I’ve posted the up to date and last agenda for our GamesBeat Summit 2025 occasion (25% off low cost code: gbs25dean25) and thought it could be good to submit a information on what to anticipate on Might 19-20 in LA. This submit is organized by subject material.
On our first day, Might 19, we’ll begin out with a few hours of networking beginning round 11:30 a.m. within the foyer of the Marriott Marina del Rey (4100 Admiralty Approach, Marina del Rey). Then we’ll get began at 1:30 p.m. with 4 small group periods at a time, all downstairs from the foyer. These are hour-long periods they usually reply our attendees’ need for extra engagement with audio system.
These small rooms have about 65-seats every (for 3 of the recorded periods) and 35 seats for the roundtable room (Catalina). Viewers Q&A will probably be inspired in these periods, although some will go for written questions. Our roundtables are usually not recorded, with Chatham Home guidelines, the place you’ll be able to say what was mentioned however not who mentioned it. We’ll shut out day one with a reception at 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. (Kicked off by Dean Takahashi and Gina Joseph of GamesBeat and Peter Levin of Griffin Gaming Companions).
Gina Joseph and I’ll come out on stage at round 9:30 am after which I’ll kick issues off with a brief opening speech round 9:35 a.m.
Then, all through the day, we’ll have extra conventional 30-minute talks on two phases (California and Promenade rooms) in addition to two roundtable rooms (Malibu/Santa Monica and Venice/Peninsula). I’ll give closing thanks at 5:30 p.m. on Might 20.
The large matters: AI in video games and development alternatives
As famous in a single one in every of our social posts, we’ve received a lot of periods on AI and gaming. The hype round AI jogs my memory of some years in the past of how we had plenty of periods on blockchain video games or the metaverse, however AI is exhibiting early outcomes and we’ve heard that that is what individuals wish to speak about.
I don’t see these as repetitive periods. Moderately, they current attendees with alternative, with publicity to many alternative shiny minds on their very own views of the AI revolution.
The periods embrace high-level strategic views of AI in leisure and video games with Owen Mahoney previously of Nexon, Bing Gordon of Kleiner Perkins, Mitch Lasky of Benchmark and Tynan Sylvester of Ludeon. (2:30 pm -3:30 pm in Palisades downstairs room on Might 19).
We’ll even have a chat on shocking makes use of of AI in sport creation with Kayla Comalli, Neil Younger, and Irena Pereira (3:30 pm-4:30 pm in Malibu/Santa Monica on Might 19).
AI in Gaming offered by Amazon Internet Companies (AWS) will embrace Ashwin Raghuraman, Hilary Mason, J. Aaron Farr, and moderator Chris Melissinos. They may speak about their very own perspective on the AI instruments which might be rising for manufacturing. (4:30 pm – 5:30 pm in Venice/Peninsula room on Might 19).
On Might 20, Wealthy Vogel, CEO of T-Minus Zero Leisure. Vogel, who gained our Up and Comer Award up to now, will discuss for the second 12 months in a row on the AI instruments which might be reinventing sport growth. (3 pm – 4 pm on Might 20 in Malibu/Santa Monica room — not recorded, with Chatham Home guidelines).
Additionally on Might 20, we can have a roundtable entitled “From Player Safety to Child Wellbeing and the Role of AI” with moderator Chris Melissinos of AWS, Henderika (Heidi) Vogel Brockmann of Guardian Gamer and adviser Joel Silk. (1 pm – 2 pm on Might 20, in Venice/Peninsula room).
Throughout our mainstage periods on Might 20, we’ll contact on AI in “Living Games: The AI and Live Services Revolution Reshaping Games,” offered by Google Cloud with Catherine Hawayek of Google Cloud Video games and Dean Takahashi (2 pm – 2:30 pm within the California ballroom on Might 20).
And we can have one other AI matter come up in “Driving Change in Gaming: Business Models, Player Needs, AI, and the Road Ahead,” with Matthew Bromberg of Unity and Sarah Parvini of the AP at 3:30 p.m. – 4 p.m. within the California ballroom on Might 20).
Different huge matters
We’ve additionally received periods associated to the expansion alternatives for gaming, together with the conflict between builders and platforms over charges. On day two, our opening panel with Chris Hewish of Xsolla, Anthony Bartolacci of Sensor Tower and moderator Gina Joseph of GamesBeat will cowl the subject of Epic Video games’ latest courtroom victory in opposition to Apple and the chance it creates for cell gaming development. (9:45 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. on Might 20).
Our Visionary Awards will happen at 10:15 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Might 20, with Andrea Rene as our host. The Visionary Award is for a sport business chief who confirmed imaginative and prescient all through their profession. And the second award, The Up and Comer Award, is for somebody whose potential lies forward of them. Our judges included They embrace Sarah Bond of Microsoft, Wealthy Vogel of T-Minus Zero Leisure, Don Daglow of AIAS Basis/Robust Nationwide Museum of Play, Perrin Kaplan of Zebra Companions, Elizabeth Olson of Strategic Advertising and marketing, Dinga Bakaba of Arkane, Tara Bruno of Tara Bruno PR, Charmaine Duff of Girls-Led Video games, Mark Chandler of TIGS, Meggan Scavio of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Kat Jones of Motiv, Shelley Andagan of Qualcomm, onine sport pioneer John Smedley and me.
Range periods
Greater than 54% of our audio system come from various backgrounds, and 35% girls. And we proceed to deal with range within the gaming business for a lot of of our matters.
On day two, we get began with our tenth Girls in Gaming Breakfast (meant for ladies, at 8:30 a.m. Pacific – 9:25 a.m.) Offered by Xsolla, that session (beginning at 9 a.m.) will probably be moderated by GamesBeat’s Rachel Kaser and embrace audio system Carla Bedrosian of Xsolla, Angela Dalton of Signum Development Dot Play and Nancy MacIntyre of World Winner.
Throughout lunch on Might 20, at 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m, we’ll have our first accessibility in gaming panel, sponsored by the Leisure Software program Affiliation (ESA). Aubrey Quinn, senior vice chairman for the Leisure Software program Affiliation (ESA), leads a dialog with Holly Wescott, Accessibility Lead at Amazon Video games, Kaitlyn Jones, Director of Medical Outreach at Warfighter Engaged and Gaming Accessibility Lead at Xbox and participant, content material creator and accessibility advisor Steve Saylor, about how the online game business is advancing efforts to make video games accessible for as many gamers as doable.
Gordon Bellamy, professor on the USC Faculty of Cinematic Arts and head of Homosexual Gaming Professionals, will lead a roundtable on how the “underestimated” can break into excessive ranges of gaming. (a roundtable 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. on Might 20 on the Malibu/Santa Monica room).
And for the primary time in a couple of decade, we’ll have a panel on ageism entitled, “Lost on the outsides: Ageism and belonging in the game industry.” The session will probably be moderated by Bellamy and consists of Amir Satvat of Tencent, Jen MacLean of Dragon Snacks Video games, Richard Brown of Blue Moon Manufacturing Firm. (10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. on the California ballroom on Might 20).
Gaming veteran Warren Spector lately wrote about his determination to speak about his bipolar situation and dealing within the sport business with it. TakeThis.org’s Kelli Dunlap will focus on psychological well being within the video games business with Spector in a roundtable. This session will take written questions solely. (4:30 p.m. to five:30 p.m. on Might 19).
Psychological well being and video games may even come up for dialogue in a roundtable with Susanna Pollack of Video games for Change and Perrin Kaplan of Zebra Companions. They may discuss concerning the topic within the context of labor by the International Psychological Well being Activity Power and the World Well being Group. (roundtable at 1 pm to 2 pm at Malibu/Santa Monica room).
The economics and development potential of gaming
One among our longer big-stage talks will probably be moderated by Eric Goldberg of Playable Worlds with longtime sport enterprise capitalist Mitch Lasky. They may speak about how you can navigate video games within the new regular. They may tackle what the brand new regular is, how you can get out of the field that the business has put itself in and repair gaming funding. (10:15 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Might 20 within the Promenade room).
I may even reasonable Tian Xiao of Tencent, one of many giants of the sport business, on its perspective on the worldwide sport business. (11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Might 20 within the California ballroom).
Cell gaming has turn into the most important sector in gaming, and so we’ll have a session on “Winning in mobile gaming: Strategy, growth and innovation with Playtika.”
Craig Abrahams of Playtika and moderator Michael Metzger of Drake Star Companions will discuss at 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Might 20 within the California ballroom.
And following up on their big-stage periods, two business thinkers will focus on “The repair room: Industry problems, group solutions.” The video games business is overflowing with issues, however mild on options. On this interactive roundtable hosted by Adam Boyes (Vivrato) and Amir Satvat, attendees will vote on the ten largest challenges going through video games in 2025. (a roundtable at 2 p.m. to three p.m. on Might 20 at Venice/Peninsula).
Jesse Meschuk, the brand new COO of Savvy Video games Group, will focus on a giant new frontier of video games in “Savvy Spotlight: Investing in the long-term mindset.” I’ll reasonable the session with Meschuk with a deal with the long-term view of gaming and esports. (3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at California ballroom on Might 20).
And our lone debate of the convention is entitled, “Is there still growth ahead for gaming?”
The years of double-digit video games market development are over. COVID accelerated issues, however the writing’s been on the wall for some time. Even live-service video games have proven themselves to be principally zero-sum, whereas esports, the blockchain, and the metaverse have performed little or no to maneuver the needle. So what’s subsequent for the video games market?
This debate options sport economist Catalin Alexandru, Michael Pachter of Wedbush and moderator Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics (1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. in Malibu/Santa Monica room).
Politics and gaming
Politics has divided us throughout the nation, and so it’s no shock that some political matters have risen to the fore at our occasion.
“Gaming the government” is concerning the experiences that gaming business professionals have had within the U.S. federal authorities. Mark Deloura of Stage Up Video games (previously Obama’s White Home lead on video games) and Paul Fischer of Accenture (previously of the U.S. State Division). (It can happen 4:30 p.m. to five:30 p.m. on Might 19 within the Palisades room).
One among our periods is entitled, “Playing With Truth: Handing disinformation through games.” It’s about storytelling can be utilized to problem false narratives. Karla Reyes (moderator) of Anima Interactive, Paul Fischer of Accenture and Susanna Pollack of Video games for Change will communicate within the session (11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Promenade room).
Wealthy Hilleman of Cleanplay will speak about “Partnering for the planet: Adopting clean energy for growth” to handle vitality consumption within the sport business. (a roundtable at 4:30 p.m. to five:30 p.m on Might 19 within the Catalina room).
New enterprise fashions
André Swanston of Phynd will do a solo discuss on “The gaming revolution will be televised,” with a deal with the brand new enterprise mannequin of ad-supported free cloud gaming providers. (11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Might 20 within the Promenade ballroom).
Adam Boyes of Vivrato and moderator Andrea Rene of Shortie Media will discuss concerning the want for extra transparency within the sport business and paths to deal with development. (11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. within the California ballroom on Might 20).
We’ll have a dwell providers discuss, “Get live or die trying.” Business veteran Sheloman Byrd will take the viewers by way of a dwell service train of determination making based mostly on previous circumstances, the place every workforce will weigh selections throughout a number of areas, together with an evaluation on the place they’d find yourself for market success at session’s finish.
Sheloman Byrd of Open Ocean Video games (1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. on Might 19 at Palisades room)
Byrd’s colleague, Jennifer Jo of Open Ocean Video games, is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of expertise in gaming monetization. She is going to run a roundtable on unpacking the secrets and techniques of maximizing income whereas holding gamers engaged. Drawing on her in depth work throughout firms like Tencent, Kabam, Meta, WB, and Nexon, Jo will supply actionable classes discovered from PC, cell, console, AR, and VR video games. This session is a should for anybody in search of to refine their strategy to monetization in a player-first period. (roundtable at 2:30 p.m. to three:30 p.m. on Might 19 at Catalina room).
Some of the attention-grabbing new fashions for serving to manufacturers join with gamers comes from Twin Galaxies in a session entitled, “The competitive layer you’re missing: How game brands are building loyalty without adding extra code.”
In a world the place consideration is fleeting and communities are fractured, competitors may simply be the key glue. This session explores how sport publishers and types are utilizing no-code, community-driven competitions to generate constructive participant sentiment, drive repeat engagement, and foster long-term loyalty. Learn the way a novel strategy has turned informal gamers into invested communities and why aggressive codecs are rising as essential within the trendy dwell ops toolkit.
A chat by Zack Rozga and Jace Corridor of Twin Galaxies (1:30 pm – 2:30 pm on Might 19 within the Venice/Peninsula room).
And we now have a session on sport publishing dubbed, “The problem with publishing.” Moderated by GamesBeat’s Rachel Kaser, with Jon Snoddy of Operative Video games and Ben Kvalo of Midwest Video games (2:30 pm – 3:30 pm at Malibu/Santa Monica room).
New applied sciences
One among our tech periods is about “Moderation tools and techniques: the advanced class.”
Right this moment’s gaming audiences are demanding extra: security, clear communication, and smarter responses to points. On this fireplace chat, Meta’s Blake Harper will share real-world methods for constructing resilient communities. Mark Nolan of Modulate and Blake Harper of Meta (3:30 pm – 4:30 pm on Might 19 at Palisades room).
And Matei Trebien of VoicePatrol will give on a chat on advances in voice moderation expertise in a five-minute sponsored session at 9:25 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. within the California ballroom on Might 20.
Generally previous applied sciences coming again. We now have a session on the evolution of movement gaming: Previous, current and future.
Nex Playground has launched to focus on youngsters and their love of movement gaming. It’s an instance of going after a distinct segment that gamers love and the {hardware} makers have left behind. How huge a distinct segment will or not it’s?
Tom Kang of NEX and moderator Dean Takahashi of GamesBeat will focus on the subject. (3 p.m. to three:30 pm on Might 20 on the California ballroom).
Entrepreneurs and funding
Justin Woodward has lengthy expertise working with indies through The Combine. This session will take a look at how you can curate indie video games and expertise. How can indies diversify their funding sources and interact with passionate, collaborative co-developers? I’ll reasonable a chat in a hearth chat at 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Might 20 within the Promenade room.
One once more, we’re delighted that Lightspeed is sponsoring our Sport Modifications 2026 record, which can discover the highest 25 sport firms within the business and current them within the fall.
The Sport Changers 2026 theme is “Building Through Chaos.” From mass layoffs and financial headwinds to the rise of AI and shifting world insurance policies, the gaming business is weathering continued volatility.
Audio system embrace Moritz Baier-Lentz of Lightspeed, Dean Takahashi of GamesBeat, Kieran Donovan of Okay-ID, Stephen Bell of Gardens and Cheryl Fichter of Inworld AI. (1 pm – 1:30 pm on Might 20 at California ballroom).
We’ll even have a session on investing in new markets. What are the tendencies that matter to sport buyers now? How can we forge forward with investments throughout a tricky time for gaming? The place can we discover new gamers? This panel of sport M&A and funding consultants will sort out these questions and extra.
The audio system embrace Hemal Thaker of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Danzig of Sharp Alpha, moderator Emily Wang of Griffin Gaming Companions and Tyler Matheson of Makers Fund. (1 pm – 1:30 pm on Might 20 within the Promenade room).
Louis Gresham of Hydratec Dan Bunting, Enterprise Companion at 1am Gaming and former Name of Responsibility Sport Director will focus on “The lucrative niche: Building multibillion-dollar franchises from core initial community outward.” (3 p.m. to three:30 p.m. at Promenade room).
We’ll additionally cowl the trail from triple-A to solo sport devs, with Adam Kugler, founding father of CyanAvatar Studios and solo developer behind MoteMancer. He’ll run an intimate roundtable exploring the transition from main giant triple-A groups to the deeply private journey of solo sport growth. (roundtable at 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Venice/Peninsula room).
Lastly, we’ll get the “360-degree view of raising money for game startups” in a panel with Garrett Younger of Emptyvessel, Jeonghee “JJ” Jin of NC America and Teppei Tsutsui of GFR Fund. Emptyvessel was one of many firms that focused a distinct segment, created prototype and received off the bottom with funding. We’ll discuss concerning the strategy of elevating cash for sport startups from a number of factors of view — and the way we received to a full vessel. (4 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. on Might 20 at Promenade room).
Sport communities
We’ll discover sport communities in “Beyond the game: Scopely and Discord’s approach to building and maintaining thriving game communities.” Fostering thriving, vibrant participant communities isn’t just a aggressive benefit—it’s turn into essential for sport discovery and significant engagement.
The audio system are Ryan Jacobson of Scopely, Stanislav Vishnevskiy of Discord and moderator Rachel Kaser of GamesBeat (1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Might 20 within the California ballroom).
Shelby Johnson-Sapp SVP of Company Technique at Scopely, and Rachel Kaser of GamesBeat in a roundtable dialog on what it takes to construct a resilient, adaptive video games enterprise in right this moment’s dynamic market. (2 p.m. to three p.m. on Might 20 within the Malibu/Santa Monica room).
We’ll even have a session on understanding the subsequent technology of avid gamers. Kevin Beatty of Samsung Gaming and Rising Applied sciences and moderator Stella Chung (2 pm – 2:30 pm on Might 20 at Promenade room).
We’ll even have a session about video games in Asia and the West, entitled, “The East-West Connection: Successfully bringing Asian games to western markets (and vice versa).”
There’s nonetheless a number of circulation of video games between Jap and Western sport markets, as gamers are embracing world content material in each predictable and shocking methods. We’ll speak about the best way to foster this connection and get new tasks off the bottom. The session consists of Jeonghee “JJ” Jin and moderator Lisa Cosmas Hanson of Niko Companions (2:30 p.m. to three p.m. on Might 20 within the Promenade Room).
And lastly on the neighborhood entrance, we now have a session, “Leveraging industry non-profits for growth.”
Gaming nonprofits are an incredible device to develop your viewers and develop your income. How working with nonprofits can assist you construct extra profitable video games and companies.
The audio system embrace Blair Durkee of GLAAD, Stephen Machuga of Stack Up and moderated by Jen MacLean of Dragon Snacks Video games and IGDA Basis (2:30 p.m. to three:30 p.m. on Might 19 at Venice/Peninsula).
Hollywood and video games
Since we’re doing this in Los Angeles, we might be remiss if we didn’t cowl the love affair between the flicks, TV and gaming.
We’ll speak about the place it’s going subsequent in a session with Hollywood and gaming veterans.
We’ll have a extra intimate roundtable entitled “Video video games: A performers’ perspective.
A glance contained in the world of online game performers offering insights into the realities of working as a online game actor; the state of the business, the existential risk to performers livelihood as a consequence of Generative Synthetic Intelligence and the way forward for the gaming business for performers who’re obsessed with their artwork and work.
Actors talking embrace Sarah Elmaleh, Zeke Alton and Andi Norris (3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Might 19 at Catalina room).
We may even have a small group session entitled, “The influencer playbook behind Murderer’s Creed: Mirage.
Within the fast-paced world of gaming, the place tendencies begin and evolve swiftly, and audiences crave innovation, solely probably the most artistic and genuine campaigns could make an enduring affect with audiences. This dialog brings collectively the visionary minds behind Ubisoft’s award-winning influencer marketing campaign for the launch of “Assassin’s Creed Mirage.”
Glenn Ginsburg of QYOU Media, Anna Ivanko of Ubisoft, content material creator and comic Adam W and moderator Amanda Perelli of Enterprise Insider (3:30 pm – 4:30 pm on Might 20 at Venice/Peninsula room).
We’ll put a highlight on “How documentaries are shining a light on games.” This will probably be a roundtable documentary dialogue with Theresa Loong, who’s making Sport On, a movie about sport designer Brenda Romero and how you can exist as a artistic particular person. Moderated by Shelby Moledina of Glowy Pixels Leisure and maker of Resting Pitch Face, a brief movie a couple of girl operating the gauntlet of elevating cash for a startup. (1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. on Might 19 at Catalina room).
And lastly, we’ll have a chat from a tech/movie/gaming pioneer Territory on “The Motion Revolution: Redefining real world experiences.”
Step into the forefront of innovation with The Movement Revolution to discover how interactivity is reworking the best way we interact with next-generation applied sciences. Uncover how we deliver the unimaginable to life, crafting movement design on the intersection of science fiction, expertise, and gaming.
As expertise takes middle stage the world is evolving into multi-dimensional realities, providing us new experiences like by no means earlier than. Uncover how our design work extends into this new period, honed on blockbusters akin to Iron Man, Avengers, Prepared Participant One and VR video games together with Batman: Arkham Shadow.
Russ Gautier of Territory Studio (5 p.m. to five:30 p.m. on Might 20 at California ballroom)
Our advisers embrace Peter Levin of Griffin Gaming Companions, Mark Chandler of TIGS, Jace Corridor of Twin Galaxies, Jeff Karp previously of EA Cell, Ed Lu of Fandom, Mike Romo of DDM, Charmaine Duff of Girls-Led Video games, Don Daglow of AIAS Basis/Robust Nationwide Museum of Play, Eric Goldberg of Playable Worlds, Tammy McDonald of Fusion Level Studios, Noah Falstein of The Inspiracy, Perrin Kaplan of Zebra Companions, Ivan Fernandez Lobo of Video games Govt Summit Europe, Michael Metzger of Drake Star Companions, Elizabeth Olson of Strategic Advertising and marketing, David B. Hoppe of Gamma Legislation, Mike Vorhaus of Vorhaus Advisors, Zsuzsa James of personal household workplace, Kat Jones of Motiv PR, Wanda Meloni of M2 Insights, Lisa Cosmas Hanson of Niko Companions, Sibel Sunar of Fortyseven Communications, Michael Chang of Mavent Companions and Adam Boyes of Vivrato.
We hope you’re enthusiastic about this and recognize your assist. Our sponsors embrace Xsolla, Scopely, Tencent, Leisure Software program Affiliation, Modulate, AWS, Google Cloud, Lightspeed, GEEIQ, Sawhorse Productions, VoicePatrol and extra.
We couldn’t draw as a lot consideration to our occasion with out our nice neighborhood companions together with Girls-Led Video games, Girls X AI, IGDA Basis, Black in Gaming Basis, Video games for Love, Video games for Change, Mothers in Gaming, AIAS, GEMA and WIGI.
And because of our workers: Gina Joseph, CEO of GamesBeat; Cathy Simpson and David Glass of the occasions workforce; Ji Bowlus of partnerships; our writers me, Mike Minotti, Rachel Kaser and Giancarlo Valdes; our advertising and marketing head Marta Ordeig. We additionally had a number of assist from VentureBeat on this occasion, with contributors together with Marc Gartenberg, Todd Bokin, Gloria Lukos, Karen Horn, Nicole Patricio, Mike Rosinski, Alyssa Hill, Brian Thurman and Alexey Ilinikh.
