The morning of May 13th sees PC Connects making its North American debut in Seattle. The day kicks off with the State of Play track, giving attendees insight into what is going on in the market right now. This collection of talks feature Valve's Tom Giardino and Alden Kroll, former ESA president Michael Gallagher and New York-based research firm SuperData.
That's before Digital Discovery, which tackles the issues of discoverability and being noticed in an increasingly saturated market, including sessions with Private Division's Kari Toyama, Bandai Namco and Microsoft vet Ed Fries.
Tickets can be purchased right here and the full schedule is below:
State of Play
10:20
Getting the Most Out of Your Steam Release
A look at the tools available in Steam to communicate with your players and reach new customers before, during, and after release. Tom Giardino and Alden Kroll tell us everything you need to know about launching on Valve's platform.
10:40
Interactive Entertainment: Harnessing Global Tailwinds & Navigating Storm Systems
Former ESA president and Intrepidity CEO Mike Gallagher will describe the forces driving growth – and risk – in the global interactive entertainment market. Whether established or new, large or small, every game developer will be impacted by the plate tectonics of policy and market forces.
11:00
Today's Player Attitudes Shaping Tomorrow's PC Games Market
The PC gaming space has seen unprecedented disruption in the past two years, with everything from battle royale to subscription services altering the status quo. The pace of change shows no signs of letting up now that innovations like Google Stadia are on the horizon.
This talk from SuperData's Carter Rogers will give a look at how players (especially young ones) feel about the current state of the PC gaming and how these sentiments will affect the trajectory of the market in the long run.
Attendees will come away with information including the revenue outlook for free-to-play versus premium PC games, how users feel about the Epic Games Store, what game types are likely to rise in popularity as members of Generation Z enter the space and early sentiments toward cloud gaming
Digital Discovery
11:20
Influencer Marketing in 2019
While influencer marketing is not a new concept in gaming a LOT has changed in the last year. Games like Fortnight and Magic the Gathering have completely rewritten the rules on how to successfully build an influencer ecosystem. In this talk we will discuss what has changed and how to successfully work with influencers to launch or grow games in 2019. Adam will share key insights from running the largest influencer marketing campaign in gaming in 2018.
11:40
Fireside chat
Microsoft vet Ed Fries from 1Up Ventures and Kanoogi's Chris Taylor will be discussing gaming’s past, present, and future.
12:00
Think Next : Frontline View of Challenges of Game Industry Transformation
The games industry has always grown through cycles of platform changes. These transitions are challenging for everyone but they are, at the same time, opportunities to disrupt the industry. Taewon Yun of Super Evil Megacorp argues that game industry is going through an unprecedented seismic transition where platforms, distribution channel, market and perspective on gaming itself are changing all at the same time.
Deriving lessons from Super Evil’s experience of pioneering mobile core game and esports as well as 20 years+ experience of driving innovation, Taewon will discuss opportunities, challenges of this transition and Super Evil Megacorp’s plan to disrupt the status quo of game industry.
12:20
Fireside chat
Bandai Namco's director of business development Karim Farghaly will be discussing the Japanese publishing giant's third-party publishing strategy in the West, how this has evolved over the last few years and how it might change in the coming years.
12:40
Tips for Effective Feedback Loops Between Publishers and Developers
Kari Toyama, one of the senior producers over at Take-Two's indie publishing label Private Division will be discussing how developers and publishers can effectively work together
