Brian Ward, CEO of Savvy Video games Group, can be a key speaker at GamesBeat Summit 2024, our annual recreation convention which takes place on Could 20 to Could 21 in Los Angeles.
The occasion on the Marina del Rey Marriott will give attention to the theme of resilience and adaptation, zeroing in on the related real-world points going through the sport business.
We all know that the sport business has had a tough yr and a fair rougher first two months of 2024 relating to layoffs. Why is that this occurring? Is that this a part of a cycle, or is there one thing structurally altering within the recreation business? And the way can corporations and other people be extra resilient and adapt to the change?
Ward, who runs some of the influential new gaming corporations in a fast-growing area, is among the individuals who can present some solutions. He’ll do a hearth chat with Lisa Cosmas Hanson, president of Niko Companions.
GB Occasion
GamesBeat Summit Name for Audio system
We’re thrilled to open our name for audio system to our flagship occasion, GamesBeat Summit 2024 hosted in Los Angeles, the place we are going to discover the theme of “Resilience and Adaption”.
A background in gaming
Ward has greater than 25 years of expertise main corporations and groups in video games. He’s the previous head of worldwide studios at Activision Blizzard. He additionally labored at gaming giants Digital Arts and Microsoft in addition to LottoInteractive.
As senior vp of worldwide studios at Activision, he managed all improvement from portfolio planning and idea design to high quality assurance, code launch and customer support. Whereas on this function, Name of Obligation turned the business’s first multi-studio annualized franchise.
In 2021, Ward put Saudi Arabia on the gaming map when he turned CEO of Savvy Video games Group, which is owned by the Public Funding Fund of Saudi Arabia, which has pledged to speculate $37.8 billion to construct up Saudi Arabia’s presence within the world video games business. The nation is attempting to speed up its modernization by means of video games because it strikes its economic system past oil and metal into the digital realm. I’ve interviewed Ward a number of occasions and visited Riyadh to get a grasp on the change.
For certain, the corporate represents our theme of adaptation. Savvy acquired Los Angeles-based cellular recreation writer Scopely for $4.9 billion in 2023, and it purchased a $1 billion stake in Sweden-based recreation writer Embracer Group. It additionally acquired ESL Gaming and FaceIt in esports to create ESL FaceIt Group. That gave Savvy greater than 3,450 workers in gaming in 69 places. And the core market of the Center East is rising quick, in keeping with Niko Partners.
However its resilience is being examined like each different recreation firm proper now. ESL FaceIt Group not too long ago laid off 15% of its staff, and a purported extra funding in Embracer Group didn’t materialize, leading to a variety of cutbacks at that firm. The jury is out on this grand entry into video games. But the very fact stays that Ward runs some of the fascinating corporations in all of gaming proper now — and all eyes are on him.
Extra audio system
We’ve additionally introduced quite a few audio system together with the GamesBeat staff’s Rachel Kaser, Jordan Fragen, and Dean Takahashi.
On high of that, we now have Purnendu Mukherjee, Founder and CEO of Convai; Caroline Stokes, founder/government coach of Ahead; Mark Chandler, founding father of TIGS; Songyee Yoon, president and CSO of NCSoft; Alex Seropian, CEO of Look North World; Ed Fries, common associate at 1Up Ventures; Eric Goldberg, cofounder Playable Worlds; Kim Kunes, vp of Belief & Security at Xbox; Mike Morhaime, CEO of Dreamhaven; Alina Soltys, cofounder of Quantum Tech Companions; Amir Satvat, director of enterprise improvement at Tencent; Lisa Cosmas Hanson, president of Niko Companions; and Jim Huntley, affiliate professor at USC Faculty of cinematic arts.
I’m additionally trying ahead to a chat about creators with Jia Shen, who cofounded RockYou approach again when.
Return to Los Angeles
Final yr, our occasion in Los Angeles on the Marina del Rey Marriott drew greater than 900 folks. We’ll shoot for a extra intimate viewers this yr however we stay dedicated to getting among the most attention-grabbing audio system within the gaming world, together with contemporary faces.
Our convention will deal with how one can adapt to a quickly altering world, and can deal with large subjects like GenAI, cross-media diversifications (video games and Hollywood), and the problem of layoffs in an business that’s turning into a part of mainstream tradition. We’ll have a look at how the business is responding with innovation, creativity, resilience, and collaboration — and what to do about layoffs.
We’ll have one other Girls In Gaming Breakfast on the morning of Could 21, sponsored by Xsolla. And we intention to get about half of our audio system coming from numerous backgrounds. Women can sign up here. Indie recreation devs at corporations with fewer than 50 folks can sign up here. And for the primary time we now have an indie sponsorship package listed for Rising Stars.
As Matthew Ball famous in a long piece on the game industry, gaming has sturdy secular tailwinds that sign good years forward. The brand new technology of youngsters performs a variety of video games they usually’re changing generations that not often performed video games. Gamers are gaining access to extra platforms with entry to high quality video games.
Gaming tradition is being elevated to the mainstream, and gaming is evolving as an artwork and tech platform. Entry to high-quality gaming gadgets continues to enhance. Gaming tradition continues to proliferate, and the artwork type of gaming continues to evolve. However these tailwinds don’t assure that yearly will see uninterrupted progress, vital progress, or worthwhile progress.
In different phrases, progress isn’t assured. We have now to work at it. We’ll convey the highest minds within the business to debate these subjects in an interactive format.
A short while in the past, we named Purnendu Mukherjee, founder and CEO of Convai, which is producing some superb AI-based non-player characters for video games and digital awards, as our first speaker.
You may pitch us on speakers/sponsorships at this link. You too can sign up here to attend utilizing You may get 25% off with this low cost code: gbs24dean25.
We recognize the assist of our sponsors together with our longtime companions Xsolla, Playtika, Modulate, TikTok, Scopely, Fastspring and Heroic Labs. However we might use extra assist to make the convention into an amazing occasion that can be as memorable as final yr’s occasion, which featured Robert Kirkman, creator of The Strolling Lifeless. You may contact us for sponsorship information here.
The gaming media has struggled as nicely. We aren’t resistant to that, however I imagine our occasions have an actual neighborhood following and one thing particular to supply. I hope you’ll all proceed to see worth in supporting GamesBeat because it additionally helps the sport business.
We might additionally use sponsor assist and audio system for our different occasions, together with GamesBeat Subsequent on October 28 to October 29 in San Francisco and GamesBeat on the Sport Awards on December 12. We’ll be launching signups for these occasions as nicely. Our sponsorship staff is at gross sales@venturebeat.com.
Additionally, I’m recruiting judges for the Visionary Awards now.
VentureBeat’s mission is to be a digital city sq. for technical decision-makers to achieve data about transformative enterprise know-how and transact. Discover our Briefings.
