Check out the agenda for America’s first mobile gaming conference of 2013!

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Day 1: January 30, 2013

9:00-10:00 AM (Keynote Session) Relationship Development: Examining how mobile gaming has shifted traditional publisher/developer partnerships

The most important relationships in the gaming industry are those formed by developers and publishers, as both sides require the other in order to maximize the reach of their titles. Yet, developers and publishers work together so often, and sometimes across multiple sectors of the industry, that it can become difficult for either side to understand the hidden challenges that their counterparts face when they partner on a mobile game.

• The proliferation of app platforms owned by publishers in the mobile gaming sector has created a heated competition for developers that need their games published and distributed. What are the approaches that developers take when they are searching for the right partner to publish their games? How can publishers build effective, long-term relationships with developers in a continually evolving and increasingly competitive market for their games?
• Most developers and publishers utilize a revenue sharing model to help both parties mutually benefit off monetization opportunities for their mobile games, such as virtual goods and in-game advertising sales. What types of revenue sharing options are being utilized by mobile gaming devs/pubs, and which of these options offer the highest ROI for both sides of the partnership?
• Intellectual Property – Should mobile developers ever give up the rights to their game titles to publishers as a means for aiding in the discoverability and distribution opportunities for said games? Can the rewards ever outweigh the risks of handing off your own project’s IP to a 3rd party?

Moderators:
Ethan Einhorn (Director of Developer Relations, SEGA)
David Zemke (Director of Mobile Business, SEGA)

Speakers:
Keith Katz (Co-founder, Execution Labs)
Alex Schwartz (CEO, Owlchemy Labs)
Jameel Khalfan (Business Development Director, Pocket Gems)
Levi Buchanan (Business Development Manager, Americas, Chillingo)
Louis-Rene Auclair (Chief Brand Officer, Hibernum)

10:00-10:45 AM Discovery Channels: Finding the perfect app discovery platform to promote your mobile games

With thousands of new mobile games being created annually throughout the world, one of the greatest challenges that developers face is how to go about getting their apps discovered in this robust mobile gaming marketplace without breaking the bank. The recent influx of mobile app distribution platforms that exist outside of the Apple App Store and Google Play store has met the demand of mobile developers/publishers by offering showcases for their games to be more easily discovered by those actively looking to download new games.

• With so many app distribution platforms to choose from, what should mobile developers be looking for when they research app distribution platforms for their games to find the platforms that will be the best fit for their business?
• What are the pros and cons of free vs. paid app distribution platforms? Will paying to place your games on an app distribution platform necessarily get your games more exposure and ultimately more downloads than utilizing the services of a free distribution platform?
• We’re increasingly seeing key players in the mobile gaming community like EA and Zynga discuss the possibility of developing their own app distribution platforms. If large publishers/developers begin opening up their own app distribution platforms, how will that influence small and midsized pubs/devs that don’t have those capabilities? What will the future of app distribution platforms hold in that event?

Moderator:
Billy Pidgeon (Senior Analyst, Inside Network)

Speakers:
Glenn Kiladis (VP & General Manager - FreeMyApps, a Fiksu company) 
Anders Evju (SVP & General Manager, PlayPhone Social)
Mickey Maher (VP Business Development, Applifier)
Adam Corrado (Director of Business Development, Heyzap)

10:45-11:15 Coffee Break

11:15AM-12PM (Keynote Session) Taking the Free Out of Freemium: Best practices for monetizing FTP games

Freemium games now make up over 65% of app revenue on both iOS and Android app stores, while gaming industry experts are predicting that the number of freemium games for mobile will surpass paid mobile games by 2013. This rise of freemium games has raised the importance of driving revenue through in-game purchases/virtual goods for gaming industry personnel.

• What are best practices for successfully driving sales of in-game purchases/virtual goods for FTP games?
• How can mobile developers of FTP games leverage these best practices for in-game payments/virtual goods to deepen engagement with their gamers in order to increase ARPU’s?
• What techniques can you use to make virtual goods more appealing to gamers that aren’t already paying for them?

Moderator:
Sabrina Alimi (Senior Manager, IAB Mobile Marketing Center for Excellence)

Speakers:
Chieh Huang (Director, Zynga Mobile NYC)
Nick Bogovich (Executive Director – Mobile, GSN)
Nathan Camarillo (Studio Leader, DeNA New York)
Dave Bisceglia (CEO, The Tap Lab)

12-12:30PM (Keynote Session) Harnessing the Crowd: Taking advantage of Crowdfunding to grow your mobile gaming business

The rise of crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo and Congress’ recent signing of the JOBS Act has made crowdfunding a viable solution for developers and publishers of mobile games that are eager to enlist the assistance of the general public to raise funds for their projects. 

• What is crowdfunding and how does it benefit publishers and developers of mobile games that are looking to acquire funds for their newest projects?
• What are the benefits of crowdfunding (it’s so much more than just raising money)?
• How have mobile publishers and developers successfully utilized crowdfunding platforms to reach their funding goals?
• Should mobile publishers and developers use crowdfunding as an alternative to seeking funding from angels and VC’s or can crowdfunding be used in conjunction with obtaining funding from angels and VC’s?  
• How can crowdfunding affect a publisher or developers relationships with angels and VC’s? Would angels and VC’s be more or less likely to work with a publisher or developer if they have crowdfunded projects in the past?

Speaker:
John Vaskis (Gaming Vertical Lead , Indiegogo)

12:30-1:30 Lunch

1:30-2:15PM Mind Your Marketing: How to market your mobile games without breaking the bank

In the incredibly competitive mobile gaming marketplace, the ability to market your games to new audiences in a cost-effective fashion is becoming more difficult with each passing day. From cross-promotion to user acquisition, developers have no shortage of options available for them to introduce their games to new users. The question is, which marketing strategies are the right fit for your studio?

• Understand the pros and cons of cross-promotion and user acquisition, from advertising to revenue sharing models.
• Can a great social media campaign drive new game downloads on its own, or is it more effective to have a social media campaign for your game that is supplemented by a comprehensive cross-promotion or user acquisition strategy?
• Should mobile game developers consider creating games for devices with fewer game titles as a means for enhancing discoverability opportunities? Does less competition mean a better bang for your marketing buck?

Moderator:
Jason Wonacott (CEO, Wonacott Communications)

Speaker:
Christine Lee (Business Development Lead, Chartboost)
Eyal Rabinovich (VP Marketing, MoMinis)
Travis Falstad (Director of Mobile Technologies, Creative Technologies Inc.)

2:15-2:50 PM Creating Games for Global Players: Considering Localization and Culturalization in Mobile Gaming

With at least 50% of the global game industry’s revenue originating from localization, and most growth occurring beyond North America, it’s critical for game developers to not only localize their content but also fundamentally design their games for a global audience.

With the use of pertinent examples and leveraging their ample expertise, our localization experts will present an overview of the most critical factors to consider in mobile game localization and culturalization.

• What are localization and culturalization, and why are they important for mobile developers to understand before creating a strategy to take their games global?
• How can you multiply the potential revenue of any mobile game title that is distributed outside its country of origin?
• What are the key technical and process issues to address when distributing your mobile games internationally? 
• What stops a great mobile game from being successful in other markets?

Speakers:
Kate Edwards (Founder, Englobe)
Aaron Schliem (CEO, Glyph Language Services)

2:50-3:20 Coffee Break

3:20-3:50 PM Mobile Gaming in the Middle East: How Game Cooks launched the region’s first mobile game

When mobile developers discuss the world’s most promising markets for mobile games, the Middle East is simply an afterthought. Game Cooks, a Beirut based sibling run development studio, is aiming to change that through the release of Run For Peace, the first mobile game to come out of the Middle East region.  After just six months on the market, Run For Peace had received 1.5 million downloads. The question for Game Cooks and other developers investigating the Middle East market is if the success of Run For Peace is simply a flash in the pan or a harbinger of things to come.

• Was Run For Peace just the case of an underserved mobile gaming market embracing a title created by one of their own, or can the Middle East’s growth in smartphone and tablet usage lead to additional mobile game development opportunities in the region? 
• What are the major challenges and opportunities associated with mobile game development in the Middle East?
• Which areas of the Middle East have the greatest potential for growth in mobile game development over the next decade?

Speakers:
Lebnan Nader (CEO, Game Cooks)

3:50-4:30PM Oh Canada: A survey of the Canadian mobile gaming marketplace

Home to the world’s largest number of gaming industry employees per capita, Canada has emerged as one of the gaming industry’s most influential and important centers. With the highest rates of smartphone penetration in North America, the Canadian mobile gaming space is poised to provide innovative games throughout the global mobile gaming ecosystem.

• What is the state of mobile gaming in Canada? Who are the key players in the industry and why do their projects matter to the global mobile gaming ecosystem?
• What are the major geographic centers for mobile gaming in Canada? What defines these areas in terms of the types of devs/pubs that are based there?
• How are Canadian publishers and developers in the mobile space responding to the challenges of talent exodus and acquisition of native pubs/devs that are being driven by the booming U.S. market for mobile gaming?
• What are the major differences between the mobile gaming markets in Canada and the U.S? What is the Canadian market doing better than the U.S. market and vice versa?
• What types of challenges does Canada’s bilingual nature cause for U.S. devs/pubs that are interested in bringing their games to the Canadian market?

Speakers:
Jean-Guy Niquet (Director, Arkadium Canada)
Olivier Jasmin (CEO, Fugitive Interactive)
Graeme Barlow (CEO, RocketOwl)
John Kim (Co-Founder, GameMob)

4:30-5:00PM Games Win on the Second Screen: How to engage your audience with games on the second screen

Companies young and old are competing for TV audiences' attention on mobile with a variety of second-screen apps, but few are winning. Andrew Daines, Founder and CEO of New York based mobile game studio PrePlay, Inc., will describe what works and what doesn't, and how companies can truly engage a TV audience on the second screen with games. 

• Social TV Check-In is a losing proposition for everyone. User sessions are short and engagement is superficial. This path leads to high churn for publishers and low value for advertisers. 
• Apps that encourage a TV viewer to play with the content will win. Viewers want a challenge, not a soap box and not a digital TV Guide. 
• Predictions for what is going to happen next in a first-run broadcast (sports, scripted content, award shows etc.) are the most topical and interesting basis for second-screen gaming. 

Speakers:
Andrew Daines (CEO, PrePlay)

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Day 2: January 31, 2013

9:00-10:00AM (Keynote Session) Big Brands, Bigger Opportunities: Why the world’s leading brands are using mobile games to engage Millennials

As one of the world’s leading centers for the advertising and retail industries, the East Coast of the U.S. offers mobile gaming pubs/devs both direct and indirect access to many leading brands that are eager to increase awareness and engagement with the Millennial generation through the creation of their own mobile games.

• How are brands utilizing mobile games to increase customer engagement and retention? Is monetization of their own mobile games as much of a focus for brands as it is for devs/pubs, or are these games solely being used to develop brand awareness?
• How do devs/pubs of mobile games go about finding and developing relationships with agencies and brands that are looking to have mobile games created for them and vice versa?
• How important is it for brands or the agencies representing said brands to take an active role in the game design or development process? What are the main benefits and drawbacks of a collaborative approach between all parties involved?

Moderator:
Benjamin Cavallari (Founder, ARC)

Speakers:
Mark Donohue (SVP, WildTangent Media)
Jason Arena (CEO, Workinman Interactive)
Wilson Kriegel (President & COO, Paltalk)
Todd Marks (CEO, Mindgrub Technologies)

10:00-10:45 AM (Keynote Session) License to Game: Bringing our favorite franchises to the mobile gaming world

From Harry Potter to The Walking Dead, many of our favorite characters in books, film, music, and television can now be found in mobile games, as developers and publishers take familiar figures in our lives and enrich our connections to them through a licensed mobile game.

• How do license holders select the publishers and developers that they work with to create licensed mobile games and how involved does a license holder become in the game design and development process?
• How can publishers/developers of a licensed mobile game and the license holder work together to ensure that an existing media property’s fan base can be engaged and marketed to effectively while the game is being developed, and after its publication?
• How can publishers and developers balance using creative license to craft compelling games based on a licensed property, while maintaining the integrity of the licensed franchise that its fanbase identifies with?

Moderator:
Elliott Mitchell (Founder, Vermont Digital Arts)

Speakers:
Lisa Paulson (VP Business Development – Games, A&E Networks)
Margaret Wallace (CEO, Playmatics)
Robert Ferrari (CEO, Bare Tree Media)
Neal Sinno (SVP Casual & Mobile Games, Arkadium)

10:45-11:15 AM Coffee Break

11:15AM-12PM Understanding Your Users: How analytics improve game mechanics and player engagement

Businesses in the smartphone and tablet gaming sectors have access to a staggering array of analytics regarding the playing behaviors of their audiences, yet very few of these businesses are utilizing the actionable data available to them to monetize their games more effectively and develop a more fulfilling gameplay experience that keeps gamers coming back for more.

• What are player behavior analytics and how can they be useful to your business?
• How do player behavior analytics regarding in-game/virtual goods purchases allow you to monetize games more effectively?
• How can player behavior analytics be used to keep both casual and hardcore gamers alike invested in games for longer periods of time?

Moderator:
Will Brierly (Founder, Snowrunner Productions)

Speakers:
Bertrand Schmitt (CEO, App Annie)
Becky Ann Hughes (VP of Product Development, PlayFirst)
Joost van Dreunen (CEO, Superdata Research)
Zach Phillips (Vice President of Publisher Development, PlayHaven)

12-1PM Lunch

1-2 PM (Keynote Session) Cross Platform Pioneers: Why mobile gaming execs are using cross-platform games to define the future of their organizations

The growth of cross-platform games that are played on both smartphones and tablets using a single login has been one of the most important developments in mobile gaming. Publishers and developers in the mobile space are increasingly creating cross-platform games that can be played no matter where their audience is spending their time, from the beach to the coffee shop, creating enhanced opportunities for LTV maximization and monetization.

• How do smartphones and tablets fit within the larger context of cross-platform gaming? (mobile and social, mobile and PC, etc.)
• What are best practices in the development and publishing of cross-platform games, especially from an engagement and monetization strategy standpoint?
• Explaining the nuances of cross-platform games, from interoperability to the importance of virality and analytics.

Moderator:
Wanda Meloni (Founder, M2 Research) 

Speakers:
Mike Yuen (Senior Director, Qualcomm Snapdragon Gaming)
John Grotland (Owner, Grotland New Media)
John Fox (General Manager, Games.com)
Tom Sperry (CEO, Exit Games)

2-3PM Engine-ering Mobile Games: Finding the perfect engines to build your mobile games

After years of having to create game engines on their own before even beginning to get into the fun of making their mobile games, developers now have a wide range of mobile game engines at their disposal that can be used to simplify the development process of their latest games, leaving them even more time to focus on the creation of their next great gaming titles.

• Open Source vs. Closed Source Engines – Will paying for a game engine net your game positive ROI down the road, or will an open source engine offer you comparable development tools without paying the upfront costs of a paid engine?
• 2D vs. 3D Engines – Understanding your open and closed source mobile game engine options. What are the most popular mobile game engines for each by operating system, and how do you determine which game engine is the best fit for your game.
• Future of Mobile Game Engines – What does the future hold for mobile game engines? Will the Windows Phone 8 and Blackberry 10 bring about a wave of new game engines into the market, or will the current market for mobile game engines remain steady due to the continued dominance of iOS and Android?

Moderator:
Wanda Meloni (Founder, M2 Research) 

Speakers:
Sandy Duncan (CEO, YoYo Games)
Alex Schwartz (CEO, Owlchemy Labs)
Enrique Duvos (Director of Game Evangelism, Adobe)
Grant Viklund (CEO, backCODE)

3-3:30PM - Coffee

3:30-4:15PM Tablet Turnover: Analyzing the evolution of the tablet gaming market

The unveiling of a host of new tablets has shifted the tablet gaming market from a glorified monopoly of Apple’s into an increasingly competitive marketplace for new games. With the average tablet gamer downloading roughly 20 games a year in 2011, mobile developers have been eager to capitalize on this growing community of energetic, highly engaged tablet gamers.

• How is the tablet gaming marketplace shaping up for 2013 and beyond with the massive influx of new tablets that are being produced?
• With the tablet marketplace getting more and more crowded, how are developers differentiating between these devices when they choose a tablet to develop a new game for? What do these competing tablets have to offer developers that the iPad can’t? What are the most important features that game developers look for in tablet?
• Market research studies have shown that tablet gamers download more games and spend more money on virtual goods for said games than do smartphone gamers. Why are tablet gamers more engaged and spending more money than smartphone gamers? What can be done on the part of smartphone devs/pubs to learn from these tablet games to improve their own engagement and monetization techniques?

Moderator:
Arseny Lebedev (CEO, Signus Labs)

Speakers:
Abhinav Gupta (CEO, Game Scorpion)
Sam Mishra (CEO, SamRockCafe Studios)
Brendan Burke (Player Science Lead, Playnomics)

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