Events for Gamers attended Gaming Insiders 2014 and found it to be a rather unique combination of exclusivity and intimacy with a number of familiar and not-as-familiar movers and shakers in the game industry. Fast forward to 2015, and we’re looking at the third iteration of this conference, with over 500 attendees in the house. Here are a few highlights about the conference for those attendees to look forward to.
Revitalizing MMOs
Mobile game growth is slowing down, or so the numbers say. PC gaming is resurgent. Massively multiplayer online (MMO) games are one potential opportunity within that growing realm, or so the talk, “Why the World Needs Another MMO” will conjecture. The talk, led by moderator Michael Cai, SVP at Interpret, will focus on Brad McQuaid, CCO at Visionary Realms. Brad McQuaid was a key figure in the creation of the legendary MMO “EverQuest.” What lessons can be learned from mobile and console while creating the next generation of MMO games? Presumably this core question will be addressed in this interesting talk.
More Mobile Opportunities?
However, there are many believers who back the ongoing potential of the mobile games market. PEAK MOBILE: Are We There Yet? addresses that very topic. Neil Young, CEO of N3TWORK will take on the idea that the best years of mobile are still ahead. Neil Young developed bing brand console and PC games, as well as founded ngmoco:). Neil Young has a longer view of the industry even few insiders possess, so perhaps he will be ablwe to lay out an argument for a robust and growing mobile games market.
Future of Fun
Keeping F2P in games without compromising the fun factor or the revenue stream has remained a thorny issue. Russ Frushtick, editorial director at Product Hunt moderates this talk with Jeri Ellsworth, inventor and lead hardware engineer with castAR. With any luck, fresh insight will emerge developers can use to help balance out effective game play with creating non-disruptive revenue opportunities. Doing so is an outcome that’s good for the developers and good for the gamers who want to love their games, after all.
Expanding Horizons for Game Development
As the game industry struggles to grow its fundamental beyond AAA franchises, as indie development expands, there’s a new space being carved out for non-competitive gaming. That’s the topic of the talk, “The Friendly Frontier: Designing Non-competitive Games,” led by Naomi Ladinzinsky, CCO and co-founder of Nix Hydra. Cooperation and discovery as effective gameplay mechanisms will get a closer look in this talk.
New Venue
Last year, Gaming Insiders was hosted on the remote Treasure Island, near to, but away from, San Francisco proper. The venue was thoroughly exclusive and intimate, with the city skyline as a horizon. This year the conference shifts a few miles in to the heart of the city’s downtown area, to the InterContinental Hotel. In fact, this conference takes place next door to TwitchCon 2015, which starts at Moscone West September 25, 2015. It will be interesting to see the mix of B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to consumer) attendees, if there are any.
Gaming Insiders will take place September 24-25, 2015, in San Francisco at the Intercontinental Hotel. We’ll be covering the event from there!
