Conference Day 1 – 9th September 2025

Conference Day 1 – 9th September 2025

This agenda is subject to change.

Day 1 - Morning Sessions

7:30 am - 8:15 am Registration & Breakfast

8:15 am - 8:30 am Chair Opening Remarks

Chair Opening Remarks

8:30 am - 9:00 am Opening Presentation – Breaking the Mould: Targeted Marketing and Creative Workflows for Game Publishing Success

Gašper Jager - Creative Director / Head of Creative Production, Ten Square Games

Join Gašper Jager, Creative Director at Ten Square Games, as he details why following the latest trends, or simply copying your competition, may not always suit your game's audience, and how to stand out by breaking the mould with targeted, innovative approaches such as:

  • Understanding your player demographic to craft tailored and impactful marketing strategies.
  • Look beyond trends and competition and create unique approaches tailored to your audiences.
  • Breaking trends strategically to stand out while staying authentic to your game's audience.
  • Establishing robust production workflows early to ensure smooth publishing and high-quality marketing assets.
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Gašper Jager

Creative Director / Head of Creative Production
Ten Square Games

This plenary panel will delve into strategies for redefining the gaming landscape through means of market research, agility, and cross-department collaboration. Learn how, by establishing unified strategies early in the publishing lifecycle, challenges can be mitigated, and mutual KPIs and player feedback can be leveraged to create personalised cross-platform marketing content that resonates by:

  • Preparing for shifts in player behaviour and market trends.
  • Identifying where your product fits in the market and how to ensure proper discoverability.
  • Establishing a cohesive cross-department approach and enhancing team communication to achieve mutual objectives.
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Iryna Pyrih

Platform Partnerships Lead
Rovio Entertainment - Part of SEGA

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Bart Borusiewicz

Co-Founder & CEO
Fornixa Games

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Terra Olsen

Head of Growth
Tactile Games

9:30 am - 10:00 am Presentation – Awareness Marketing ROI Measurement & Optimization

Spencer Wilcox - Founder, Everybody Eats
Performance Marketing is great for optimizing at the end of the funnel. But how do you measure and optimize ROI at the beginning, awareness stage? Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM) is the gold standard solution, helping clients measure ROI and get a 20-40% ROI lift. Key take aways:
• There’s an ROI measurement gap for brand marketing.
• Marketing Mix Modelling measures that ROI and illuminates how it works with performance marketing and how performance marketing contributes to longer-term brand value.
• Measured and optimized allocation typically brings a 20-40% ROI lift.

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Spencer Wilcox

Founder
Everybody Eats

10:00 am - 10:30 am Fireside Chat – The Sweet Secrets to Publishing Success: Lessons from King and Candy Crush

Benjamin Pommeraud - General Manager, Strategic Initiatives, King (Xbox)

This fireside chat, led by Benjamin Pommeraud – General Manager, Strategic Initiatives, explores what makes King gaming unique, the innovative publishing strategies that have propelled its hit games like Candy Crush to iconic status, and actionable advice for thriving indie studios aiming to scale, by:

  • Unlocking the unique elements of King’s approach to publishing success.
  • Applying strategic publishing insights to elevate indie studio growth.
  • Embracing lessons from Candy Crush to navigate competitive gaming markets.
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Benjamin Pommeraud

General Manager, Strategic Initiatives
King (Xbox)

10:30 am - 11:00 am Morning Coffee Break

Day 1 - Morning Sessions

Trust is the cornerstone of successful game publishing. Learn why building your vision around player trust will naturally pave the way for mutual growth for your community and your business. This fireside chat will explore the foundations of player trust, why this matters, which mistakes to avoid, and most importantly how to foster it genuinely so that your brand and game become sustainable over time. Dive into:

  • Incorporating player trust into your strategy & how to measure it.
  • Setting proper expectations with your players.
  • Rethinking your approach to business, by using trust as your long-term compass.
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Guillaume Rambourg

Publishing Executive
Ex-CD Projekt, Riot Games, Electronic Arts

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Oleg Klapovskiy

Former Chief Publishing Officer – Techland, and Co-Founder of SNEG
SNEG

Keeping IP consistently relevant and exciting doesn’t just happen; it’s shaped deliberately through strategic vision, cross-functional alignment, and a deep understanding of audience perspectives. This panel explores real-world examples of how studios can keep their IP relevant across audiences and platforms by:

  • Assessing their studio and IP’s strengths and weaknesses from the start to form a long-term strategy.
  • Designating a vision holder or group, depending on studio size, to unify creative direction and feedback.
  • Setting aside the time to align departments around a shared IP roadmap to maintain consistency and impact.


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Gustav Nisser

Head of Commercial
Starbreeze Entertainment

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Stephane Jankowski

Executive Producer
Ubisoft

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Gordon Van Dyke

Raw Fury Co-Founder
Adorabilis

12:10 pm - 12:40 pm Panel Discussion – Levelling Up Collaboration: Bridging the Gap Between Publishers and Developers

Kenton Fletcher - Creative Director, Behaviour Interactive
Valera Tsygankova - Publishing Producer, MY.GAMES

This panel will outline strategies for fostering cross-team collaboration and aims to pinpoint common AAA and indie studio challenges. Panellists will detail how their publishing and development teams identify mutually beneficial connections, assess quantitative common goals, and strategize by:

  • Leveraging player research to establish common ground and align goals between publishers and developers.
  • Establishing best practices for proactive and effective communication across teams to minimize last-minute challenges.
  • Outlining a phased communication framework that enhances collaboration throughout the production and publishing lifecycle.
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Kenton Fletcher

Creative Director
Behaviour Interactive

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Valera Tsygankova

Publishing Producer
MY.GAMES

12:45 pm - 1:15 pm Fireside Chat – Level Up: Digital Marketing Strategies for Growth and Engagement

Natasa Jukic - Vice President of Marketing Analytics, Ubisoft

Explore how innovative marketing tools and personalised content drive player engagement and business growth. This session delves into assessing key analytics to monitor, scaling branding through data-driven strategies, and integrating marketing into the game development cycle. With live examples, gain practical insights to elevate your marketing success by:

  • Adopting innovative tools to fuel impactful digital campaigns.
  • Personalising content by understanding player behaviour and preferences.
  • Integrating data-driven branding into game development for cohesive growth.
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Natasa Jukic

Vice President of Marketing Analytics
Ubisoft

Lunch

1:15 pm - 2:15 pm Lunch

Day 1 - Afternoon Sessions

2:15 pm - 2:45 pm Presentation – Building Bridges: Leveraging Partnerships for Game Publishing Succes

Erin Bower - Global Brand Manager, Square Enix

In today’s competitive gaming market, strategic external partnerships can be the difference between a good game and a global phenomenon. Featuring a deep dive into Square Enix’s critically acclaimed Life is Strange franchise, this session explores the importance of integrating partnerships into your business model, and examining both the opportunities and challenges they present by outlining the benefits of:

  • Establishing long-term benefits by embedding partnerships into your publishing strategy.
  • Overcoming challenges by aligning external collaborations with your business goals.
  • Harnessing partnership outcomes to expand player reach and brand credibility.

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Erin Bower

Global Brand Manager
Square Enix

This session we discuss and talk about strategies for how content creators can drive long-term engaged communities, moving beyond short-term campaign spikes.

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Gustaf Smith

Founder, CPPO
Wehype

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Loic Olichon

EMEA Communications Lead
Blizzard Entertainment

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André Persson

Founder
Digiai.ACADEMY

This panel explores how PR and communications can build a brand’s reputation outside of a product. Strong messaging can assist in recruiting efforts, securing early-stage funding, and creating an industry identity and presence before launch. Experts will dig into common challenges and how to find opportunities from the get-go by:

  • Expanding your products visibility by getting creative and making the most of your resources and platforms.
  • Understanding how communications and PR strategies have shifted in the past five years and how to keep momentum.
  • Maximising brand awareness outside of product promotion to establish credibility and long-term industry presence.
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George Kelion

Communications Director
CCP Games

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Anastasia Zaiceva

Chief Communications Officer
ZiMAD

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Rick Van Beem

Director of Marketing & Public Relations
Pearl Abyss

Unlock the art of building a memorable gaming brand that resonates with players and stands out in a crowded market. Industry leaders will highlight how to create emotional connections with gaming audiences through consistent messaging, unique visual identities, and powerful storytelling by:

  • Building authentic brand identities that resonate with diverse gaming audiences.
  • Developing storytelling techniques to foster deeper emotional connections.
  • Maintaining consistency across all marketing channels for maximum brand impact.
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Hiro Kozaka

Global Head of Strategy
Wargaming

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Haye Anderson

Brand Director
Ubisoft

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Jean-Philippe Bouix

Art & Cinematic Director
Focus Entertainment Publishing

Day 1 - Afternoon Sessions

4:15 pm - 4:45 pm Afternoon Coffee Break

4:45 pm - 5:15 pm Presentation – Monetisation Mastery: Bridging Platforms and Player Journeys

Mikhail Shotin - LiveOps & Monetization Manager, MY.GAMES

This session will unlock tried and true tips and tricks for monetising PC, console and mobile games. Attendees will also explore the critical connection between player life cycles and crafting effective cross-platform monetisation strategies to drive long-term engagement and profitability. Attendees will walk away with a better understanding of:

  • Tailoring monetisation techniques to PC and console games for optimizing revenue.
  • Distinguishing between mobile and PC/console monetisation models and how to leverage them effectively.
  • Aligning monetisation strategies with player life cycles to ensure cross-platform success.
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Mikhail Shotin

LiveOps & Monetization Manager
MY.GAMES

5:15 pm - 5:45 pm Presentation – Community Management Profit and Potential: Turning Game Communities into Growth Engines

Liza Makhina - Head of Publishing, Belka Games

Game community management is no longer just a support function—it’s a key driver of revenue, installs, and organic growth. This case study-based session will break down actionable insights on shifting workflows to strategically track critical KPIs (revenue, installs, organic growth, etc), leveraging community data for profit growth, and transforming successful community outcomes into high-impact marketing opportunities by:

  • Building a robust community management strategy to drive engagement and organic growth.
  • Tracking and analysing community data to inform decision-making and boost profits.
  • Aligning community successes with broader marketing strategies to amplify business impact.
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Liza Makhina

Head of Publishing
Belka Games

5:45 pm - 6:15 pm Closing Panel Discussion – Charting Your Own Course: Mastering the Art of Self-Publishing

Jérémy Raszko - Former-Head of Publishing, Former-Shiro Games
Joel Edström - CEO - TG Studios, The Gang Studios

This dynamic panel discussion delves into the unique challenges and opportunities of self-publishing. Industry leaders will share best practices on how to prioritise tasks effectively, allocate budgets wisely, and select the best platforms for publishing success by:

  • Defining priorities and streamlining workflows to maximise publishing efficiency.
  • Developing budget strategies that balance creative ambition with practical constraints.
  • Assessing how to publish a multi-platform game.
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Jérémy Raszko

Former-Head of Publishing
Former-Shiro Games

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Joel Edström

CEO - TG Studios
The Gang Studios

6:15 pm - 6:20 pm Chair’s Closing Remarks & End of Conference Day 1

6:20 pm - 8:20 pm Evening Networking Drinks Reception – Sponsored by Epic Games

Sponsored by Epic Games