Chair Opening Remarks

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.

Gašper Jager

Creative Director / Head of Creative Production
Ten Square Games

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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.

Iryna Pyrih

Platform Partnerships Lead
Rovio Entertainment - Part of SEGA

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Terra Olsen

Head of Growth
Tactile Games

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André Persson

Founder
Digiai.ACADEMY

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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.

Benjamin Pommeraud

General Manager, Strategic Initiatives
King (Xbox)

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

Kenton Fletcher

Creative Director
Behaviour Interactive

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Valera Tsygankova

Publishing Producer
MY.GAMES

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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.

Natasa Jukic

Vice President of Marketing Analytics
Ubisoft

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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.

Erin Bower

Global Brand Manager
Square Enix

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

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

Mikhail Shotin

LiveOps & Monetization Manager
MY.GAMES

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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.

Liza Makhina

Head of Publishing
Belka Games

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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.

Jérémy Raszko

Former-Head of Publishing
Former-Shiro Games

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Joel Edström

CEO - TG Studios
The Gang Studios

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