In case you were looking for yet another reason to visit this year’s GamesBeat Next event, we’re pleased to confirm that the Women in Gaming Breakfast is returning in its 11th iteration. This year, we’re expanding the event to Women in Gaming & Tech Executive breakfast and panel. Amazon Web Services will be sponsoring our discussion. You can now register to attend our event, and use the code BOSSMODE50 to receive a 40% off discount.
I once again have the pleasure of moderating, and I get to speak with Raashi Sikka, the Chief Diversity, Inclusion, Accessibility and Social Impact Officer at Ubisoft; and Olivia Liddell, solutions architect at Amazon Web Services. Further speakers will be revealed at a future point. We’re holding the breakfast during our conference, which runs from November 12-13 at Convene in San Francisco.
The breakfast’s new name reflects its newly expanded purpose, and GamesBeat’s wish to integrate women in not only gaming, but every intersection of gaming in the tech and entertainment sectors. “Women in games” has increasingly come to reflect a growing demographic in multiple business sectors, all of which touch the games industry. Given the event’s proximity to Silicon Valley, GamesBeat also wishes to showcase women who work in the city’s technological crucible.
Our community partners for GamesBeat Next include Women-Led Games, the IGDA Foundation, Games for Change, the Video Game Bar Association, Women In Games International, The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciencess, Women X AI, Firstboard.io, Black Girl Gamers, Zebra Partners, Moms in Gaming, the Collegiate Games Challenge, Midwest Games and the Black in Gaming Foundation.
Previous WIG breakfasts have featured some of the most stimulating conversations I’ve yet been a part of. The breakfast at the 2024 event was a fireside chat between myself and Dametra Johnson-Marletti, who was then Xbox’s corporate VP of digital gaming sales. We spoke at length about how games companies can both interest and retain new talent, becoming the places where young game creators want to work.
At this year’s GamesBeat Summit in May, the breakfast featured Carla Bedrosian, Chief Legal Officer of Xsolla; Angela Dalton, CEO of Signum Growth Dot Play; and Nancy MacIntyre, CEO of World Winner. The topic of that discussion, in keeping with the event’s overall emphasis on getting back to growth, proposed that the question we should be asking ourselves is “Now what?”