In live-service games, the journey begins at launch. You may have years to develop your launch version, but post-launch, the pressure is on to deliver continuous updates within weeks, if not days. This challenge is compounded when supporting multiple platforms.

1. Day-One Readiness for Cross-Platform Live Operations: Ensure your backend is prepared from day one to handle live operations across all platforms, ensuring stability and performance under heavy load.
2. Designing for Configurability and Flexibility: Build game systems and content that are easily configurable and flexible, allowing for rapid adjustments and new feature integrations without extensive rework.
3. Empowering Marketing and Publishing Teams: Provide tools that enable your marketing and publishing teams to dynamically activate events, update the in-game store, and promote new content and key messages, all without the need for a new build deployment.
4. Efficiency in Cross-Platform Updates: Develop efficient processes and tooling for frequent updates across multiple platforms, ensuring consistency and minimizing downtime.
5. Scalability and Flexibility: Design your systems to be both scalable and flexible, so they can grow and adapt with your game's success without compromising performance or player experience.

Stew Chisam

President of Hi-Rez Ventures and CEO of
RallyHere

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• In-depth technical & financial analysis of optimizing your multiplayer game's dedicated server infrastructure.

Michal Buras

Lead Network Engineer
Highwire Games

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Different perspectives on the pivotal role of infrastructure management in enhancing player experience across different game genres and platforms.

• Designing games with LiveOps in mind: Embedding live ops considerations into core gameplay loops and systems across different genres and platforms from the start.
• Examine scalable, serverless architectures and their benefits in supporting the entire game lifecycle. Shared insight from casual, puzzle, MMORP, strategy and other game types that require frequent content updates and feature rollouts.
• How implementing robust liveops infrastructure and automated issue resolution is crucial for maintaining smooth gameplay. Discussion around strategies for ensuring low latency and high reliability.

Nelle Stahl

Technical Producer
Klang Games

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Tatiana Labkovich

Building Online Services
People Can Fly Studio

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• Community’s Role in Game Longevity: Highlighting the essential role of vibrant player communities in the success and growth of live service games, underlining community engagement as key to player retention and development.
• Event Pipelines for Enhanced Engagement: Describing how structured event pipelines with live events, content updates, and in-game challenges serve as vital tools for maintaining player interest and fostering community involvement.
• Integrating Community Building Platforms: Discussing the strategic use of text chat, video live streaming, and other platforms to support community building and enhance player interactions, emphasizing integration strategies for increased social connectivity.
• Feedback Loop for Game Improvement: Stressing the importance of a continuous feedback loop between the community and developers for tracking game performance and player satisfaction, leading to informed game improvements.

Nino Protic

Head of Studio
InnoGames

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• The importance of long-term strategic planning in live service games, emphasizing adaptability to technological advances and evolving player expectations for sustained growth.
• Best practices for integrating external partners to ensure expected quality is delivered on time, and in a sustainable fashion.
• Maintaining a competitive edge through adaptable partnerships, focusing on technological integration, shared innovation, and responsive business models to meet market and player demands.

Johan Petersson

Head of Studio
Thunderful Games

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• Raindrops In the Flood: What are the key pieces of a living product? How do we create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts? Live is more than a buzzword - it's a combination of long-term systems design, unique selling points, community support, and brand identity, all of which must be mixed, updated, and rebalanced on a near-daily basis.
• Spoiled and Disloyal: Why do so many live games fail? Just how hard is it to keep a game going? Success, it turns out, is more than mashing a good game into a good community, because most live game designs and business models ignore one vital fact: They're not the only option.
• Execution Is Everything: Live design is deeply simple, yet insanely difficult to pull off. Why is this? What does true, day one, best-in-class product design look like, and how do you salvage a product that isn't trending toward it?

Matthew Laurence

Engagement Director
Avalanche Studios Group

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• Setting a creative vision and delivering a user experience to increase DAU, MAU and player retention.
• Strategies for integrating personalised content and fostering communities to drive player engagement and retention.
• How leveraging player data and behaviour analytics can create personalized game experiences that evolve with the player, ensuring each journey is unique and engaging.
• Leveraging community platforms and live services for enhanced player engagement and feedback.
• The potential of Generative AI to dynamically generate personalized content, elevating replayability and player experiences.

Richard Aldridge

Senior Game Director
Creative Assembly

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Helen Saag

Expert in Marketing and Player Experience
Expert

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John Pompei

SVP Gaming
Arise

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• Relevance and Growth of Cross-platform Multiplayer Games: Technical challenges from development to operations.
• Multiplayer Considerations: Serving players with reliable multiplayer experiences while maintaining a scalable and low latency solution.
• Cross-Platform Development: Considerations for Cross-platform development, ensuring consistent user experiences across all different platforms.
• Launch and Beyond: Strategies to prepare for launch and operating a live game efficiently, providing a reliable game experience for players.

Viviane Costa

Platform Technical Director
Super Evil Megacorp

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• Forever Game Strategy: Brief overview of the shift from traditional boxed game products to a continuous, evolving game model, highlighting the need for innovative approaches in game development and management.
• The importance of prototyping in the early stages of development to ensure the game is designed for scalability, adaptability, and ongoing player engagement.
• Emphasizing the role of player data in guiding game development decisions, from feature updates to content releases, ensuring that the game evolves in line with player expectations and preferences.
• Exploring effective monetisation models that align with the forever game strategy, focusing on sustaining revenue streams while maintaining player satisfaction and trust.
• Addressing the challenges and strategies for changing the DNA of a company to embrace the forever game philosophy, including adopting a player-centric approach and fostering innovation and flexibility in all aspects of game development.

Miguel Angel Pastor Manuel

Chief Technology Officer
Halfbrick Studios

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Fredrik Telenius

Senior Live Producer
Mojang Studios

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James Dobrowski

Managing Director
Sharkmob London

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Tom Westall

Director of Product Management
Super Evil Megacorp

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• Navigating the Fog of War: Understand the unique challenges and opportunities of LiveOps content development.
• Embedding Product Leadership in Content Roadmaps: Aligning new content with strategic goals of the wider game, focusing on data-driven decisions and player feedback to enhance engagement and retention in live service games.
• Ensure content aligns with creative vision and player expectations, maintain competitiveness with regular updates and balancing adjustments, and continually offer variety and progression to keep the game engaging.

Jane Skullman

Executive Producer
Star Stable Entertainment

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Maria Cornelius

Chief Product Officer
Arrowhead Game Studios

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Jenny Martin

Sr. Production Director - American Football Live Service, Madden NFL and College Football
EA Sports

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• Incentivize Creators to Drive Revenue: Explore how Support-A-Creator Codes can drive significant revenue growth for a game by incentivizing creators to earn revenue share through in-game sales.
• Enhancing Player Engagement: Understand and learn how Creator Codes can significantly impact player engagement and how they can affect overall buyer behavior.
• Leverage Existing Communities: Discover how to engage with your existing creator communities and leverage them.
• Boost Creator Impact: Understand how to expand your reach and impressions, enhancing your share of voice in the gaming community. Learn strategies to foster creator community growth, improve creator loyalty, and reduce creator churn.

Robin Åström

Founder & CEO
Wehype

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·       Maintaining trust and safety in the player community by stopping fake account creation

·       Protecting Users – Preventing unauthorised access and account takeovers.

·       Stop advanced reverse proxy phishing attacks that bypass MFA

·       Prevent SMS Toll Fraud where user onboarding and communication flows are based on SMS messages

Ai-Lich Nguyen

Game Operations Director on Rainbow Six Siege
Ubisoft

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Ruhan Basson

Senior Director, GTM
Arkose Labs

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• The integration of player research and AI to enhance game development and player engagement.
• Why is Player Research Important? Improve player retention, satisfaction, and loyalty. Optimize monetization and live service operations.
• The role of AI in Player Research
• How to enhance insights and streamline processes, enable personalized experiences and data-driven decision-making.
• Best Practices of Player Research
• How to prioritise player-centered design, cross-discipline collaboration, and continuous feedback.

Payal Shah

Women in Games Ambassador & UX Researcher
Expert

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• Risk Management in Live Service Models: Discuss strategies for balancing risk, including business-led decision-making and the strategic hiring of team personnel tailored to the needs of a live service ecosystem.
• Feedback Loops and Development Integration: How to seamlessly integrate LiveOps into development pipelines to enable effective customer and player feedback loops, ensuring the game evolves in response to community needs and optimal data flows are maintained.
• In-Market Delivery and Engagement: Considerations for delivering engaging live service features and effective community management. Utilize player data to personalise experiences, swiftly address feedback, and optimise player engagement in real-time.
• Launch Strategy: The strategic use of early access as a tool for fine-tuning game mechanics and content, ensuring a robust launch. Explore how this approach facilitates a smooth transition to a live service model, laying the groundwork for sustained success and growth.

Sahil Gupta

Senior Strategist
CCP Games

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Christophe Zerathe

Director of Live Ops
NACON

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Nilay Patel

Head of Product
Kwalee

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• Understanding Your Audience: Highlighting the importance of demographic research and niche market identification in game development for targeted player engagement.
• Crafting the Right Message: Tailoring content and messaging to resonate with specific groups, with examples of successful strategies that boost game revenue.
• Advocating for community marketing as a cost-effective alternative to expensive branding, discussing the ethics and necessity of sales through community platforms.
• Content Creation & Distribution: Creating and sharing content that captures the game's essence, with user-generated content strategies to boost engagement and retention.
• User Acquisition: Using an omnichannel approach, including social media and influencers, to drive engagement and revenue
• Community Building for Engagement: Building and nurturing game communities for player satisfaction and loyalty, discussing digital ownership and player-driven economies for sustainable gaming.

Gasper Jager

Head of Creative Production
Ten Square Games

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Anna Stoilova

Co-Founder & CEO
Rogues Studios

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Liza Makhina

Head of Publishing
Belka Games

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• User Experience & Engagement: Explore how user behavior, design, and engagement strategies differ across mobile, PC&C, and live service models, impacting player retention and interaction.
• Monetisation & Lifetime Value: Compare monetization strategies (in-app purchases, DLCs, subscriptions) and how each model maximizes player lifetime value through ongoing engagement and content.
• Technical & Infrastructure Demands: Analyse the differing technical requirements, including server architecture and network optimization, across mobile, PC&C, and live service environments.
• Development & Lifecycle: Discuss the continuous development needs for live service models and how they impact player lifetime value versus one-time release cycles in the PC&C market.

Gustav Pastucha

Strategic Partnerships
Pixel Federation

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Adam Smart

Global Director of Product - Gaming
Appsflyer

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Dimo Dimov

Vice President Live Games
Gameloft

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• Increasing customer lifetime value by choosing the revenue model that works best for your game and target audience.
• Designing core gameplay mechanics that are satisfying, challenging, and encourage progression with long-term appeal.
• Creating monetisation models that offer real value to players.
• Uncover emerging opportunities for revenue generation, service expansion, and shaping the future of player engagement.
• What mistakes have been made in the past and what have we learnt? How do we improve our processes as a consequence?

Michael Hooper

Marketing Director
CCP

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Mikhail Shotin

LiveOps & Monetization Manager
MY.GAMES

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Vladimir Tortsov

Director of Live Ops
CD PROJEKT RED

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