summit is Thomas Hartwig, cofounder and chief technical officer of King, one of the biggest publishers of mobile games. King was the No. 2 mobile game publisher in the world for 2014, thanks in part to its major hit Candy Crush Saga. If you play games on your phone or tablet, chances are good that you’ve crushed some candy on it since its 2012 release. And Hartwig’s role at King has helped change how we play games — and pay for them — on our mobile devices.
The focus of GamesBeat Summit is on bold ideas, the kind that will propel the industry forward, particularly in a global context. Limited to only 180 senior execs, we’re looking forward to the kind of open sharing that happens when like-minded visionaries come together.
For more info and to see if you qualify, go here.
Thanks to our sponsors, including King, Samsung, and Supersonic.