#GamesBeat2021

The games industry continues to see major uplift stemming from the pandemic and next-gen releases with games contributing $40.9 billion to the US economy. The gaming industry is currently one of the few growing during this time period, with major IPOs and funding rounds keeping pace through 2021.
With the increased visibility and need to continuously drive growth, GamesBeat, the gaming division of VentureBeat, is gathering the community from January 26th to January 28th for a new 3-day summit focused on Driving Game Growth, hosted in a partnership between GamesBeat and Facebook, and the metaverse.

The newly expanded 3-day event serves as an opportunity for game developers, publishers, investors, and more, to learn and capitalize on new information in a fast moving and competitive, but hugely growing industry which everyone has their eyes on.

"At VentureBeat Lab, we're seeking partners who can authentically bring forth the right kind of thought leadership that is valuable to our readers and event attendees. We're proud to partner with Facebook on the next big gaming event, and announce the diverse pool of speakers we've secured for this event,” said Gina Joseph, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at VentureBeat.

Brought to you in partnership with Facebook Gaming and Facebook Audience Network, we’ll be talking about major ad ecosystem changes, monetization strategies and the cross-platform appeal and accessibility of instant games. 

Opening the first day are Rick Kelley, VP of Global Gaming at Facebook, and Steve Webb, Facebook Audience Network’s Director of Global Sales & Operations, who will tackle Facebook’s perspective on major growth opportunities in 2021. This is followed by Dean Takahashi, Lead Writer for GamesBeat, and Josh Yguado, Jam City’s Co-Founder/President, giving the Jam City perspective.

Following the opening keynotes, Chris Akhavan, SVP of Business Development, Corporate Development & Advertising of Glu Mobile and Joseph Kim, CEO of LILA Games, will dive into data and insights to tackle common misconceptions about ads monetization. Additional panels featuring speakers from Product Madness, Ludia, Game Hive, and FUN-GI will also address new video, ad, and app bidding strategies for game publishers and developers to use across casual, hypercasual, midcore and hardcore games in 2021.

 
Uniquely positioned for the current era, Nate Morgan of Facebook Audience Network, Kris Davis of Kabam, Rob Ricca of Scopely, and Nick Tuosto or Liontree will be tackling “Mergers and Acquisitions: Behind the Deal During a Pandemic.”

Two standout panels focused on key topics also include “Finding More Gamers via Instantly Accessible Games and the Cloud” and “Moving the Gaming Industry Forward: Impactful D&I initiatives.”
Additional topics covered on January 26th include marketing automation, next-generation consoles, and growing games at scale, plus the importance of culturalizing games and reaching international audiences. 

For the following two days, the focus will shift to the metaverse, a topic Dean Takahashi of GamesBeat has covered in-depth. Key speakers tackling the metaverse include Cyberpunk creator Mike Pondsmith, CEO of R. Talsorian Games; Geoff Keighley, creator of The Game Awards; Siobhan Reddy, head of Dreams creator Media Molecule; and Richard Bartle, a pioneering researcher on AI in games and online gaming. 

For a full list of topics, speakers, and more, please visit our event site here.

Thanks to the support of Facebook, this event is free to those who have registered for the traditional audience of CEOs and executives who will come for the content and the networking, along with the aspiring developers and international audiences.This event will be all virtual and available online hosted on VentureBeat’s best-in-class digital platform.

Pre-registered games industry executives will have access to behind the scenes Q&A rooms, private networking lounges, 1:1 meetings, and more. Sign up today to reserve your spot.