We’re taking GamesBeat Summit 2020 into a digital online-only format. And now we’re happy to welcome our next round of speakers. Register now for a chance to see Philip Rosedale of High Fidelity; Matthew Ball of Epyllion Industries; Raph Koster of Playable Worlds; Frederic Descamps of Manticore Games; and Sam Englebardt of Galaxy Interactive talk all things Metaverse.
We’ve added these speakers to the updated agenda, posted below, for the event which will air on April 28 and April 29 as a virtual conference. If you are interested in attending GamesBeat Summit online, please sign up here.
After careful thought about the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, we decided not to use centralized studios or physical locations. But we think we can serve our GamesBeat community well with a fully distributed, digital event.
The health and safety of our GamesBeat community, attendees, employees, and sponsors remains our top priority. In this digital event, attendees can watch livestreamed and recorded talks, take part in online networking sessions and digital roundtables, access our gaming partners virtually, and more.
And now unveiling our next session:
The Metaverse is Coming
Join Philip Rosedale of High Fidelity; Matthew Ball of Epyllion Industries; Raph Koster of Playable Worlds; Frederic Descamps of Manticore Games; moderated by Sam Englebardt of Galaxy Interactive. Their panel will discuss the promise of the Metaverse, the idea of immersive worlds that are connected to each other, like in the novels of Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash in 1992) and movies like Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One.
The idea was popularized as a successor to the internet decades ago, but the full vision for it remains hard to define, according to panelist Ball. But as you can see in the video provided by Descamps, the Core game tools for creating user-generated worlds can already connect different game worlds. That makes us think that the visions of luminaries like Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney aren’t all that far away. So we’ve gathered some leading thinkers on this topic to discuss it at our event.
Philip Rosedale
Above: Philip Rosedale, CEO and Co-founder, High Fidelity
Philip Rosedale is the CEO of High Fidelity. In 1995, he created an innovative Internet video conferencing product (“FreeVue”), which was later acquired by RealNetworks, wherein 1996 he went on to become vice president and CTO. In 1999, Rosedale left RealNetworks, founded Linden Lab, and built a virtual civilization called Second Life, creating an open-ended, Internet-connected virtual world. Following Second Life, Rosedale worked on several projects related to distributed work and computing. Excited by innovations in these areas and the proliferation of new VR-enabling devices, he re-entered the virtual worlds space in 2013, founding High Fidelity.
Matthew Ball
Above: Matthew Ball, Managing Partner, Epyllion Industries
Matthew Ball is the managing partner of Epyllion Industries, which operates a venture and corporate advisory arm, as well as a pre-seed/seed venture fund. He is also a Venture Partner at Makers Fund, Senior Advisor to Telefilm Canada and contributor to The Economist. Matthew was previously the first head of strategy at Amazon Studios and holds bylines at the New York Times and BusinessWeek.
Raph Koster
Above: Raph Koster, CEO of Playable Worlds, Inc.
Raph Koster is the CEO of Playable Worlds. He is a veteran game designer and creative executive who has worked at EA, Sony, and Disney as well as run his own company twice. The lead designer and director of massive titles such as Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies, he’s also contributed writing, art, music, and programming to many other titles. He is the author of the classic book A Theory of Fun for Game Design. In 2012, he was named an Online Game Legend at the Game Developers Conference Online. He wrote the book on massively multiplayer online games. In fact, several books.
Frederic Descamps
Above: Frederic Descamps, CEO & Co-Founder, Manticore Games Inc.
Frederic Descamps is CEO & Co-Founder at Manticore Games Inc. Frederic has over twenty years of experience in gaming and tech, having worked at Xfire (acquired by MTV), Trion Worlds, A Bit Lucky, Zynga.
Prior to founding Manticore Games, Descamps rebuilt and headed the Corporate Development function at Zynga as well as was Studio GM for Solstice Arena, Empires & Allies and an R&D team. Descamps’ previous company, A Bit Lucky, was acquired by Zynga in 2012. Descamps is an avid collector of classic games and game systems such as the Apple II, Mattel Intellivision, Vectrex, Atari ST, and Amiga. I’ve written many stories about Descamps’ companies, and he interviewed me for his master’s thesis.
Sam Englebardt
Above: Sam Englebardt, Co-Founder and Partner, Galaxy Digital
Sam Englebardt is a media and technology investor and content producer who has created, acquired and/or financed a broad range of traditional and digital businesses and dozens of films and television shows over the past decade.
Englebardt is a Co-Founder and Partner at Galaxy Digital and the Head of Galaxy’s Interactive division. Investing from its $325 million Galaxy Digital EOS VC Fund (a partnership between Galaxy Digital and software development company, Block.one), Galaxy Interactive focuses exclusively on companies operating at the intersection of interactive content, blockchain and other technologies, with particular emphasis on video game studios, eSports, digital objects and related infrastructure tech.
Englebardt’s involvement with Galaxy reflects his deep interest in the intersection of content, consciousness and exponential technologies. In addition to the Galaxy Interactive portfolio (www.galaxyinteractive.io), he was an early investor in Eyefluence, an eye-tracking technology company that was sold to Google and he has been an advisor to several start-ups in the mixed-reality space, including VR company, The Void (www.thevoid.com).
Prior to Galaxy Digital, Englebardt was a Partner and Managing Director at Lambert Media Group (LMG) from 2007 – 2016, where he sourced and managed a portfolio of media-sector private equity investments. Before LMG, Englebardt was a Vice President and Financial Advisor at Alliance Bernstein. He has been a prolific content producer throughout his career and spent three years running LMG portfolio company, Demarest Films. His recent live-action projects include the acclaimed John Le Carre projects, The Night Manager, and A Most Wanted Man.
Event details
GamesBeat Summit Digital will provide the same great content and create digital networking experiences, all available remotely. We’ve very grateful that the overwhelming number of our speakers (which we originally recruited for our physical event) and our sponsors have stayed with us. We hope to live up to their belief in us with our talks around the theme of Dawn of the Next Generation.
We will continue to be proactive in our communication and will follow up with more information about technology platforms and logistics in the coming days. It looks like we’re heading toward an even larger even with about 115 speakers. The schedule is still subject to change. Last week, we announced speakers such as former Blizzard Entertainment president and cofounder Mike Morhaime, Mike Frazzini of Amazon Game Studios, and Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney.
Agenda
Tuesday, April 28, 2020 (all times Pacific time)
9:15 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Boss Stage: Introductory remarks by Dean Takahashi, lead writer for VentureBeat’s GamesBeat
9:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.
Boss Stage: “Serious money going into esports and gaming: Mergers, acquisitions, and fundraising trends” with Alina Soltys, founder of Quantum Tech Partners
9:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
Boss Stage: “The rise of new independent publishers” with Michael Worosz, executive vice president for corporate development and independent publishing at Take-Two Interactive, moderated by Michael Metzger, partner at Drake Star Partners
Hero Stage: “The future of gaming is user-generated content” with Matt Curtis, VP of Developer Relations at Roblox
10:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Boss stage: Owen Mahoney, CEO of Nexon
Hero Stage: Esports with Neo Liu, head of publishing for Tencent North America; Karim Farghaly of Bandai Namco; and Jacob Navok, CEO of Genvid Technologies; moderated by David Hoppe of Gamma Law
10:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Boss Stage: Mike Morhaime, cofounder and former president of Blizzard Entertainment, moderated by Seth Schiesel
Hero Stage: “The Leisure Economy” with John Linden, CEO, Mythical Games
GamesBeat Summit Digital speakers[/caption]
11:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Boss Stage: Fireside Chat with Stanley Pierre-Louis, CEO of the Entertainment Software Association, moderated by Keisha Howard of Sugar Gamers
Hero Stage: “Choose your own adventure: The evolution of storytelling through the next generation” with Gary Whitta of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, moderated by Tina Amini of IGN
11:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Boss Stage: “Gaming’s future as the best form of entertainment,” Jon Goldman of Greycroft and GC Tracker Fund, moderated by Andreea Enache of Blind Squirrel Entertainment
Hero Stage: “We are who we pretend to be” with Edward Saatchi of Fable Studio, moderated by Dean Takahashi
12:15 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Breakout sessions, Networking Roundtables, Slack Q&A, Community Discussion
1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Boss Stage: Scopely co-CEO Javier Ferreira
Hero Stage: “Game investments in the age of the coronavirus” with Ryan McDermott of Resolute Partners Group
1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Boss Stage: “Facebook creative testing: Why the control is so hard to beat” with Brian Bowman, CEO of Consumer Acquisition (solo talk)
Hero Stage: “Using AI for game testing,” with PinkLion CEO Jennifer Bonine (solo talk)
2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Boss Stage: “Console cycles: The old, the new, and the future” with Rob Dyer, chief operating officer at Capcom, moderated by Mike Vorhaus of Vorhaus Advisors
Hero Stage: “Bulletproofing your brand strategy in the age of influencers” with Doron Nir, CEO of StreamElements
2:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
Boss Stage: “What to expect in early-stage fundraising” with David Gardner of London Venture Partners; Gregory Milken of March Capital Partners; and Shanti Bergel of Transcend Fund; moderated by David Chang of Asmodee Digital
2:30 p.m. – -3:00 p.m.
Hero Stage: “Productivity Without Crunch in Game Academia and Industry” with Richard Lemarchand, Associate Professor at USC Games Program, moderated by Brandon Sheffield of Necrosoft Games
3:00 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Hero Stage: Series A/B Panel with Phil Sanderson of Griffin Gaming Partners; Michael Cheung of Makers Fund; Rick Yang of NEA; moderated by Eric Goldberg of Crossover Technologies
3:45 pm – 4 p.m. Hero Stage break
Phil Sanderson of IDG Ventures[/caption]
3:15 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Boss Stage: “How Thatgamecompany enabled a wholesome community in Sky” with Jenova Chen, Co-Founder of Thatgamecompany
4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Boss Stage: “Building out charity in the games space” with Stephen Machuga of Stack-Up
Hero Stage: “Your Gamer DNA” with Chethan Ramachandran, CEO of Skillprint; moderated by Keisha Howard of Sugar Gamers
4:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Boss Stage: “The next generation of multi-dimensional games and large-scale VR development,” with Peter Akemann, CEO at Skydance Interactive, moderated by Mike Minotti of GamesBeat
Hero Stage: “The Realities of crossplay and managing live services” with Jesse Houston, CEO of Phoenix Labs; moderated by Dean Takahashi
5:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Boss Stage: “The Constant of Creativity” with Glen Schofield, Founder of Striking Distance Studios
Hero Stage: “External Development Stories” with Mihai Pohontu, CEO of Amber Studios
5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Connect with the community online. Join online Q&A, breakout sessions, and try fun and new digital event technology.
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
8:00 a.m.
Women in Gaming Virtual Breakfast, Presented by Niantic. Speakers include Kellee Santiago of Niantic, Nonny de la Peña of Emblematic Group, and Elizabeth Howard of Aspyr
9:45 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Boss Stage: Opening remarks — Mike Minotti, reviews editor at GamesBeat
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Boss Stage: “The future of influencer marketing” with Mari Takahashi of Smosh Games; Joshua Ovenshire of Arcade Cloud; moderated by Andrea Rene of What’s Good Games
Hero Stage: “How to run a great writers room” with Adam Foshko of HBO; moderated by Mark Long of HBO
10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Boss Stage: “Recapturing the history of games,” Josh Tsui of Ten Point Oh and Blake Harris, author of Console Wars and A History of the Future; moderated by Dean Takahashi
Hero Stage: Lightning round talks
“Play with My Emotions: A Case for (more) Romance & Sex in Games’ with Zsuzsa James, Team Finland Coordinator for Video Games & Esports; Andrew Maximov, CEO of Promethean AI; Barry Jenkins, CEO of Primal Space Systems and Instant Interactive
11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Boss Stage: “Why gaming will be at the center of the future entertainment universe” with Josh Yguado, Co-Founder & President of Jam City, moderated by Amy Allison of Skydance
Hero Stage: Fireside Chat with Elan Lee, cofounder of Exploding Kittens; moderated by Theresa Duringer of Temple Gates Games
11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Boss Stage: “Experiencing technical difficulty” with Mitch Lasky of Benchmark Capital; moderated by Eric Goldberg of Crossover Technologies
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Hero Stage: “How game developers can adapt to the world after COVID-19,” with Renee Gittins, Executive Director of IGDA, moderated by Justin Berenbaum of Xsolla
12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Boss Stage: Fireside Chat with Bernard Kim of Zynga; moderated by Patrick Shanley of The Hollywood Reporter
12:30 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.
Breakout sessions, Networking Roundtables, Slack Q&A, Community Discussion
1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Boss Stage: “Gaming has always paved the way in mobile and user acquisition” with Paul Muller, CTO of Adjust; moderated by Dean Takahashi
Hero Stage: “The EVE Effect” with Hilmar Pétursson, CEO of CCP
1:30 p.m – 2:00 p.m.
Boss Stage: “The Metaverse is Coming” with Philip Rosedale of High Fidelity; Matthew Ball of Epyllion Industries; Raph Koster of Playable Worlds; Frederic Descamps of Manticore Games; moderated by Sam Englebardt of Galaxy Interactive
Hero Stage: “The mainstreaming of esports,” panel including Mark Chang, head of gaming and esports at Intel
2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Boss Stage: Fireside chat with Brent Bushnell of Two Bit Circus
Hero Stage: “Strategies for mental wellness in gaming,” speakers John Smedley of Amazon Studios; Mark Chandler of The International Game Summit for Mental Health; and Eve Crevoshay of Take This.
2:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Boss Stage: “The real world games of the future: Designing AR/Geospatial/Purposeful games,” with Greg Borrud of Niantic (solo talk)
Hero Stage: “Diversity and inclusion: How to create virtual and accessible resources for marginalized communities during a pandemic/in the face of uncertainty,” with Nika Nour, Executive Director of IGDA Foundation, moderated by gaming personality Jessica Chobot
3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Eric Schiermeyer is CEO of Blockchain Game Partners.[/caption]
Boss Stage: Fireside Chat with Neil Young, CEO of N3twork, moderated by Bing Gordon of Kleiner Perkins
Hero Stage: Blockchain panel with Sebastian Borget of The Sandbox; Peter Kieltyka of Horizon Blockchain Games; and Eric Schiermeyer of Blockchain Game Partners; Taehoon Kim, CEO of nWay; moderated by James Zhang of Concept Art House
3:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Breakout sessions, Networking Roundtables, Slack Q&A, Community Discussion
3:45 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.
Boss Stage: “Games M&A: Open for business” with Michael Chang of NCSoft; Nick Tuosto of LionTree; and Affan Butt of Aream & Co.; moderated by Mark Stevens of Fenwick & West LLP
Hero Stage: Asia Gaming Panel with Bill Wang of Giant Network; Amy Huang of Mattel163; Cynthia Du of Cocos; Jeff Lyndon of iDreamSky; moderated by Lisa Cosmas Hanson of Niko Partners
4:15 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Boss Stage: “Working backward from the players: Amazon’s approach to games,” with Mike Frazzini, vice president of Amazon, moderated by Dean Takahashi
Hero Stage: “Player behavior: Your secret growth tool,” with Carlos Figueiredo of Two Hat Security, Clara Siegel of Facebook, and Kim Voll of Stray Bombay; moderated by Kate Edwards of The Global Game Jam
4:45 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Lisa Cosmas Hanson is managing director at Niko Partners.
Boss Stage: “eSports and GaaS in Asia Pacific” with Tim Guhl of Singtel; moderated by Lisa Cosmas Hanson of Niko Partners
Hero Stage: “Industry-facing game education” with Danny Bilson, Chair, Interactive Media, Games Division at USC
5:15 pm – 5:45 pm
Boss Stage: To be announced
Hero Stage: To be announced
5:45 p.m.
Connect with the community online. Join online Q&A, breakout sessions, and try fun and new digital event technology.
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