Michele Attisani
Co-Founder
Faceit

The influence of eSports on games' Engagement and Monetization
Publisher and Developers are discovering eSports and its ecosystem with different perspectives, strategies and goals, striving to understand how it can aid their business. What’s the impact of eSports on the acquisition, engagement and monetization of a game? How can games align eSports to business strategy?

Simon Benson
Senior Development Manager
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Virtual Reality
Simon Benson and Michael Denny, Senior Vice President SCE WW Studios Europe, will be co-hosting a table on virtual reality. After years of science fiction teasing us with the suggestion of incredible VR experiences, are we really there yet, will it be worth the wait, and what are the best experiences to show-off VR?

Michael Denny
Senior Vice President SCE WW Studios Europe
Sony Computer Entertainment

Virtual Reality
Michael Denny and Simon Benson, Senior Development Manager at Sony, will be co-hosting a table on virtual reality. After years of science fiction teasing us with the suggestion of incredible VR experiences, are we really there yet, will it be worth the wait, and what are the best experiences to show-off VR?

David Helgason
Founder
Unity

TBD

Martin Klimscha
CEO & Co-Founder
hitbox Entertainment GmbH

Wrestling With Giants
Martin will lead a discussion on breaking through with game startups and new IP against/alongside 800 pound gorillas Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, joined recently by Amazon, Google, and others. 

Aaron Loeb
SVP of Studios
Kabam

Audience Change in Free-to-Play Mobile
Those who have been working in mobile for the past four to six years are seeing different customer behaviors and expectations in mobile free-to-play games. Specifically, we're seeing a shift in the audience's taste from naive to savvy. What is the audience demanding that they didn't used to? How are they responding?

Randy Pitchford
Founder and President/CEO
Gearbox Software

Cross-Platform, Cross-Media Brand Engagement
As cloud computing, mobile and wearable tech pushes forward alongside traditional platforms, the landscape for customer engagement is more diverse and complicated than ever before. How do we maintain engagement across platforms and across mediums in this new world? What new strategies can we imagine to increase engagement with our brands?

Ted Price
Founder and CEO
Insomniac Games

New IP – Thinking Laterally
Overcrowding on digital shelves. Skyrocketing financial risks. Getting new IP made today is brutally hard.  But without it, our industry withers. How can we change our approach? What are unexpected avenues creators can travel to bring forth new IP?

Raúl Rubio Munárriz
CEO/Creative Director
Tequila Works

From Spanish Flu to Spanish Fly
Games are a global industry yet to indies and publishers alike some territories can be terra incognita. Discover the cultural aspects in the development ecosystem. Starting with our experience in the Mediterranean as a Spanish independent developer, discuss how cultural roots and sensibilities can be used to your advantage to create unique and appealing global products.

Frank Pearce
Chief Development Officer
Blizzard Entertainment

Sustaining IP Engagement Across Generations
What does it take to create an IP that is memorable and will appeal to consumers past its initial release? How do you increase audience engagement while continuing to innovate and refine a series across multiple releases? What strategies are available to extend gamer participation outside of the game into the real world?

Patricia Vance
President,  Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
Chairperson, International Age Rating Coalition (IARC)

Ratings 2.0: The Future Is Here
How can we streamline the rating process for game developers without losing the unique cultural differences among regions? What can we do to ensure that consumers have ratings they can trust? How can we standardize digital game and app ratings across platforms, just as we have in the physical world? Why should we care?

Greg Essig
Co-head of Business Development
Mobcrush

Finding Opportunity in a Saturated Market
Greg will discuss how developers have tried, both successfully and unsuccessfully, to approach marketing and operating their games in innovative ways. In his opinion, this is key to winning on mobile with the UA costs and number of competitive releases only getting larger.

Jeff Hilbert
Founder & Board Member
DDM

Navigating Asia – China, Japan, and Korea
The Asian market is holds the promise of millions of users and the associated revenues associated with the users. What are key strategies for succeeding in the various DISTINCT Asian markets?

Rich Hilleman
Chief Operating Officer
Electronic Arts

Taking Creative Chances on 4th Generation Consoles
Rich Hilleman, chief creative officer at EA and Sara Jansson, producer at DICE Studios driving the Mirror’s Edge franchise, will be co-hosting a roundtable discussion on development for the 4th generation consoles.

Sara Jansson
Producer
Electronic Arts

Taking Creative Chances on 4th Generation Consoles
Rich Hilleman, chief creative officer at EA and Sara Jansson, producer at DICE Studios driving the Mirror’s Edge franchise, will be co-hosting a roundtable discussion on development for the 4th generation consoles.

Mike McDonald
General Manager/CTO
Wargaming West

Free to Play on Console
Mike McDonald and Denny Thorley, SVP of Product Development at Wargaming West, will be co-hosting a roundtable discussion. While Free to Play has matured on other platforms, Free to Play on consoles is a relatively new concept. We are just seeing the start of the Free to Play model in high-end console games. Are console players really ready for Free to Play? What are the challenges of bringing Free to Play to AAA games? How is console player acquisition different than other platforms?

Randy Pitchford
Founder and President/CEO
Gearbox Software

Cross-Platform, Cross-Media Brand Engagement
As cloud computing, mobile and wearable tech pushes forward alongside traditional platforms, the landscape for customer engagement is more diverse and complicated than ever before. How do we maintain engagement across platforms and across mediums in this new world? What new strategies can we imagine to increase engagement with our brands?

Ted Price
Founder and CEO
Insomniac Games

New IP – Thinking Laterally
Overcrowding on digital shelves. Skyrocketing financial risks. Getting new IP made today is brutally hard.  But without it, our industry withers. How can we change our approach? What are unexpected avenues creators can travel to bring forth new IP?

Andrew Sheppard
COO
GREE International

David vs. Goliath: How Mobile Developers Can Succeed in Today's Market 
With development and publishing costs rising dramatically, the market is becoming ever more difficult for independent mobile developers.  How can small and mid-size developers survive and thrive with partners/publishers? How will consolidation impact everyone, and what does success mean in a partnership?

Alf Tan
Head of Business Development
Amazon Games

How to Reach New Players (AND Monetize 100% of Them)
The average game developer only monetize 2-3% of their customers. How do we convert more “players” to “payers”? In this session we’ll discuss leveraging video content, physical goods and other innovative services to drive their user acquisition and game revenues.

Denny Thorley
SVP of Product Development
Wargaming West

Free to Play on Console
Denny Thorley and Mike McDonald, General Manager/CTO at Wargaming West, will be co-hosting a roundtable discussion. While Free to Play has matured on other platforms, Free to Play on consoles is a relatively new concept. We are just seeing the start of the Free to Play model in high-end console games. Are console players really ready for Free to Play? What are the challenges of bringing Free to Play to AAA games? How is console player acquisition different than other platforms?

Ru Weerasuriya
Founder and CEO/Creative Director
Ready at Dawn

The Game Ecosystem
Over the last few decades, many different business and development models have emerged and even more are on the horizon. Though they have broadened the industry, diversity is still lacking in many areas. Are we in need of change? What does the future hold and how do we create new opportunities?