Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney will speak about creating a culture of inspiration and creativity at our next conference, titled GamesBeat Summit 2017: How games, sci-fi, and tech create real-world magic.
Mahoney gave a passionate talk at last year’s summit about how artistry is going to be key to cutting through the malaise of mediocre mobile games. Mahoney’s company, Tokyo-based Nexon, has been a huge player in online games, and it has been moving into mobile. To rise above the norm, Nexon has been signing deals with well-known creative developers. And Mahoney has tasked those developers with coming up with innovations, rather than games that fit a formula for success.
The event will take place on May 1 and May 2, 2017, at the historic Claremont resort hotel in Berkeley, California, just a short distance from San Francisco. You can secure your seat here. Register today and receive 50 percent off current ticket prices. This offer is only available until February 20. That is a savings of $1,000.
Mahoney, who became the CEO of Nexon in 2014, joins a cast of speakers who will be among the who’s who of games, as well as the related industries that are inspiring gamemakers. Other speakers include Gary Whitta, the screenwriter for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games; and Jamil Moledina of Google Play.
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Above: Owen Mahoney, CEO of Nexon.
Inspiring moments lead to disrupting the worlds of gaming, tech, and entertainment. Who hasn’t been inspired by great novels like Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, which gave us virtual worlds, or Tom Cruise’s data gloves and gesture-controlled computer in Minority Report? Now those things have become real, and we want to see what’s coming next.
Whitta wrote the screenplays for films like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), After Earth (2013), and The Book of Eli (2010). He was born in London and was once the deputy editor of the magazine The One for Amiga Games.
In early 2000, Whitta worked with Future to establish a film magazine, Total Movie. That magazine folded, but it led to his career writing screenplays for Hollywood. We’re very excited he will join us.
Our theme is about what inspires game creators, executives, and investors to be creative. Part of the event will focus on the inspiration cycle that is accelerating as the walls between science fiction, video games, and real-world technology come down. We don’t think there’s another conference that focuses on the seams between industries.
Above: Gary Whitta, screenwriter of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
This event will focus on inspiration and creativity. So much of what used to be science fiction is coming true, and it is inspiring even more accelerated visions of the future in games and other entertainment. We hope to inspire you by taking you to the moments that led to great ideas across multiple industries. You’ll leave refreshed and inspired to change the worlds of gaming, technology, and more.
We think this conference will offer a rare chance for cross-pollination and networking between high-level people in different industries, and we believe that insights in one place can lead to inspirations in another.
This conference is for high-end gaming executives, startup CEOs, developers, investors, publishers, marketers, tech experts, entertainment industry professionals, sci-fi experts, AR and VR executives, and other professionals. I should also point out that this is where we try to create an actual GamesBeat community with our supporters, readers, and attendees. We gather the right people in the room and encourage everyone to get to know each other. Join us.
If you’re interested in sponsoring, message andie.rhyins@venturebeat.com. Thanks to our initial sponsor Samsung.
Breakout sessions
Intersection of sci-fi, games, and tech
Monetization: How to acquire and retain your user base
Deals: Follow the money
Esports and community
Emerging markets for games
Platforms: Where to place your bets? VR, AR, and more
Creativity and diversity
Advisory board
- Sam Barlow, game developer of Her Story and creative director at Interlude
- Michael Chang, senior vice president at NCSoft
- Daniel Cho, chairman at Innospark
- Jay Eum, managing director, Translink Capital
- Clinton Foy, chairman of the Immortals and managing director at Crosscut Ventures
- Megan Gaiser, principal at Contagious Creativity
- Lee Jones, global business lead Google Ads
- Perrin Kaplan, principal at Zebra Partners
- Roy Liu, general manager at Linekong USA
- Wanda Meloni, executive director of the Open Gaming Alliance
- Jamil Moledina, game strategic lead at Google Play
- Adam Orth, founder at Three One Zero
- Mihai Pohontu, vice president of emerging technologies at Samsung
- Mike Sepso, cofounder of MLG and senior vice president at Activision Blizzard
- Mike Vorhaus, president of Magid Advisors
- Margaret Wallace, CEO of Playmatics
- Phil Sanderson, managing director at IDG Ventures
I’ve been writing about our theme for a while. I’ve written about the accelerating cycle of inspiration between tech, games, and science fiction. I interviewed Shane Wall, HP’s chief technology officer, about the connection between sci-fi and tech. The Westworld TV show also explored the seams between artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and video games.
