GamesBeat Summit 2022: Our first batch of speakers on changes coming to gaming

Reggie is in the house. Our GamesBeat Summit 2022 event will take place April 26 to April 28, with a hybrid format that includes the first day as an in-person event in Los Angeles and the next two days as online-only talks.

And I’m excited to say our initial speakers for the first day include Reggie Fils-Aime, former president of Nintendo of America and current managing partner at Brentwood Growth Partners. Reggie will do a fireside chat entitled “Entertainment Disrupted” in a session moderated by Danny Peña, founder and host of Gamertag Radio as well as games editorial lead at G4. Fils-Aime had a colorful history at Nintendo and he is leading a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) aimed at acquiring a game company and taking it public. He also has a book coming out this spring dubbed Disrupting the Game.

GamesBeat Summit 2022 theme

What is GameBeat Summit 2022 about? It’s different from our metaverse event and from our GamesBeat Summit Next event. The Next event is about the edge of the industry, the new tech like NFTs, AR, VR, and more. But GamesBeat Summit 2022 is our flagship event that is about the core of the industry. 

The core doesn’t have as much hype as the metaverse or NFTs. But it is extremely exciting. In 2021, there were $85 billion in deals in gaming, nearly triple the year before. In the first month of 2022, we have had $85 billion deals, already exceeding last year’s total, and Drake Star Partners is forecasting it will cross $150 billion in 2022.

That means that the core of the industry is going to change. That means disruption. Our event is designed to bring the thought leaders together to understand and explain that change. We will have the speakers and the right people to address the changes, tech-based or otherwise, that are rapidly changing the status quo.

If you have any FOMO, then come to our event. We want to gather the people and the speakers to make this a must-attend event. Then we invite you to consider this is a should-attend event. We would welcome your support for what we are trying to do. Our core focus is journalism and being analytical in understanding and explaining a complicated world and industry. We want to lead honest conversations about thought leadership, change, and what’s coming next.

We’ll explore issues like conflicts and decisions about platforms, geopolitical challenges, technological disruption, the changing craft of game development, mental health, diversity, and making the industry and games more accessible. Our subthemes include dealmaking/investments, diversity, mental health, creators, and core game development.

We will also hold our usual Women in Gaming breakfast, our speaker lunch, and our annual Visionary Awards as well. These will take place in person on day one.

More initial speakers

Our other speakers include a who’s who of gaming:

Josef Fares, CEO of Hazelight
Glen Schofield, CEO of Striking Distance Studios
Robert Antokol, CEO of Playtika

Cynthia Williams, CEO of Wizard of the Coast
Ilkka Paananen, CEO of Supercell
Richard Bartle, professor at the University of Essex
Michael Metzger, managing partner of Drake Star Partners
Damian Lee, head of investments at Krafton

Nanea Reeves, CEO of Tripp
Owen Mahoney, CEO of Nexon
Lisa Cosmas Hanson, president of Niko Partners
Lexi Sydow, head of market insights at Data.ai

María Sayans, CEO of Ustwo Games
Susan Cummings, CEO of Tiny Rebel Games/Petaverse Network
Carolina Cruz-Neira, Professor in Computer Science University of Central Florida
Kate Edwards, CEO of Geogrify

Cissy Jones, voice actress (Days Gone, Half-Life: Alyx, Destiny 2)
Jennifer Hale, voice actress (Mass Effect, Overwatch)
Anjali Bhimani, voice actress (Fallout 4, Apex Legends)
Anthony Castoro, CEO of HiDef
Simon Zhu, senior general manager of NetEase
Alexis Bonte, chief operating officer at Stillfront
Rob Pardo, CEO of Bonfire
Alexey Menshikov CEO of Beatshapers