More GamesBeat Summit 2019 speakers: Brock Pierce, Jen MacLean, and Kevin Chou

GamesBeat Summit 2019 will take place in Los Angeles at the Two Bit Circus, a “micro-amusement park” that’s like an arcade meets Ready Player One in the Arts District. And now, we’re ready to name our next three speakers for the event taking place April 23 and April 24.

Register now and get early bird pricing for GamesBeat 2019. Early bird tickets are just $595 for both days for a limited time only. For those looking for deal making, consider a VIP access pass for an additional $395 that includes access to a luxury VIP lounge, private meeting rooms, VIP lunch with yours truly, and more. And, as always, we have special pricing for a limited number of indie developers at $299.

The next batch of our many speakers are:

• Brock Pierce, blockchain entrepreneur and investor
• Jen MacLean, executive director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA)
• Kevin Chou, chairman of Gen.G esports organization

Our previously announced speakers include:

• Chris DeWolfe, the CEO of Jam City
• Mike Sepso, an executive at esports organization New York Excelsior and chairman of Electronic Sports Group (ESG)
• Tommy Tallarico, head of Intellivision Entertainment, a legendary video game musician, and founder of Video Games Live.

These new speakers will broaden out our content reach to include workplace issues in games, blockchain and cryptocurrency impacts on games, and the perspective of an Overwatch esports team owner.

Our theme this year is Building Gaming Communities. Our speakers and guests will talk about the best practices for building sustainable and positive communities in games.

Strong communities can help boost the staying power and hit status of games, as loyal fans keep coming back over and over and spread word-of-mouth goodness about games in an authentic way. But it’s no secret that communities can be a double-edged sword, especially when it comes to topics like hazing, harassment, and rebellions against monetization tactics.

Game companies have to walk tightropes, and our hope is that GamesBeat Summit will point the way to the best strategies for building thriving communities.

GamesBeat Summit is the destination summit for networking, inspiration, and industry insight. With the right people in the room to make great deals happen, our flagship industry event attracts the hottest game developers and publishers, as well as industry CEOs, executives, marketers, and venture capitalists.

Brock Pierce, blockchain entrepreneur

Above: Brock Pierce is a blockchain entrepreneur.

Image Credit: Brock Pierce

Brock Pierce is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist with an extensive track record of founding, advising, and investing in disruptive businesses. He’s been credited with pioneering the market for digital currency and has raised more than $5 billion for companies he has founded. Pierce is the chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation and cofounder of EOS Alliance, Block.one, Blockchain Capital, Tether, and Mastercoin (first ICO).

Block.one was created in 2017 and has sold more than $4 billion in tokens in the EOS crowdsale. Blockchain Capital was founded in 2013 and is the first sector-focused venture fund that invests solely in Blockchain technology companies. Blockchain Capital has made more than 100 investments in the sector across its four funds.

For our purposes, he’s also been a veteran of games. Pierce founded ZAM, one of the world’s largest media properties for gamers, which Tencent acquired in 2012. He founded IGE, the pioneer of digital currency in online games, achieving revenues exceeding $100 million in 2006. It was sold in 2007. Pierce is also a cofounder GoCoin, Blade Payments, Five Delta, Xfire 2.0, Playsino, Evertune, GamesTV, and D.E.N. I interviewed him at a recent event in Las Vegas, where he expressed his excitement for combining blockchain and games. He’s not without controversy, but Pierce has a habit of confronting that head-on.

Jen MacLean, executive director of the International Game Developers Association

Above: Jen MacLean is permanent executive director of the IGDA.

Image Credit: IGDA

As the executive director of the IGDA and IGDA Foundation, Jen MacLean works to build a more inclusive game development community and support game developers around the world in achieving sustainable, fulfilling careers.

From the start of her career as a playtester at Microprose Software, through leadership roles at AOL, Comcast, 38 Studios, and StoryArc Media, Jen has managed game development, strategy, marketing, business development, and partnerships across multiple gaming platforms.

She was named one of the “Game Industry’s 100 Most Influential Women” by Next Generation, one of the “Top 20 Women in Games” by Gamasutra, and is a frequently-requested speaker at interactive entertainment industry events. We’ve interviewed her multiple times, and she is coming into her own as a spokesperson across the whole subject matter of gaming.

Kevin Chou, chairman of Gen.G esports organization

Above: Kevin Chou, CEO of Gen.G, at the Translink Capital event.

Image Credit: Baris Akyurt

Kevin Chou is the chairman and cofounder of Gen.G, a new esports company bridging Silicon Valley technology savvy and Korean gaming preeminence. Previously known as KSV eSports (Korea + Silicon Valley), Gen.G is Chou’s second entrepreneurial venture.

Previously, Chou was CEO and co-founder of Kabam, the leader in developing console-quality mobile games. He led the company from business plan founding to more than $400 million in annual revenue. Kabam was profitable from 2012 until the sale of the company’s studios to Netmarble, 21st Century Fox, and GAEA, which in total generated nearly $1 billion in value.

Chou raised over $200 million in capital for Kabam from investors, including Alibaba, Canaan, Redpoint, Google, Intel, Time Warner, and MGM. With products that have been used by more than 300 million users, Kabam has developed leading partnerships with Marvel, Star Wars, Fast & Furious, Lord of the Rings, and Hunger Games.

Prior to founding Kabam, Chou was a venture capitalist at the VC firm Canaan Partners investing in consumer internet and digital media.

Chou graduated magna cum laude from the UC Berkeley undergraduate Haas School of Business program. He serves on the Board of Trustees at UC Berkeley.

What to expect

We’re honored to have these speakers. They’ll be speaking in fireside chats on our business stage, and we’ll also figure out if they can contribute to our consumer-focused talks in a second hall.

We’ll ask them the straight questions that will prompt good debates, lessons learned, and news for the elite gaming audience.

At a lot of company-run events, we only hear happy talk. But we think that bringing the leaders of the industry together from different sectors helps refine the best thinking, and you often get wisdom from lessons that are hard learned. These kinds of talks and the chance for networking across sectors and industries is what will make our event unique in the crowded conference space.

Our event is going to be an intimate affair. And our location this year fits right with our theme. Two Bit Circus is a 40,000-square-foot playground for all ages, with entertainment that includes escape rooms, virtual reality experiences, a VIP loft, live interactive games, a robot bartender show, and modern versions of carnival games. Our attendees will be able to hear business talks in the Club 101 auditorium and consumer-focused talks in a second hall.

We’ll be taking full advantage of the environment by integrating contests and team play for all to participate in.

We’re still forming our topics around growing communities. The discussions will likely focus on the rise of virtual reality and augmented reality communities; exclusive and high-end game communities; esports communities; divided communities; massively multiplayer online worlds; the convergence of sci-fi, tech, and games; game jams; the future of game technology; monetization; the rise of influencers; and the oncoming changes from blockchain and cryptocurrency.

This is our 10th year of GamesBeat events, and this year promises to be the best one yet. Stay tuned as we announce more great speakers to our first-rate lineup.