Agenda
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
| 8:00 – 9:10 | Registration & Continental Breakfast hosted by GREE |
| 9:10 – 9:20 | First Floor Grand Ballroom General Opening Remarks Matt Marshall, CEO & Editor in Chief, VentureBeat |
| 9:20 – 9:45 | Grand Ballroom MobileBeat & GamesBeat Joint Keynote Fireside Chat Speaker Mark Pincus, Founder, CEO, CPO, Zynga Moderator Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat Lead Writer, VentureBeat A Conversation with Mark Pincus on the Industry Opportunity for Play Mark Pincus and Dean Takahashi will discuss the opportunity for play, what Zynga needs from the mobile ecosystem, a vision for the future of mobile games, and how to steer clear of zero-sum battles and create brand new markets. |
| 9:45 – 9:55 | Transition to GamesBeat Ballroom |
| 9:55 – 10:00 | Opening Welcome Dean Takahashi, Lead Writer, GamesBeat |
| 10:00 – 10:40 | First Floor Gold Ballroom Opening Keynote Personal Gaming A pioneer in games looks at what is coming next. Speaker Will Wright, Founder, Stupid Fun Club |
| 10:40- 11:10 |
First Floor Gold Ballroom
Game Investment Panel
Disruption + Adaption
Key investors and analysts discuss the disruptive force of the current Crossover Era.
Speakers
Atul Bagga, Senior Equity Research Analyst, Lazard Capital Markets
Tim Merel, Managing Director, Digi-Capital
Nabeel Hyatt, Venture Partner, Spark Capital
Jeremy Liew, Internet & Mobile Investor, Lightspeed Venture Partners
Moderator
Martin Rae, President, AIAS
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| 11:10 – 11:25 |
Morning Coffee Break Hosted by Animoca
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| 11:25 – 11:50 | First Floor Gold Ballroom Fireside Chat A Conversation with Bing While “gamification” and game-playing are at an all-time high, the games business faces more upheaval than any time since the introduction of the original game consoles, like the Nintendo Entertainment System or perhaps the original Playstation. Bing Gordon has seen three decades of change, from the Commodore 64 to MMO’s, from casual games to Facebook and iOS. In a no holds barred discussion, we’ll talk about what’s next for game-makers, publishers marketers and investors. Speaker Bing Gordon, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Moderator Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat Lead Writer, VentureBeat |
| 11:50 – 12:15 |
First Floor Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
Speakers
David Ko, Chief Mobile Officer, Zynga
Moderator
Chris Kohler, Editor of Game Life, Wired
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| 12:15 – 1:30 | Hosted Lunch by Pontiflex First floor: Ralston Room Second floor: Twin Peaks |
| 1:25 – 4:30 | Second Floor Napa Room Animoca Lounge Come network, recharge your devices and hang out.
Also, refresh yourself with beer from 2:30-4:30 PM daily.
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| 1:30 – 1:55 | First Floor Gold Ballroom Afternoon Keynote Digital is Different The gaming industry’s digital transformation is well underway. But even with more ways to play and larger audiences playing, every gaming platform today – from consoles to mobile to social networks and more – is facing unprecedented challenges. As EA’s EVP of Digital, Kristian Segerstrale will discuss the new realities of the digital gaming roadmap, what we’ve learned in the transformation so far and how it informs an outlook for games and gamers of the future. Speaker Kristian Segerstrale, EVP of Digital, Electronic Arts |
| 1:55 – 2:20 |
Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
Game Rewards
Should you be paid to play games?
Speaker
Brian Wong, Founder & CEO, Kiip
Dennis Fong, CEO, Raptr
Moderator
Chris Kohler, Game Life Editor, Wired.com
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| 2:20 – 2:30 | Transition Break to Second Floor |
| 2:30 – 3:15 | Panels, Networking, and Round Tables |
| 1. PRESIDIO Social Casino Games: The Hottest Game in Town Casino games are hotter than farm or city simulations on Facebook now. Why is there such an attraction for social casino games, which feature relatively simple gameplay? Is the investment in this space getting overheated, or is it just getting started? Speakers Dave Bezahler, CEO, Blitzoo Games Nicholas Talarico, CEO, 12 Gigs Christopher Griffin, CEO, Betable Jesse Jasonov, VP & General Manager, Zynga Moderator Brock Pierce, Managing Director, Clearstone Global Gaming Fund |
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| 2. SEACLIFF Ask the Analysts Roundtable Speakers Jesse Divnich, Vice President, EEDAR Bertrand Schmitt, CEO, AppAnnie Colin Sebastian, Senior Equity Research Analyst, RW Baird David Cole, Founder & Analyst, DFC Intelligence Moderator Matthaus Krzykowski, Founder, Xyologic |
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| 3. PACIFIC HEIGHTS Indie Games: Where they are, and where they’re going In this fireside chat the creators of Braid, Cave Story, Spy Party, and Super Meat Boy will gather to discuss the current state of indie gaming, and how they see it evolving alongside the push towards cloud gaming and next-generation consoles. Speakers Tyrone Rodriguez, Founder, Nicalis Jonathan Blow, Founder, Braid Tommy Refenes, Co-Founder & Co-Creator, Team Meat & Super Meat Boy Chris Hecker, Game Developer, Definition Six Moderator Sebastian Haley, Culture Editor, GamesBeat |
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| 4. MARINA The Asian Games Roundtable Speakers Benjamin Joffe, Founder, Cmune Phyllis Guo, Chief Strategist, The9 Naoki Aoyagi, CEO, GREE International Kyu Lee, Vice President, Gamevil USA Moderator Chris Baker, Senior Editor, Wired Magazine |
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| 3:15 – 3:35 | Afternoon Coffee Break Hosted by Animoca & Transition to Downstairs |
| 3:45 – 4:10 | Gold Ballroom Fireside Chat King.com’s Crossover Saga Riccardo Zacconi talks us through King.com‘s “saga,” from portals to cross-platform titles. Find out how the online tourney giant changed its game throughout 2011 and into 2012 to become the No. 2 game developer by daily active users on Facebook (as recorded by AppData). Hear what’s in store for King.com in international markets and on new platforms in 2013. Speaker Riccardo Zacconi, Co-Founder & CEO, King.com Moderator AJ Glasser, Managing Editor, Inside Social Games |
| 4:10 – 4:40 |
Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
Future Perfect
Three ages when we thought video games would die. But they didn’t; they just changed.
Speaker
Seamus Blackley, President & Co-Founder, Innovative Leisure
Moderator
Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat Lead Writer, VentureBeat
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| 4:40 – 5:05 | Gold Ballroom Fireside Chat Angry Birds – The Service & Beyond Speaker Peter Vesterbacka, CMO & Mighty Eagle, Rovio Moderator Steve Fowler, GM, [a]list games |
| 5:05 – 5:25 | Gold Ballroom Fireside Chat Creating the Next Generation of Disney Characters Speaker Bart Decrem, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Disney Mobile Games will discuss how Disney is, for the first time, creating new characters and franchises developed on mobile first. This discussion will cover how entertainment companies like Disney are changing their consumer experiences to serve a generation growing up with mobile and tablet devices as their screen of choice. Speaker Bart Decrem, Senior Vice President, Disney Mobile Moderator Eric Eldon, Co-Editor, TechCrunch |
| 5:25 – 5:30 |
Gold Ballroom
Closing Remarks
Dean Takahashi, Lead Writer, GamesBeat
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| 6:00 – 8:00 | Opening Happy Hour Hosted at Zynga Headquarters After a day of panels and high-level discussion, come unwind with us with hosted food, drink, great networking and entertainment. Meet the people behind your favorite Zynga games as well as senior executives from other leading mobile, social media and technology firms. |
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
| 8:00 – 9:00 | Registration & Continental Breakfast |
| 9:00 – 9:05 | Gold Ballroom Opening Remarks Dean Takahashi, Lead Writer, GamesBeat |
| 9:05 – 9:35 | Gold Ballroom Opening Panel Crowd-funding your games: What could go wrong? With the sizable successes of big-name Kickstarters like Double Fine Adventure and Wasteland 2, it would seem that crowd-funding has become the next big gold rush for the games industry. But nothing in life is ever truly free. Tim Schafer, Brian Fargo, and Crowd-Funding Bible author Jon Kimmich join moderator and GamesBeat Culture Editor Sebastian Haley to discuss the lessons learned from these and other Kickstarter campaigns. Speakers Tim Schafer, President & CEO, Double Fine Productions Brian Fargo, CEO, InXile Entertainment Paul Trowe, Founder, Replay Games Jon Kimmich, CEO, Software Illuminati Moderator Sebastian Haley, GamesBeat Culture Editor, VentureBeat |
| 9:35 – 9:55 | Gold Ballroom Fireside Chat Retail & Digital Convergence – How Retail Can Meet the Evolving Needs of the Gamer Chris Petrovic is in charge of the digital strategy for GameStop, one of the world’s largest gaming retail chains. During his fireside chat, we’ll explore how traditional retail can evolve to meet the needs of its customer base amid an ever-growing tide of new game platforms and business models, and how it can leverage direct relationships with customers into a billion-dollar-plus digital business. Speaker Chris Petrovic, General Manager, GameStop Digital Ventures Moderator Dan “Shoe” Hsu, Editor-in-Chief, GamesBeat |
| 9:55 – 10:15 |
Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
Jumping into Mobile
Greg Canessa talks about leading Activision into mobile games.
Speaker
Greg Canessa, Vice President of Mobile, Activision Mobile
Moderator
Justin Davis, Mobile Gaming Editor, IGN
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| 10:15 – 10:30 | Morning Coffee Break Hosted by Animoca |
| 10:30 – 10:50 | Fireside Chat The Changing Nature of Publishing With digital distribution and app stores, do we still need game publishers? What is driving consumer engagement? Speaker Mitch Lasky, General Partner, Benchmark Capital Moderator Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat Lead Writer, VentureBeat |
| 10:50 – 11:10 | Gold Ballroom Fireside Chat The Real Platform Wars: Consoles vs. Browsers Traditionally, boxed retail sales have driven the market, but as next-gen consoles prepare to make their highly anticipated debuts, they will be launching during an unprecedented period of growth and innovation – with an industry pivoting towards a disruptive business and distribution model for games treated as live services. With more people playing games than ever before, online and social games are continuing to attract users away from traditional consoles to the browser. As a free, open and hyper-accessible platform, the browser is providing developers of all sizes with an opportunity to create new genres and experiences that rival the high production value and quality of console games – as well as being able to establish greater cost-efficiency, velocity of scale, and a valuable direct to consumer relationship. Rapid advancements in technology such as with Flash 11 and Unity are also helping to push 3D games forward on the browser, and further legitimize the platform as a community for traditional gamers. What does the future hold for consoles and browsers, and which platform will ultimately win the wallets and attention of gamers? Speaker Will Harbin, CEO, KIXEYE Moderator Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat Lead Writer, VentureBeat |
| 11:10 – 11:20 | Transition Break to Second Floor |
| 11:20 – 12:10 | Panels, Networking, and Round Tables |
| 1. PRESIDIO Case Studies in Crossover Strategies Speakers Jack Buser, Senior Director, PlayStation Digital Platforms Jeff Tseng, Co-Founder, CrowdStar Chris Early, Head of Digital, Ubisoft Torsten Reil, CEO, Natural Motion Moderator Jane Pinckard, Associate Director of the Center for Games & Playable Media, UC Santa Cruz |
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| 2. SEACLIFF Overcoming Hurdles in Monetization, Distribution and Discovery Given the ever changing landscape of the mobile industry (especially among mobile tracking in the past few months), panelists will discuss trends in terms of successful monetization business models, current app market opportunities and recommendations for analytics tools that track engagement, recommendations and discovery among consumers. Speakers Mihir Shah, CEO, Tapjoy Joe Bayen, CEO, ICS Mobile (FreeAppADay.com) Brian Doxator, Vice President of Business Development, PlayHaven Josh Williams, President, Kontagent Andy Yang, CEO, Playhaven Moderator Mark Friedler, Game Executive, Worlds and Games |
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3. PACIFIC HEIGHTS
App User Acquisition Today & Tomorrow – Where is it all headed?
The cost to acquire users for mobile games continues to rise. Learn from top experts representing game studios large and small how they are evolving their marketing campaigns to find the best users and how they are optimizing their games to maximize profitability. Key topics will include how is social impacting discoverability now and into the future in light of recent changes by social platforms. We’ll talk about which marketing campaigns have been successful and which campaigns are failing, the tactics that are moving the needle with respect to monetization to improve profitability from user acquisition, the changing methods of user identification and the impact on performance measurement, and how indies are competing with large players to acquire users.
Speakers
Gabriel Leydon, CEO, Machine Zone
A.J. Yeakel, Mobile Strategy Consultant
Rob Weber, Co-Founder, W3i
Ben Vu, Co-Founder & CEO, SkyVu Entertainment
Moderator
Steve Peterson, West Coast Editor, GameIndustry International
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| 4. MARINA Platform Showdown With the explosion of devices and social platforms, game developers have a bewildering number of options. We’ll have representatives from Zynga, Qualcomm, Ludei and Nvidia’s GeForce Grid to talk about choosing the best platforms for your game, and the work they’re doing to lure developers. Speakers Manuel Bronstein, General Manager, Zynga Phil Eisler, General Manager of Cloud Gaming & 3D Vision, Nvidia Mike Yuen, Senior Director of Snapdragon Gaming, Qualcomm Joe Monastiero, President, Ludei Moderator Anthony Ha, Writer, TechCrunch |
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| 12:10 – 1:30 | Lunch on Both Floors Hosted by Qualcomm First Floor: Ralston Room Second Floor: Twin Peaks |
| 1:25 – 4:30 | Second Floor Napa Room Animoca Lounge Come network, recharge your devices and hang out.
Also, refresh yourself with beer from 2:30-4:30 PM daily.
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| 1:30 – 2:30 |
Gold Ballroom
Who’s Got Game Start-Up Contest
Eight companies will present on stage in four-minute sessions. Our three judges and moderator will listen and decide who has the best pitch. Our all-star panel will ask questions and offer comments.
Judges
Ann Burkett, CEO, Game Dojos/IGDA-SV
Gordon Bellamy, Executive Director, International Game Developers Association
Eric Goldberg, Managing Director, Crossover Technologies
Michael Chang, Senior Director of Corporate Development, Electronic Arts
Moderator
Gus Tai, General Partner, Trinity Ventures
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| 2:30 – 2:55 | Gold Ballroom Fireside Chat Crossing Over from Japan to the U.S., from the U.S. to Japan As the CEO of U.S.-based ngmoco and the director of DeNA in Japan, Neil Young is in the perfect position to talk about the games industry stretching from the East to the West. Young will share his lessons from Japan and how they apply and play out in the U.S. and vice versa. He will address the key success factors involved when taking games across different territories, cultures, and formats, letting everyone know what works and what doesn’t. Speaker Neil Young, CEO & Founder, ngmoco Moderator Dan “Shoe” Hsu, GamesBeat Editor-in-Chief, VentureBeat |
| 2:55 – 3:15 | Afternoon Coffee Break Hosted by Animoca |
| 3:15 – 3:40 |
Gold Ballroom
Fireside Chat
The Past, Present and Future of Tencent’s Gaming Services
Tencent is the largest gaming company in China but has an increasingly global footprint. In recent years many participants in the Western gaming industry have been learning more about Tencent, and a growing number of prominent relationships have been struck with Western market leaders. The company made headlines with investments in Riot Games and Epic Games. David Wallerstein has been with Tencent since the early start up days, and in this fireside chat, will share the story of how Tencent got into online gaming, and where it’s going from here. What is Tencent’s unique approach to gaming? What lessons can be learned going beyond the concepts of “free to play” or “virtual goods?” And ultimately, “what are the core principles of Tencent’s mission?” Speaker David Wallerstein, Senior Executive Vice President, Tencent Moderator Dean Takahashi, Lead Writer, GamesBeat |
| 3:40 – 4:05 | Gold Ballroom Fireside Chat Bringing the Magic to Social Games John Spinale, Disney’s Senior Vice President of Disney Social Games will discuss Disney’s focus on bringing its most popular brands and franchises to the world of social gaming. It will cover the role IP is expected to play in the future of social gaming, and what to expect from content creators developing new characters and storylines for this fast-growing platform. Speaker John Spinale, Senior Vice President of Social and General Manager, Playdom Moderator Hal Halpin, President, Entertainment Consumers Association |
| 4:05 – 4:20 | Gold Ballroom Fireside Chat The New Breed of Mobile Game Publisher on iOS & Android Digital distribution of games on iOS and Android has shifted power back into the hands of independent developers. With low development and distribution costs, hundreds of thousands of games have been self-published on iTunes App store and Google Play. The traditional role of the game publisher – who traditionally finance, manufacture, distribute and market titles – has been turned on its head. Listen to a candid interview of Patrick Minotti, Flurry General Manager of Game Publishing, about where mobile game development and publishing is headed, and how the new indie game co-publishing initiative between Flurry and Activision bets on a new kind of app economy. Speaker Patrick Minotti, Head of Games, Flurry Moderator Dean Takahashi, Lead Writer, GamesBeat |
| 4:20 – 4:25 |
Joint Closing Remarks & Startup Competition Winners Announced
Matt Marshall, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, VentureBeat & Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat Lead Writer, VentureBeat
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| 4:25 – 5:30 |
First Floor Garden Court
Closing Reception Hosted by Box
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Stay tuned for more information coming soon!
