Live Service Gaming North America Summit
28-29 April, 2026
| Austin, Texas
Day 2 - Wednesday 30th April, 2025
Morning Plenary Sessions
8:00 am - 8:25 am
Registration and Morning Networking
8:25 am - 8:30 am
Chair Remarks
Gordon Walton -
Production Director,
SciPlay Austin
8:30 am - 9:00 am
Presentation - 24 hours countdown: A Star Citizen story of open development and quick publishing cycles
Guillaume Voghel -
Senior Director - Live & Development,
Cloud Imperium Games
- The realities of Star Citizen as an open development project.
- Leveraging the 24 hours cycle while preparing releases.
9:00 am - 9:30 am
Presentation - Built to Endure: Securing the Launch of Live Service Games
Elise Murphy -
Head Of Game Security,
Electronic Arts (EA)
- Embed security engineering and architecture into every stage of game development, ensuring defense in depth and robust protections for games, platforms, and player-facing services from the ground up.
- Build proactive and reactive security programs that monitor, identify, and mitigate emerging threats and player-impacting issues across games and services.
- Leverage people and technology to maintain a fair and competitive gaming environment while protecting player trust.
9:30 am - 10:00 am
Panel Discussion - Launching and Sustaining a Thriving Live Service Game
David Sigurdsson -
Head of Live Operations,
Riot Games
Fred White - Games Industry Marketing Leader - ex-SEGA, ex-Smilegate, ex-Universal, Independent
Max Sloan - Associate Director of Product, Treyarch (Activision Blizzard)
- Differentiate Your Offering: Identify a unique gameplay hook and target underserved audiences to stand out in a crowded market.
- Seamless Launch Experience: Ensure a smooth launch with strong Quality of Service (QoS), minimizing downtime and optimizing player experience from day one.
- Player Acquisition & Retention: Attract new players and keep them engaged with regular updates, live events, and personalized content.
- Gameplay Direction & Impactful Updates: Use data-driven insights to shape gameplay direction and prioritize live updates that make the greatest impact. Focus on why updates matter, who they serve, and how they set a trajectory for sustained player acquisition and retention.
- Build 2-Way Communication Channel(s) With Players: Establish the platform(s), share roadmaps and plans, publish dev progress and updates, celebrate the players that make up the community and listen to their feedback. In short, take players along for the ride on the development journey.
Fred White
Games Industry Marketing Leader - ex-SEGA, ex-Smilegate, ex-UniversalIndependent
10:00 am - 10:30 am
Morning Coffee Break
Morning Stream Sessions
Stream A - Building the Foundation for Successful Live Service Games: Strategies, Data, and Integrity
10:30 am - 10:35 am Chair Remarks Sasha Nikolaev - Senior Licensing Manager, Wargaming
Stream A - Building the Foundation for Successful Live Service Games: Strategies, Data, and Integrity
10:35 am - 11:05 am Presentation - From Vision to Execution: Roadmapping AI and Live Ops Philosophy Solomon Foshko - Analysis Head of Strategy, ProbablyMonsters Inc- Guided by a North Star: How vision and alignment shape the foundation for transformative Live Ops strategies.
- From Ideas to Execution: Transforming big-picture aspirations into tangible Epics that connect directly to player experiences.
- Expect the Unexpected: Embracing failure as a stepping stone and ensuring plans are adaptable and iterative for long-term success.
- AI Integration Strategies: Positioning AI as a partner to enhance decision-making, optimize operations, and drive innovative Live Ops practices.
Stream A - Building the Foundation for Successful Live Service Games: Strategies, Data, and Integrity
11:10 am - 11:40 am Presentation - Building and Operating Teams with a Live Service Mentality Matt Lee - Executive Producer / Game Manager, Gameloft Montreal- Cultivating a Live mentality – Develop production routines and cycles that embed a live service mindset from the outset. This involves structuring teams to operate with agility, emphasizing continuous content delivery, and fostering a culture that adapts to real-time player feedback and evolving game dynamics
- Always playable – Commit to maintaining a constantly playable build to streamline development cycles, minimize technical debt, and facilitate rapid iterations. For smoother launch, with higher quality and greater post launch accountability.
- Live testing – Focus on early and extensive testing to validate the game’s core gameplay and retention potential. This includes assessing how engaging the game is (its "stickiness") through metrics like session duration and return rates, while also ensuring your team, deployment strategies, and operational infrastructure are prepared for live service demands.
Stream A - Building the Foundation for Successful Live Service Games: Strategies, Data, and Integrity
11:45 am - 12:15 pm Presentation - Deliver Us From Evil: Widgets to Normalize Monetization for Your Players AND Your Game Teams Joe Alread - Executive Producer, Live Operations, Gamefam Inc- Driving depth of spend while continuing to grow your community
- UGC gaming platforms and the future of live service
- Story matters! Telling compelling narratives about your game
Stream B - Designing Roadmaps and Content Strategies for Sustained Player Engagement
10:30 am - 10:35 am Chair Remarks Jon Grande - Head of Product Management (PMT), Amazon Games
Stream B - Designing Roadmaps and Content Strategies for Sustained Player Engagement
10:35 am - 11:05 am Presentation - From Data to Devotion: How 2K Fuels Player Engagement Abhi Shah - Product Leader & Sr Director, 2KLuke Whelan - Senior Director of Insights - Sports, 2K
Get an inside look at how 2K is putting data at the heart of every product decision to elevate live service gaming. In this session, Luke Whelan and Abhi Shah will share quantifiable take-aways that outline their team’s top-tier results achieved by harnessing data — like K-means clustering — to unlock key insights into their player engagement.
Stream B - Designing Roadmaps and Content Strategies for Sustained Player Engagement
11:10 am - 11:40 am Panel Discussion - Player-Centric Product Strategy Joel White - Vice President of Product, KingsIsle Entertainment, gamigo groupAleksandar Marković - General Manager (Clash Royale), Supercell
Susan Kath - Executive Producer - The Elder Scrolls Online, Zenimax Media Inc
Satoshi Murakami - Former Senior Product Manager, Ex- Candywriter
- Designing for Longevity: Explore how game design and content release strategies can ensure long-term engagement, focusing on replayability, seasonal updates, and evolving narratives to keep players invested.
- Building a Robust Content Pipeline: Discuss the setup of a content pipeline that balances frequency, quality, and player appeal, ensuring that updates resonate and maintain player excitement.
- Sustaining Community Engagement: Examine strategies for nurturing meaningful, long-term player relationships through live events, transparent communication, and user-generated content initiatives.
Stream B - Designing Roadmaps and Content Strategies for Sustained Player Engagement
11:45 am - 12:15 pm Presentation - Key Learnings from a Decade in LiveOps Chris Whiteside - Executive Producer, Bladework Games- GW2 and the logistics, strategy, and learnings around delivering monthly Living World (Season 1) updates following launch.
- Escape From Tarkov Live-Ops production pipeline refactoring, and the importance of consistency in release quality and community relations.
- Neverwinter Online MTX shift, and how we harnessed community and metrics to help guide the team in increasing product CCU.
Networking Lunch
12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
Lunch
Afternoon Stream Sessions
Stream A - Product Strategies to Captivate and Retain Players
1:15 pm - 1:20 pm Chair Remarks Sasha Nikolaev - Senior Licensing Manager, WargamingStream A - Product Strategies to Captivate and Retain Players
1:20 pm - 1:50 pm Presentation - Beyond the Course: Sustaining Engagement in VR with Live Services Colby Morgan - Technical Director, Mighty CoconutLucas Martell - Executive Producer, Mighty Coconut
- Predictable Patterns of Retention: How events and thematic updates in Walkabout Mini Golf—such as holiday-themed content—create a reliable cadence for players returning to the game.
- Unique VR Player Behaviors: Insights into VR-specific engagement patterns, such as players lingering in the social hub after rounds, and how this differs from traditional gaming platforms.
- Content Cadence: The importance of delivering engaging, high-quality content updates every 6–7 weeks to sustain and grow a loyal VR user base.
- Community as the Backbone of VR Live Services: Leveraging the immersive, social nature of VR to foster a strong, engaged community that feels connected to the game and its updates.
Stream A - Product Strategies to Captivate and Retain Players
1:55 pm - 2:40 pm Panel Discussion - Empowering Players: The Creator Ecosystem at the Heart of Live Service Gaming Patrick Moran - Chief Operating Officer, Co-Founder, Look North WorldBill Young - Head of Games, Amazon (Twitch & BPS)
Travis Fleming - Twitch Content Creator, BonsaiBroz Channel
Sean Fleming - Twitch Content Creator, BonsaiBroz Channel
- Platforms for Player Creativity: Examining tools and ecosystems that enable players to create, share, and monetize their own game content.
- Driving Community Growth with UGC: Strategies for fostering vibrant player communities through contests, collaborations, and recognition of standout creators.
- UGC in Streaming and Esports: Exploring how player-created content fuels streaming culture and esports engagement, from mods to highlight reels.
- Transmedia Integration: Leveraging UGC to create stories and assets that bridge games with other media platforms like films, books, and TV.
Stream B - Delivering LiveOps Excellence in Live Game Products
1:15 pm - 1:20 pm Chair Remarks Jon Grande - Head of Product Management (PMT), Amazon GamesStream B - Delivering LiveOps Excellence in Live Game Products
1:20 pm - 1:50 pm Presentation - Achieving Excellence in Live Service Games: Quality of Service and Operational Mastery David Sigurdsson - Head of Live Operations, Riot Games- Identifying key metrics to measure operational health across all products and a program for long term success
- Post incident reviews and accountability for improvement
- Observability standards
- Identifying the difference between binary function and player experience
- Building a healthy culture where problems can be discussed without resorting to blame
Stream B - Delivering LiveOps Excellence in Live Game Products
1:55 pm - 2:25 pm Presentation - Managing Distributed Live Service Globally: Respecting Cultural Differences and How Micro Solutions Can Solve Macro Challenges Andrei Chan - Executive Producer, Tencent- Western thinking & Eastern thinking, working and communicating with distributed teams
- Player Expectations, Cultural Sensitivity and Regional Ecosystem
Stream B - Delivering LiveOps Excellence in Live Game Products
2:30 pm - 3:00 pm Panel Discussion - Powering Live Service Game Operations for Long-Term Success Joshua Howard - Chief Operating Officer, OtherSide EntertainmentDave Mata - Head of Product, Maglev Industries
- Designing for Sustainable Success: Balance exceptional player experiences with team well-being by fostering workflows that prioritize long-term productivity and reduce burnout.
- Streamlining Collaboration for LiveOps Excellence: Build agile, cross-functional teams and workflows to adapt to the dynamic demands of live service games while promoting a positive, inclusive culture.
- Organizational Design as a Toolset for Resilience: Treat team structures, decision-making frameworks, and scalable LiveOps systems as essential tools for sustaining excellence and maintaining service quality.
