Conference Day 1 – 8th September 2026

This session explores why agility is essential for studios operating in the fast moving world of live service games, where human decision making, tooling flexibility, and community expectations all shift rapidly. Drawing on real examples from studio leadership, the presentation highlights moments where teams had to pivot quickly, overcome unexpected challenges, and manage the resulting impact on players. Attendees will gain insight into:

• Designing or altering studio processes and team structures that enable them to respond quickly to live service demands.
• Leveraging flexible tools, both in-house and designed by thirst-parties, minimise developer or player disruptions.
• Strengthening player trust by communicating clearly and acting decisively during rapid change.

Karol Żółcik

Head of Studio
Reality Games

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Xander Ashwell

Director of User Experience & Accessibility
Rare Ltd

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Tomas Rawlings

Development Studio Leadership
STEALTH

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Speaker Session to Be Announced

Developing for live service is difficult. Horrifically, it's even more difficult if you're an experienced game developer. Why? Because you're no longer "just" making a game. The true nature of live service presents an insidious challenge for those well-versed in premium/boxed game dev, and this presentation is about peeling back that trial's layers. In this talk, we'll dig into the actual product live service requires you to build (whether you like it or not) and show you how to reframe and structure your game design methodology to give you and your team a fighting chance in this strange, deeply unfair arena. Intended Takeaways:

• Why veteran game design instincts often fail in live service and how to refresh them.
• The true "product" a live service game really represents (and why most teams miss it).
• How to identify fun features that quietly damage long-term player health.
• A framework for designing systems around years-long player journeys, not one-off launches.
• Practical ways to help experienced teams adapt without sacrificing craft or morale.

Matthew Laurence

Engagement Director
Avalanche Studios Group

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During this session, Marian Nicolae, VP of Data at Gameloft, will take attendees inside the architecture and team structure that enables the studio to manage a petabyte-scale data pipeline. He will break down why their data organisation, pipeline design, and operational strategies are built the way they are and demonstrate how this infrastructure is essential to delivering seamless, enjoyable in game experiences across Gameloft’s extensive live service catalogue by:

• Focusing on defining their data and ensuing that the quality and foundation is sound from the moment it enters their systems.
• Relying on their data to influence how they refine their strategy, adapt new tools, and implement improved or new frameworks.
• Ensuring the player experience and in-game features are shaped by quality data.

Marian Nicolae

Vice President, Data
Gameloft

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Marcin Lella works closely with Tencent’s secondary studios and works with them to optimise and improve their user research strategies that directly influence smarter, safer, and more player aligned game design. By observing real players test early builds, he guides developers in identifying risks, refining in game assets, and continually adjusting features to better meet audience expectations. Through real world examples, this session gets into:

• Applying user research insights to refine in game assets and align them with real player expectations.
• Identifying design risks early and guiding teams through safer, more informed decision making.
• Observing real player behaviour to drive continuous iteration and meaningful feature improvements.

Marcin Lella

Senior User Researcher
Tencent

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Better understand a few best practices that studios can use playtesting and A/B testing to gather meaningful player data long before launch day. The session will break down key architecture and practical methods for capturing early behavioural insights, from controlled tests to wider community sampling, and explain how to identify the metrics that truly shape a stronger live service experience. Attendees will discuss:

• Collecting early insights by using structured playtests and A/B experiments to understand player behaviour before launch.
• Using betas to gather insight into security & anti-cheat posture gaps, and how to use those feedback loops effectively.
• Ensuring you have the robust architecture and tools needed to stay agile.

Tomasz Stanisławek

Director of Software Engineering
Huuuge Games

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Ben Wibberley

Managing Partner
DAQA

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This engaging roundtable session led by industry veteran, Oscar Clark, invites attendees to exchange tactics and food-for-thought regarding how their studios approach truly understanding whether the games they’re building, and the updates they’re shipping, are creating the impact they expect. In an open dialog, Oscar will outline his tried-and-true tactics based on years of LiveOps experience and encourage others to discuss how they connect real player data to practical, actionable strategies that guide live service decisions throughout full end to end lifecycles. Get into:

• Transforming player data into clear, actionable live service strategies.
• Evaluating whether updates and events deliver the intended player impact.
• Ensuring teams can maintain quality and pace during human interruptions such as leave, redundancies, team restructurings and more.

Oscar Clark

Author
Author

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Speaker Session to Be Announced 

Train Station 3 launched with full core and side loops, monetization systems, and an operational event framework already in place. Leveraging deep franchise audience knowledge, they launched with strong LTV curves immediately, enabling confident and rapid scaling. This talk led by Martin Gajarský, Project Owner and Lead Game Designer at Pixel Federation, breaks down how early monetisation and LiveOps design, validation-focused soft launch, and sequel leverage can accelerate growth from day one. Dive deeper into how Train Station 3 was met with success by:

• Following player data to drive project direction for each instalment.
• Prioritising monetisation and LiveOps design from the beginning.
• Transforming a beloved game into a powerhouse franchise.

Martin Gajarský

Project Owner and Lead Game Designer
Pixel Federation

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Speaker Session to Be Announced 

David Penn-Chester, Technical Director at Tripledot Studios, shares real challenges and solutions uncovered while prototyping, launching, and maintaining Tripledot’s live service games across their full lifecycle. Drawing on hands on experience leading technical teams, David will walk attendees through real project examples that reveal how the team evaluates problems, iterates quickly, and makes decisions that keep live games healthy and scalable. This session offers a practical look into the thought processes behind sustaining long term live service success.

• Understanding how technical teams navigate challenges across the full live service lifecycle.
• Applying real project examples to improve decision making and problem solving in live environments.
• Optimizing prototyping, launch, and maintenance workflows to support long term game health.

David Penn-Chester

Technical Director
Tripledot Studios

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Cristian Girbea, Director of Quality – Portfolio and Player Experience, will explore how building trust between teams can transform the way games are delivered and supported. Drawing on real examples with tangible strategic takeaways, he will break down his approach to structuring teams into three core groups and the challenges that arise when priorities and goals aren’t aligned. Cristian will share a case-study where misalignment caused major roadblocks and how resolving them not only improved collaboration but directly elevated the player experience. He prioritises:

• Breaking teams up into three groups: Product, Operations, and Creative.
• Resolving cross team friction by training teams on how to communicate to teams with a different mindset and ow to understand their goals.
• Taking calculated risks to achieve key objectives, but without leaning too far towards focusing solely on KPIs, in-game features that keep players engages, or the desire to release the perfect game – particularly in live service gaming.

Cristian Girbea

Director of Quality - Portfolio and Player Excellence.
Rovio Entertainment Corporation

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