Day 1 - Tuesday 28th April, 2026

Launching a successful live service game requires monitoring the right metrics at the right time, yet many studios struggle with fragmented data and delayed insights during critical launch windows. This session introduces a comprehensive framework built on four critical pillars, and by integrating these data streams into a unified pipeline, studios can identify issues early, make data-driven decisions quickly, and transition from launch firefighting to sustainable operations by:

• Assessing their 4 S's framework – Sales, Sentiment, Stability, and Stickiness – that provides a complete health check that identify leading and lagging indicators to give studios early warning signals before small issues become critical failures.
• Unifying data pipelines to eliminate team silos by enabling all stakeholders to view the same real-time metrics, decision-making accelerates from days to hours and enabling rapid response during critical launch windows.
• Implementing pre-launch preparation, which is non-negotiable and should establish baseline thresholds, automated alerts, and clear escalation paths before go-live to transform reactive firefighting into proactive optimization.

Great games aren’t built on instinct alone — they’re built on understanding. During this session targeted towards analysts, producers, designers, marketers, and anyone interested in making data a practical, creative tool for better games and smarter decisions, attendees explore how to turn raw data into meaningful insights that guide smarter game design, marketing, and live-ops decisions. From setting up the right data structure to identifying the metrics that truly matter, delegates will learn how to move beyond dashboards and use analytics to shape player experiences and business outcomes. Emma will cover:

• Assessing how to structure and organize your game data for clarity and scalability.
• Applying practical methods to analyze data effectively (without getting lost in the noise).
• Turning insights into real product and marketing actions that drive engagement and growth.
• Reviewing examples of how studios use data to refine gameplay loops, improve retention, and optimize campaigns.

This panel brings together industry leaders to explore how different studios approach playtesting in live service environments, collect data, and obtain value from it. Speakers will discuss the types of key metrics they track, the technical processes that allow them to integrate changes quickly and at scale, and the emerging role of AI in playtesting. The conversation will explore:

• Identifying the most impactful metrics to guide playtesting decisions, especially games with a global reach.
• Integrating player feedback and technical changes rapidly across live service platforms.
• Evaluating the benefits and drawbacks of AI-driven playtesting for future development.

Session to be Announced

Rich Vogel

Founder & Studio Head
T-Minus Zero Entertainment

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Should studios build one universal experience or tailor their games to regional audiences? This in-depth fireside chat with Chase Shi, a Senior Director of Product on Diablo, at Blizzard Entertainment, walks through the strategic and technical trade-offs of localization versus global standardization, using a case study. Attendees will get a glimpse into:

• Interpreting player data to assess demand for localized features and content.
• Balancing content velocity and quality when operating a universal versus regionally adapted game.
• Evaluating long-term engagement strategies based on cultural relevance and platform expectations.

Jonathan Lander

Former Senior Vice President, Global Product and Publishing Operations
Bethesda Softworks

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Session to be Announced

Expanding your player base is essential given the state of live service gaming, but is it worth the cost of alienating your most loyal fans? This session outlines how a studio has found the right balance by:

• Defining audience priorities to guide acquisition and retention strategies.
• Maintaining a close eye on early player perception and managing player expectations through clear communication and thoughtful design.
• Balancing growth and revenue goals with player loyalty.

Session to be Announced

Thought real-world examples, an AI specialist, will share how their team uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to optimize matchmaking across their franchise. By refining backend algorithms with AI, they ensure players are matched based on skill, playstyle, and behavior. Learn how this studio is creating fair, more dynamic experiences that keep players engaged minute-to-minute by:

• Enhancing matchmaking accuracy and fairness through AI-driven player evaluations.
• Improving backend systems to deliver seamless, scalable matchmaking across diverse player profiles.
• Elevating moment-to-moment gameplay by aligning match quality with player expectations.

Maxfield Stewart, Director of Software Engineering for Live and Game Operations at Riot Games, will share how the studio confronted skyrocketing telemetry costs while ingesting over a petabyte of data each month. This session dives into the cultural and technical shifts that turned cost management into a shared responsibility, from process tweaks to accountability frameworks. Attendees will walk away with practical insights into:

• Changing vendors, adjusting technical capabilities, and instituting business review processes to make costs accountable.
• Producing and breaking down data to provide insight into metrics collected at scale, including raw logs and cardinality costs.
• Achieving dramatic cost reductions while addressing cultural challenges and maintaining engineering freedom.

The foundation of a successful live service game starts with the right platform. This session explores how studios can select infrastructure that enables their developers to focus on creating engaging game play by:

• Handling essential functions such as user authentication, multiplayer capabilities, leaderboards, cloud storage and more.
• Aligning studios technical needs and creative priorities easily.
• Supporting long-term scalability with infrastructure that adapts to evolving LiveOps demands.

Andrew Gambel, Director of Product – Live Services at Sony Interactive Entertainment, shares how his team builds organizational bridges between product, data, user research, and development without compromising the unique strengths of each discipline. This session explores:

• Creating alignment across disciplines while preserving team autonomy and expertise.
• Implementing hypothesis-driven development to guide experimentation and validate player impact.
• Building communication frameworks that support collaboration and reduce friction across functions.

Decline is part of the product lifecycle…or is it? Running multiple live service games on a single platform can unlock major efficiencies, but it’s not without its trade-offs. In this session led by Pawan Gaargi, Chief Product Officer at Monumental, he will share examples from their playbook outlining why their studio has chosen this approach, what they’re evolving, and how they balance strategic goals with backend complexity by:

• Tackling ‘Foundational Hygiene,’ ‘Opportunity Identification,’ and ‘Roadmap Execution.’
• Navigating technical challenges like scalability, data separation, and update management.
• Evolving platform strategy to support growth, flexibility, and long-term sustainability.

Pawan Gaargi

Chief Product Officer
Monumental

See Bio

Jonathan Lander

Former Senior Vice President, Global Product and Publishing Operations
Bethesda Softworks

See Bio

User acquisition isn’t just a marketing challenge, it’s a cross-functional opportunity. But how are studios handling it? This panel brings together experts from product, design, and marketing to explore how game teams can influence UA by:

• Creating engaging in-game features that naturally support acquisition goals and player conversion.
• Collaborating across teams to align product design with UA strategy and campaign timing.
• Communicating effectively between departments to ensure shared goals and measurable outcomes.