Do you want to gain practical insight into game design from successful indies and the biggest developers, discover the best ways to grow your company from huge AAA companies, and learn what they key factors are in choosing your publisher? Then make sure you attend Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5!
The leading games industry conference is live from February 8th to 12th, 2021, and we’re delighted to announce more speakers joining the lineup. The experts you’ll learn from include SEGA Europe’s Bobby Wertheim, Ubisoft’s Kurston Timothy, Miniclip’s Zaair Hussain and Rovio’s Gustavo Viegas.
Taking place completely online, over 1,500 virtual attendees from all around the world will hear from more than 250 expert speakers of the games industry across 14 conference tracks. Those topic areas include industry visions and values, esports, monetisation and more, and the speakers are genuinely world class if we say so ourselves.
Each talk, panel, keynote and seminars will be streamed live, recorded and made available on demand, so with a ticket you can interact with our speakers during their talks through our Q&As or catch up at a later time if you’re unavailable for the stream.
We’ve already announced a ton of speakers which you can catch up on here and here, but today we’re thrilled to be able to reveal more speakers who will share their insights with you at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5.
2020 has been a strange year as we all know, yet despite the chaos, some have found opportunities. SEGA Europe’s head of content Bobby Wertheim delivers a session on scouting for the next best seller during the chaos. He covers the impact of COVID-19 to the game scouting efforts, presents a high level trend analysis of all the studios and pitches seen in 2020, and the best practices of how to approach a publisher with those aspects in mind. Wertheim also appears on a panel with GameBiz Consukting’s CEO Nikola Cavic as they look at key points developers need to keep in mind when choosing a publisher.
Bobby Wertheim delivers a session on scouting for the next best seller during the chaos of 2020
Meanwhile, Funday Factory’s CEO and partner Kristian Bang Nørgaard and Whatwapp’s co-founder Martina Gianfreda discuss what 2020 has taught us and what to expect now with a panel.
DICE’s head of design Fawzi Mesmar, Mobile Game Doctor’s owner Dave Rohrl, and Altitude Games’ co-founder and creative director Luna Javier compare the challenges and advantages of creating a game remotely.
Chorus Worldwide’s founder and CEO Shintaro Kanaoya and publishing director Jez Harris unite for a joint session which aims to understand the publishing process and the latest trends from development to publishing.
Visions and values
Kurston Timothy dives into how the black game pros initiative is changing the industry’s mindset.
At our Pocket Gamer Connects Digital series, we have incorporated longer round-table discussions to dive deeper into key topics of the games industry. One round-table featuring at our fifth digital conference features Charlotte Cook, AuthorDigital’s chief product process people officer Jason Robar, Edge’s CEO Adam Whyte and Ritual Motion’s VP of content Crystal Mills as they explore how we can welcome new talent into the games industry. Mills also appears on a panel which looks at whether 2021 is the year of esports.
“Video games remain under political and regulatory scrutiny in much of Europe and the UK with recent interventions from governments on loot boxes, in game transactions, advertising and user-generated content”, says Greenstone Research’s director Ben Greenstone. In his session on the Global Trends track, he explores the big issues, the motivations behind them, and will feature exclusive polling of members of parliament on their views on games.
Our Visions & Values track enables us to tackle big, thematic issues, and discuss the impact games have on society. Ubisoft’s object bank QC Kurston Timothy dives into how the black game pros initiative is changing the industry’s mindset.
Banzai Games (Nekki)’s executive producer Dmitry Pimenov moderates a panel featuring WINGS Interactive’s CEO Cassia Curran and other speakers which looks at how to create games that make a real difference.
The technicals of games and going beyond
Taras Terletskyy dedicates his session to understanding the psychoacoustics phenomenon in games
We never forget the practical techniques involved in game creation. Sketchbook Games’ founder/creative director Mark Backler, Boomzap Entertainment’s CEO Christopher Natsuume and Altergaze’s CEO Liviu Antoni all discuss what are the realities indie developers should always keep in mind on a panel.
Psychoacoustics is how humans perceive various sounds. Sample Rate Audio Production’s CEO/sound designer Taras Terletskyy dedicates his session to understanding the psychoacoustics phenomenon in games.
Meanwhile you can explore the future of artificial intelligence with Fridai’s co-founder Mark Engelhardt, as he places the focus on the gamers themselves.
GamePoint’s live ops manager Wouter Schrijvershof, Gamesconsulting.net F2P product, live ops and monetisation consultant Nick Murray, and Square Enix’s director of product and live ops Albert Custodio Martinez feature on a panel to show you the process of making smart decisions in live ops.
Miniclip’s commercial consultant Zaair Hussain moderates a roundtable focused on whether outsourcing or co-development is the way to grow.
The business of growing your company
Lolita Suleimanova features on a roundtable to discuss both the advantages and challenges in levitating games into brands and fandoms
Homa Games’ brand lead Lolita Suleimanova features on a roundtable with other expert speakers about both the advantages and challenges in levitating games into brands and fandoms, and how game companies and IP of any size can start taking meaningful steps toward unlocking their franchise potential with quality and authenticity in equal measure.
Supremacy Games’ CEO and co-founder Jari Pauna features on a panel with RocketRide Games’ founder Louis-Rene Auclair and other expert speakers as they look at whether you should consider the known or new when deciding on your IP.
Vectr Ventures’ managing director Tony Zander, Transcend Fund’s principal Graham Gockley, Play Ventures’ founding partner Harri Manninen look at the ways you can manage your investor relationship, and what to do when everything goes south. Meanwhile, The Inspiracy’s owner Noah Falstein discusses with another panel whether 2021 will see another boom in game investments.
Rovio’s performance marketing manager Gustavo Viegas appears on a panel to discuss how to take user acquisition and retention to the next level. Aftershock Media Group’s director of business development Matt Rutledge and GamePoint’s user acquisition manager Mirko Bertoletti explore the do’s and don’ts in user acquisition and game marketing on a panel.
Music, films, comics and more
One of the most popular additions to the Pocket Gamer Connects format in recent months has been the Beyond Games track. We’ve seen speakers from all kinds of disciplines discuss how interactive entertainment intersects with other media. We’ve already announced one of our big names for February, Star Wars writer Cavan Scott. But we’re thrilled to be building a whole afternoon of fantastic “metaverse” content:
Book now, save $395 with Super Early Bird prices!!
For instance, One 3 Creative’s chief storyteller/transmedia producer Houston Howard – returning after popular appearances at Helsinki and Digital #4 – presents the advantages of creating a multiplatform transmedia strategy for your games, and explains how you can do just that.
Is transmedia the way to go for all game developers? Charisma.ai’s co-founder and CEO Guy Gadney appears alongside Cinemoi’s game producer and product manager David Mullich and other experts on a panel as they tackle this key topic.
Book now and save $395 before midnight TOMORROW!
You can hear from all these amazing speakers and more at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5! Book now and save up to $395 with our Super Early Bird prices. Be quick, these discounts end at midnight TOMORROW (Thursday, December 17th)!
We’re also allocating a limited amount of free passes solely for small indie developers, enabling them to meet with investors and publishers, and learn from the industry’s biggest names. If you think you qualify, sign up here.
