The DeanBeat: GamesBeat 2012 in July will focus on disruption, change, and innovation

We’ve unveiled our first speakers and other details for our fourth annual game conference, GamesBeat 2012. Our roster of speakers includes Will Wright, creator of blockbuster video games from Sim City to The Sims and Spore. Wright is now the founder of transmedia think tank called Stupid Fun Club. His next big project is based on what he calls “personal gaming,” where a game can be customized to the tastes and habits of an individual player.

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I’m excited about this conference because, after the hard work on our three previous conferences, I feel like we’re getting the hang of it. Our team is ready to talkabout details about the conference earlier than ever done. We’re in conversations with a lot more potential speakers than we have ever had and the reputation of the event has been established. We’ve also ramped up our GamesBeat coverage in a big way and we will continuously write about topics that will turn into hot items for discussion at the conference. We hope you can help us make it the best GamesBeat ever. Our in-house game talent includes Dan “Shoe” Hsu, editor in chief of GamesBeat, and Sebastian Haley, GamesBeat review editor and executive video producer. We’ve also got an events team headed by Elyssa Thorp, who will keep things running smooth.

The whole conference will revolve around the themes of disruption, change and innovation in the video game market. While last year’s conference focused on the theme “Mobile Games Level Up,” this year’s conference will be expanded to include big changes in the social, online, and core video game markets as well as mobile games. The event will be at the Palace Hotel in downtown San Francisco on July 10-11.

Other speakers include:

• Bing Gordon, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
• Peter Relan, founder and chairman of YouWeb and CEO of CrowdStar
• Peter Vesterbacka, Mighty Eagle and chief marketing officer at Rovio
• Seamus Blackley, president and co-founder of Innovative Leisure
• Tim Chang, managing director at the Mayfield Fund
• Tim Merel, managing director at Digi-Capital
• Atul Bagga, senior equity research analyst at Lazard Capital Markets
• Mitch Lasky, general partner at Benchmark Capital
• David Perry, CEO of Gaikai

The event gathers top execs, investors, and entrepreneurs from the hottest companies to explore the gaming industry’s latest trends, newest monetization opportunities, and overall impact on the tech and business verticals.

The industry is on the verge of introducing its next generation of console technology, but that is happening against the growth of games on almost all platforms, from connected TVs to smartphones to tablets. In 2011, investments into game companies doubled to $2 billion and acquisitions grew 160 percent, according to Merel at Digi-Capital. In 2012, the changes should be even more astounding.

We’ll have the best industry insiders to make sense of it all, and as always, you’ll benefit from lots of high-end networking opportunities that VB events have become known for.

GamesBeat 2012 is co-located with our fifth annual MobileBeat conference. Both events will have a number of congruent themes and overlapping sessions. We’re offering a discounted joint pass that allows for full access to both events.

If you’d like to submit a speaker proposal, please do so here. We expect we’ll have more than 60 speakers, not counting moderators, for the event. We’re trying to get the best and highest level speakers ever for this conference.

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We’ll have our usual Who’s Got Game startup competition for the best startups in the game industry. We choose five to seven finalists who will present live on stage at the GamesBeat conference before a panel of expert judges. Entry forms are available now and the deadline for submission is June 18 at 5 pm PST. Our judges will rate the startups on freshness, innovation and potential for business success.

Sponsors this year include Flurry and Game Insight. If you’re interested in being a sponsor, send a message to sponsors@venturebeat.com. (Here’s the sponsor list from last year.) To register for tickets, sign up here.