We’re happy to be adding Lucky’s Tale creator Paul Bettner, the CEO of Playful, as a speaker for the second annual GamesBeat Summit 2016, an event that’s set for May 3 and May 4 at the scenic Cavallo Point Lodge in Sausalito, Calif. He’s going to talk about the rocky yet rewarding path of trailblazing with new technology, and how creating content for emerging technologies is worth the risk.
Paul Bettner
Bettner’s 3D platformer title is bundled with the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, and it’s a blend of Crash Bandicoot and Mario in a new dimension. Bettner started Playful to create VR experiences. His previous studio, Newtoy, was acquired by Zynga, and Words With Friends is still one of Zynga’s top titles. Bettner is one of the few game developers who has already launched a major title for the VR headsets, and we’d like to know what he’s learned.
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Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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