GamesBeat Summit Next

Web 3.0 is the ultimate destination for playing, discussing, and creating games—but app stores have been nervous about welcoming blockchain and NFTs onto their platforms; regulators have been unclear; and gamers have been resistant. It reminds us of the early days of free-to-play games. We’ll discuss these obstacles and alternative paths to innovative games using web3 technologies.

The Metaverse electronic traded fund (ETF) is a basket of 50 metaverse-related stocks. The creators of the fund will talk about how they define the metaverse and put the basket of recommended metaverse stocks together. You can invest in the metaverse today, but you can also see just how much heavy lifting still has to happen.

Science fiction writers, filmmakers and futurists have warned for years about the potential for a dystopian future where technology has created a dark, uninviting, hostile world. John Hanke, the Founder and CEO of Niantic, is here to tell you it doesn’t need to go that way. If the metaverse contemplates leading our lives inside of a computer network, the Real-World Metaverse will use technology to improve our experience of the real world, enriching it with fun and magic, and helping people lead richer, more fulfilling lives. But before you can enhance reality, you need to understand reality, and Hanke will outline Niantic’s vision of empowering developers and creators around the world with the Niantic Lightship platform. Learning lessons from technology transformations of the past, it’s incumbent on all of us to be more inclusive of different communities and more intentional about anticipating the downsides - as well as the upsides - of technology that will shape society and our lives over the coming decades.

From simple cave drawings to elaborate multi-million dollar performances, storytelling is constantly changing to meet the needs of each new generation. In this session, Jack Attridge, co-founder of immersive entertainment studio Flavourworks, will discuss the next evolution of storytelling: the user-guided narrative. He’ll bring to the table proof points on how technology is helping lead this through the blurring of live-action film and gaming and how merging the narrative methods of a film production company with the engagement of a game studio can create truly special live-action cinematic experiences, allowing stories to be told in new and groundbreaking ways. Is this the future of storytelling? Let’s find out…

The consequences of failing to embrace diversity are all over the headlines in the game industry. We have to do better. We talk with the creators of studios about how they try to make sure that their companies are diverse and inclusive from the start.

Join a panel of global Metaverse futurists and luminaries and listen to their vision of the Metaverse, what potentials it will bring to us, and what needs to happen in the near term to build the foundations.

Samsung Next presents a panel discussion about the rise of monetization in gaming, and its growth beyond professional, full-time gamers and streamers to hobbyists and casual players. Hear from a group of founders providing monetization strategies to the gaming community at a variety of levels and learn about new possibilities for both professional and amateur players.

In today’s world, people everywhere are becoming mobile. With users no longer tied down by a physical connection to the internet and handheld devices growing more powerful, the video game industry has a tremendous opportunity to connect with more people than ever. With Singtel being the world’s largest multinational mobility carrier with over 706 million customers globally, we are proud to facilitate an open panel discussion about where 5G is now, and what it will mean in the future as platforms such as AR and VR mature.

While much of the focus on the metaverse has been on what it will look like in the near term and who will dominate it, this roundtable is a discussion about how the future of the metaverse will evolve long term towards greater immersion and interactivity and what it might mean for humanity.  We'll talk about each of the stages of building the metaverse, and how they will lead to multiverses of simulated experiences, finally culminating in the Simulation Point, a different kind of technological singularity.

For the past 40 years, there has been a seismic shift in the gaming industry roughly every decade. We saw how console games moved the PC, and then to the web. Then we saw how mobile took over and upended the entire gaming industry with the F2P model and microtransactions. Today, gaming revenue is tracking at nearly $180 billion for 2021, the lion’s share of it from mobile.
If we thought these technological breakthroughs were big, they are going to be nothing compared to how blockchain will change gaming. But, just like every change before, there will be winners and there will be losers. What can you do to make sure your studio is on the winning side?

Gala Games has waded into blockchain tech with both games and art. Its Gala Labs division also worked with Concept Art House to display comic artist Frank Miller’s NFTs, while the company is working on a big MMO with NFTs. We’ll talk about the opportunities in the space and the intersection of games, art, and other experiences.

Stamping out cheaters and fraud is critical for games and other apps, as it is vital to making all of your users happy. Technology can help companies, but it can also help cheaters and fraudsters. If the headlines are any hint, this isn't a battle that the game industry has already won. There are real tradeoffs between making a game safe, balancing privacy, and keeping it fun for everybody. We'll talk about the balancing act with the experts as they tackle the problems of today and anticipate the security challenges of the metaverse.

The explosion of NFTs sparked next-level alignment of interests between brands, gamers and developers. At the front of the movement, Dapper Labs has opened up a new world for sports fans to experience the games they love, starting with their flagship product NBA Top Shot. Hear from Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou on the strengths of building global communities through NFTs and how he plans to put a crypto wallet in every pocket.

Our panel of the leaders of NFT gaming will talk about what happened that made the NFT market explode. They’ll make their predictions about what’s hype and what’s real, and the prospects for mass adoption, as well as the potential to disrupt gaming with a new kind of triple-A game.

As the next iteration on pay-to-play and free-to-play models, "play-to-earn" is often discussed in terms of its benefits for players. As seen in the mini-documentary, Play-to-Earn: NFT Gaming in the Philippines, players have been able to earn significant returns by playing decentralized games. But what does this new business model mean for the mainstream gaming industry? Our speaker panel discusses the changing role of game platforms, publishers, and developers in the burgeoning world of play-to-earn.

Amazon got involved with game creators in a big way with its acquisition of Twitch in 2014. But its journey in game development has been more organic. Following the successful launch of New World, Amazon Games VP Mike Frazzini joins Geoff Keighley to discuss the Amazon Games journey. They will talk about making big investments in gaming, the lessons of this journey, and how the company stayed the course. We’ll also talk about how the company looks at trends and opportunities in gaming.

The giants of sports games have had a lock on sports gamers for a long time. But a new breed of the game has emerged on mobile devices, and Nifty Games is going after it. The maker of NFL Clash brings together some grizzled veterans of sports gaming, including former Sega of America, Xbox, and EA Sports chief Peter Moore as well as Nifty cofounder Jon Middleton.

A conversation about how the inception and development of the original Xbox has influenced the game industry, how the industry has changed since 2001, and what we can learn about the next 20 years by paying attention to the little ideas that can grow. Seamus Blackley and a band of upstarts tried to change the industry, and the lessons from their movement are still relevant today.

Games are growing all around the world, and so are game studios. We'll talk to the experts who are focusing on emerging markets such as India, Eastern Europe, and Africa about the growth they see and the potential for accelerated growth, economic benefits, and lucrative investments.

The global games industry is at an inflection point. The industry-wide shift to a “games as a service” model will see esports play an increasingly essential role for publishers as a tool to deepen player engagement and drive in-game microtransactions.  In this session, Mike Sepso, CEO and Co-Founder of Vindex, will discuss how publishers can activate esports and premium live content across physical and digital channels to build communities and content to sustain the engagement needed to succeed in the modern games industry.

Emily Greer of Double Loop Games, a mobile game developer, and Anat Shperling of Toya, a maker of games for Roblox, will have a conversation about their different approaches for making games that appeal to broader audiences.

Gaming has reached a UGC inflection point that benefits the entire ecosystem. Gamers get more content, in-game creators can earn a living with their mods, and publishers can outsource content creation in a way that is safe and financially viable.  The developers that harness the community power will thrive in the next era of gaming.

Hear from Michael Lewis, VP of Direct to Consumer at Take-Two, and Uri Marchand, CEO and Co-Founder of Overwolf, as they discuss the importance of integrating UGC into existing and future games, why it is key to engagement, and best practices when supporting the community of creators. 

Strauss Zelnick has been CEO of Take-Two Interactive since 2007. He is also CEO of private equity firm ZMC, and is the former chairman of CBS. Under his tenure, Take-Two’s studios and labels have grown to thousands of employees and published huge hits such as Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, Borderlands, and more. Zelnick’s teams produce some of the industry’s biggest hits, and he gives them the financing and time to get them done. We’ll get his take on what’s coming next, what will get mainstream adoption, and what may not.

Community co-creation is clearly going to be an essential component of the immersive future version of the Internet—the Metaverse. But enabling anyone to design, build and publish immersive, interoperable experiences and metaverse items for others to consume, is no small feat. From supporting a mix of skill levels among creators to architecting an inherently global infrastructure that these diverse developer communities can utilize, to managing latency, virtual economy and social/cultural norms in the context of an interactive global public space, there is a myriad of complex technical challenges to be solved for the true Metaverse to fully materialize. Hear from Daniel Sturman, CTO at Roblox, how the global platform is trailblazing solutions for these fundamental challenges to connect a billion people through shared experiences in a safe and civil metaverse and enable their creative expression, and what technology is yet to be built to power user-generated content (UGC) at scale.

Games are increasingly being used as a vehicle to achieve social impact.  Game developers seek to harness themes that speak to the social issues of the day, while employers are placing greater emphasis on creating a more inclusive workforce and work environment.  Still, for the video game industry, these efforts are in their early stages. This panel will examine the challenges and opportunities in seeking to advance social impact and inclusion through games...

We've seen a boom in-game investments, acquisitions, and other deals. The biggest companies are constantly evaluating the landscape and adapting their strategies to best take advantage of new opportunities.  Microsoft's Xbox group has made big bets on technologies like cloud gaming and business models such as subscriptions, but there are places it hasn't gone yet. We'll listen to Sarah Bond of Microsoft Xbox and Nick Tuosto of Liontree and Griffin Gaming Partners talk about navigating the new world of gaming.

We’ve seen a lot of criticism about blockchain games. While there is plenty to discuss about how NFTs will fit with great games and no shortage of scams in crypto, there are also a lot of myths that stand in the way of adoption. This panel will bust some of those myths and talk about the keys to mass adoption in games that we all want to play.

Oculus. HTC Vive and Flow. Hololens. Pico. Nreal….we could go on. Headsets are changing the way we are entertained, work and learn and are blending into our lives. What new technologies are pushing XR further into the metaverse? From haptics to human machine interface, hear from industry trailblazers at the forefront of growing interactions inside XR. Led by XR Consultant Charlie Fink, Finch CEO Gary Yamamoto and Emerge Vice President Franco De Cesare, their panel will share the latest compelling interactions in XR.

Mari Takahashi (“AtomicMari”) spent much of her video game career as a creator, influencer and host, but was always expanding her knowledge of the industry and more specifically, all the ways in which a creator can truly learn and grow as a business-focused entrepreneur. With her recent appointment as the new co-owner of esports organization Spacestation Gaming, Mari will dive into what it’s like making the leap from creator to co-owner of an esports organization, what leaps like hers’ mean for the overall creator economy, and how companies, people and brands can better understand how to work with someone like her, or moreover, take the leap themselves and successfully and strategically toe the line between creator/influencer and thought leader/entrepreneur.

Our panelists will talk about decentralized web gaming and getting it right from an economic, philosophical, and technical perspective.

Game engines are a critical part of developing games that can run on many platforms, but they’re owned by companies with their own strategic interests. That’s why a group of developers has converted Amazon’s Lumberyard engine into the Open 3D Engine. Denis Dyack, CEO of Apocalypse Studios,  has made the transition from Amazon’s Lumberyard to the Open 3D Engine, a game engine that is already getting contributions from many developers. We’ll talk about why this is strategically important to developer freedom and how it makes games better.

The metaverse won’t be real unless it’s real-time. Everything from games to video chat needs instant snappiness and a feeling of immersion. Today’s internet can’t deliver that, as it was built for redundancy, not latency. We’ll talk about how we will get there.

Epic v. Apple, IDFA, privacy, and payments

Gaming venture capital is hitting its stride with big funds and big investments. What better way to talk about what’s coming next for gaming than bringing together the experts who are making some of the biggest investments in the sector?

We’ll close with a podcast where the writers of GamesBeat talk about their impressions of the conference and the key lessons we learned.