Our latest speakers for our GamesBeat Summit 2018 event know something about the future of marketing and user acquisition: Influencers. YouTube and Twitch video creators are fast becoming a consumer’s primary source for gaming info. Adam Sessler, Albert Schwarzmeier, Jiri Kupiainen, and online influencer Sawyer “SirDimetrious” Lewis will talk about uncovering the right influencers for your brand and how to get them on board in this breakout session, “Connecting Influencers with Advertisers.”
We’ve also switched venues to a secluded placed called The Seminary at Strawberry in Mill Valley, California, north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Our dates and agenda are still the same at April 9 and April 10. Our conference is all about making games better and improving the business, and our speakers should give us a window into the future of game technologies.
You can get your tickets here at 30 percent off our rate using the code DEAN. We’ve also got a new $500 code for indie game developers, IndieVIP, at this link.
Adam Sessler, Co-Founder of Spiketrap
Adam Sessler is best known for being the host of television programs about videogames for 15 years — X-Play, Extended Play, Gamespot TV. He then followed this as host and Editor-in-Chief for Rev3Games for Discovery Digital Networks. His years on camera covering the industry have made him one of the most recognizable faces in the medium. Well known for unvarnished opinions and humor, Adam distilled the industry to the outsider and shared his enthusiasm for games with the hardcore. He runs TheoryHead Inc., a media and entertainment consulting firm, and is a co-founder at Spiketrap, a machine learning based data analytics company for the videogame industry.
Albert Schwarzmeier, CEO of ad2games
Before joining ad2games in 2013 as CEO, serial entrepreneur Albert Schwarzmeier founded and successfully lead mysportgroup (now 21sportsgroup), the fastest growing eCommerce company for sports in Europe, as well as Groupon in the DACH region. He combines vast experience in business strategy with strong hands-on execution, first with Roland Berger and then at Rocket Internet. Albert graduated with honors from the HHL — Leipzig Graduate School of Management.
Jiri Kupiainen, Co-Founder & CEO of Matchmade
Jiri Kupiainen is the CEO and co-founder of Helsinki and Berlin-based Matchmade, the leading influencer platform for games. Jiri is a game developer of 17 years, having worked as a producer, developer, CTO and CEO. He is passionate about making great games and products for the industry. Before founding Matchmade in 2014, Jiri held the VP of Technology Position at Disney Interactive. He is also a serial entrepreneur, having founded his first company at the age of 17. His company Rocket Pack was acquired by Disney in 2011. Jiri’s favorite game is Civilization and he’s been trying to play through Rimworld since its launch.
Sawyer “SirDimetrious” Lewis, YouTube Influencer
Sawyer Lewis, better known as SirDimetrious, is an online content creator and influencer. He began his YouTube channel in early 2014, covering Destiny exclusively for the next three years. In addition to producing videos, he also played Destiny competitively, winning five major tournaments, including the GuardianCon 2017 Invitational. In 2018, he transitioned into broadcasting Fortnite live on his Twitch channel. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Our speakers fit within our theme of The Future of Games: Better games, better business, the Time Machine. If you could see the future of games before it happens, that would give your business a competitive advantage. Our event will let the hottest game developers, publishers, and investors talk with their peers and business executives about their insights into the future of games.
GamesBeat Summit 2018 is the destination conference for networking, inspiration, and intelligent interaction. With the right people in the room to make great deals happen, our flagship industry event attracts the best game and tech developers and publishers, executives, marketers and venture capitalists. This event is intended for VP-level executives and the hottest game developers and publishers.
We’ll delve into the strategies of the future for gaming, and how to drive excitement, growth, and new startups. Our talks will feature augmented reality, virtual reality, esports, influencers, mobile games, core games, indies, new game technologies, and the connection between games, tech, and science fiction. We want to expose you to ideas like The Leisure Economy, where everyone in the future will be able to make a living playing games.
Games have changed as they’ve reached a billion people and $116 billion in yearly revenues, reaching the mainstream like they never have before. Can we still apply the lessons from the past to the current and future marketplace? And what type of innovations and companies will draw the blueprint of what’s to come? So much of the industry’s internal narrative has been about it being cutting-edge. How can we imagine a broader set of drivers other than technology that will shape the industry?
Our previously announced speakers include:
- show host and Spiketrap cofounder Adam Sessler
- science fiction writer Eliot Peper
- John Hanke, CEO of Niantic Labs
- Andrea Rene, game host
- Aaron Loeb, president of FoxNext Games Studios
- Philip Rosedale, CEO of High Fidelity
- Janina Gavankar, lead actress of Star Wars: Battlefront II
- congressional candidate Brianna Wu
- Tencent’s Dan Brody, vice president of business development at Tencent
- Rand Miller, co-creator of Myst and Riven
- John Underkoffler, CEO of Oblong Industries and science adviser for the influential sci-fi film Minority Report;
- Amit Kumar of Accel, a venture investor
- Jon “Neverdie” Jacobs, CEO of Neverdie Studios
- Josh Yguado, president and chief operating officer of Jam City
- Matt McCloskey, vice president of commerce at Twitch
- Joost van Dreunen, CEO of SuperData Research
- Nick Earl, CEO of Glu
- Mike Vorhaus, president of Magid Advisors
- Michael Metzger, Drake Star
- Chris Heatherly, head of NBCUniversal’s new game business
- Debbie Bestwick, CEO of Team17
- Perrin Kaplan, principal at Zebra Partners
- Stephanie Chan, writer at GamesBeat
- Bill Roper, chief creative officer at Improbable
- and Paul Bettner, CEO of Playful, the creator of the VR titles Lucky’s Tale
Advisory board
- Nicole Lazzaro, CEO of XEO Design
- Noah Falstein, chief game designer at Google
- James Zhang, CEO of Concept Art House
- Joost van Dreunen, CEO of SuperData Research
- Peter Levin, president of Lionsgate Interactive
- Jamil Moledina, Google Play
- Michael Metzger, Drake Star
- Mihir Shah, CEO of Immersv
- Gordon Bellamy, visiting scholar at USC
- Kate Edwards, former executive director at IGDA
- Tom Sanocki, CEO of Limitless
- Phil Sanderson, managing director at Ridge Ventures
- Perrin Kaplan, principal at Zebra Partners
- Sibel Sunar, CEO of Fortyseven Communications
- David Edery, CEO of Spry Fox
- Mike Vorhaus, president of Magid Advisors
Topics will include:
- Intersection of sci-fi, games, and tech
- Platforms: Where to place your bets? AR, VR, & more
- Creating a culture of inspiration and creativity
- Emerging markets for games
- Monetization: How to acquire and retain users
- Esports and building the community
- Deals: Follow the money
- Diversity and the expanding ecosystem
- Early Access as a business model
- How mods can launch new game genres
- What game engine should you use?
Sponsors include: Intel, Worldpay, Appodeal, Unreal Engine, Accel, Universal, Google, Streamlabs, Yomob, Altered Ventures, Mindmaze, Consul General of Canada, Pearl Abyss, Leyou, Jam City, Scalefast, Gfycat, AppOnboard and Mobcrush.