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View, browse and sort the ever-growing list of sessions by day, time, pass type, topic, and format. With this Session Viewer, you can view session and speaker details for Game Developers Conference 2024.

You will be able to build your schedule with the GDC Mobile App. The GDC 2024 app will be available for download in Apple Apps and Google Play late February 2024.

Sessions do fill up and seating is first come, first serve, so arrive early to sessions that you would like to attend. Adding a session to your schedule does not guarantee you a seat.

Advanced Graphics Summit: DX12 Memory Management in Snowdrop on PC (With Introduction from Summit Advisor Julien Merceron)

Summit Speaker: Julien Merceron  (Bandai Namco Studios)

Speaker: Gauthier Viau  (Massive Entertainment - a Ubisoft Studio)

Location: Room 303, South Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass

Topic: Programming, Visual Arts

Format: Session

Game Design Workshop Day 1

Speakers: Marc LeBlanc  (Riot Games), Stone Librande  (Riot Games), Marcus Montgomery  (Xbox Game Studios Publishing), Andy Ashcraft  (Giantsdance Games / NYFA), Jeb Havens  (Jeb Havens Games), Eleanor Todd  (Orange Monkey Games), Samuel Villanueva  (Villains Creative), Geoff Marsi  (Riot Games), Kellee Santiago  (E-Line Media), Eben Myers  (Level Ex)

Location: Room 207, South Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass

Topic: Design

Format: Workshop

UX Summit: Difficult Games by Data and Design

Speakers: Sebastian Long  (Player Research), Lanie Dixon  (Ubisoft Montreal)

Location: Room 3016, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass

Topic: Design

Format: Session

Independent Games Summit: Indie Soapbox

Speakers: Lucas Johnson  (Silverstring Media Inc.), Gerben Grave  (Multiverse Narratives), Bahiyya Khan  (Independent), Tanya Kan  (Vivid Foundry Corp.), Kara Stone  (Independent)

Location: Room 2005, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Independent Games

Format: Session

Advanced Graphics Summit: All You Can Ask!

Speakers: Julien Merceron  (Bandai Namco Studios), Gauthier Viau  (Massive Entertainment - a Ubisoft Studio), Dan Baker  (Oxide Games), Matthaeus Chajdas  (AMD), Quentin Kuenlin  (Massive Entertainment – a Ubisoft Studio), Evan Hart  (NVIDIA), Adam Marrs  (NVIDIA)

Location: Room 303, South Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass

Topic: Programming, Visual Arts

Format: Session

CANCELED: UX Summit: Inclusive Design Workshops: Weaving Accessibility into Workflows

Speaker: Cari Watterton  (Rebellion)

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass

Topic: Design

Format: Session

Machine Learning Summit: Training Human-Like and High-Performance Basketball AI Bot for 'Streetball Allstar' (With Introduction from Summit Advisor Julien Merceron)

Summit Speaker: Julien Merceron  (Bandai Namco Studios)

Speaker: Jianrong Tao  (NetEase)

Location: Room 2010, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass

Topic: Programming

Format: Session

Free-to-Play Summit: How Games Manipulate You Through Deceptive Design

Speakers: Emma Varjo  (Redhill Games), Sebastian Long  (Player Research)

Location: Room 2006, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass

Topic: Free-to-Play

Format: Session

Xsolla Developer Summit: 2024 State of Play (Presented by Xsolla)

Speakers: Chris Hewish  (Xsolla), David Stelzer  (Xsolla)

Location: Room 2014, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Business & Marketing

Format: Sponsor Developer Summit

Production Workshop: An In-Depth Guide to Solving Tough, Real World Production Problems: Part 1

Speakers: Dave Ranyard  (Dream Reality Interactive), Charu Desodt  (Interior Night), Stephen Davidson  (Dream Reality Interactive), Fleur Marty  (Fang & Claw)

Location: Room 213, South Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass

Topic: Production & Team Leadership

Format: Workshop

Game Design Workshop Day 2

Summit Speakers:  Marcus Montgomery  (Xbox Game Studios Publishing), Kellee Santiago  (E-Line Media), Eben Myers  (Level Ex)

Speakers: Marc LeBlanc  (Riot Games), Stone Librande  (Riot Games), Andy Ashcraft  (Giantsdance Games / NYFA), Jeb Havens  (Jeb Havens Games), Eleanor Todd  (Orange Monkey Games), Samuel Villanueva  (Villains Creative), Geoff Marsi  (Riot Games)

Location: Room 207, South Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass

Topic: Design

Format: Workshop

Independent Games Summit: 'Valheim': Vikings, Roadmaps & Buying a Horse During Early Access

Speaker: Jonathan Smårs  (Iron Gate Studio)

Location: Room 2005, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Independent Games

Format: Session

Xsolla Developer Summit: Direct to Consumer in 2024 - How to Create Powerful Web Store Experiences (Presented by Xsolla)

Speakers: Sam Gaglani  (Xsolla), Spencer Tucker  (Yuga Labs), Michael Speiler  (Sciplay), Michael Lewis  (Take Two), Jenna Seiden  (Sky Dance)

Location: Room 2014, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Business & Marketing

Format: Sponsor Developer Summit

Machine Learning Summit: 'SaGa Emerald Beyond': Balancing Battle with Reinforcement Learning AI

Speaker: Miyake Youichiro  (SQUARE ENIX)

Location: Room 2010, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass

Topic: Programming

Format: Session

Free-to-Play Summit: Unreal Editor for 'Fortnite' Year One: Creator Microtalks

Speakers: Ethan Levy  (Stealth), Joe Ferencz  (Gamefam), Alexander Seropian  (Look North World), Mackenzie Jackson  (Alliance Studios)

Location: Room 2006, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass

Topic: Free-to-Play

Format: Session

Production Workshop: Panel: Producers as Partners

Speakers: Fleur Marty  (Fang & Claw), Julien Merceron  (Bandai Namco Studios), Patrick Redding  (Ubisoft), Mitu Khandaker  (Glow Up Games), Dirk Hulverscheidt  (Independent)

Location: Room 213, South Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass

Topic: Production & Team Leadership

Format: Session

Production Workshop: An In-Depth Guide to Solving Tough, Real World Production Problems: Part 2

Speakers: Dave Ranyard  (Dream Reality Interactive), Stephen Davidson  (Dream Reality Interactive), Dirk Hulverscheidt, Charu Desodt  (Interior Night)

Location: Room 213, South Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass

Topic: Production & Team Leadership

Format: Workshop

Technical Artist Summit: Procedural Tool Development for 'Marvel's Spider-Man 2'

Speaker: David Santiago  (Insomniac Games)

Location: Room 3004, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass

Topic: Visual Arts

Format: Session

Machine Learning Summit: Panel: All You Can Ask! Day 2

Speakers: Julien Merceron  (Bandai Namco Studios), Sarra Habchi  (Ubisoft), Elvis Liu  (Tencent Games), Chenwei Ding  (NetEase), Mateusz Pilski  (Ice Code Games S.A.), Jakub Marszałkowski  (Indie Games Poland), Miyake Youichiro  (SQUARE ENIX)

Location: Room 2010, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Summits Pass

Topic: Programming

Format: Session

Exploring How Language Models and AI Support the Game Development Process (Presented by Inworld AI, in partnership with xbox)

Sponsor Speakers: Kylan Gibbs  (Inworld AI), Haiyan Zhang  (Xbox), Moritz Baier-Lentz  (Lightspeed Venture Partners)

Location: Room 2000, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Programming

Format: Sponsored Session

Can HLOD save your game? (Presented by Microsoft)

Speaker: Jesper Tingvall  (Microsoft)

Location: GDC Industry Stage, Expo Floor, South Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Programming

Format: Sponsored Session

What Game Companies Need to Know About Deepfakes (Presented by Perkins Coie LLP)

Sponsor Speakers: Lisa Oratz  (Perkins Coie LLP), Duncan Crabtree-Ireland  (SAG-AFTRA), Wei Wang, Ph.D.  (Meta), Jessica Henderson  (Microsoft)

Location: Room 2011, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Business & Marketing

Format: Sponsored Session

xbox’s Product Inclusion Framework & Inclusive Growth Doorways (Presented by Microsoft)

Speakers: Katy Jo Wright  (Microsoft), Tim Schafer  (Microsoft), James Lewis  (Microsoft), Kyle Emtman  (Microsoft)

Location: Room 2009, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Production & Team Leadership

Format: Sponsored Session

Making Player Data Work Roundtable Day 1: Pre-Production

Speaker: Sebastian Long  (Player Research)

Location: Room 306, South Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass

Topic: Production & Team Leadership

Format: Roundtable

Leaders Working at the Heart of the Team 2024

Speakers: Grant Shonkwiler  (Shonkventures), Saffron Bolduc-Chiong  (Kitten Cup Studio), Yesenia Cisneros  (Jar of Sparks), Jessica Klyne  (Free Range Games), Zoe Curnoe  (Timbre Games)

Location: Room 2010, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass

Topic: Production & Team Leadership

Format: Session

UEFN Roadmap (Presented by Epic Games)

Sponsor Speaker: Bjorn Book-Larsson  (Epic Games)

Location: Room 3009, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Programming

Format: Sponsored Session

Optimizing Game Development Workflows with Visual Studio and AI (Presented by Microsoft)

Speakers: David Li  (Microsoft), Greg Denton  (Microsoft)

Location: GDC Industry Stage, Expo Floor, South Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Programming

Format: Sponsored Session

Using AI to Create Safer Online Spaces

Speakers: Mike Pappas  (Modulate), Kaila Jarvis  (Xbox), Sharon Fisher  (Keywords Studios), Maria Laura "Lulu" Scuri  (ESL FACEIT Group)

Location: Room 207, South Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Advocacy

Format: Session

The Future Is Here: The Rise of Real Money Gaming & How to Win It (Presented by Skillz)

Sponsor Speakers: Andrew Bell  (Big Run Studios), Alex Tikhman  (TikGames), Adam Smart  (AppsFlyer), Jordan Fragen  (VentureBeat), Mudita Tiwari  (PayPal Inc.), Kate Paiz  (Skillz)

Location: Room 2024, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Business & Marketing

Format: Sponsored Session

Building Cognitive Accessibility Into Your Games

Speakers: Jay Justice  (Independent), Morgan Baker  (Electronic Arts), Tara Voelker  (Xbox)

Location: Room 215, South Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Advocacy

Format: Session

Building and Sustaining Fully Remote Teams

Speakers: Eve Z Crevoshay  (Take This), Sasha Boersma  (Sticky Brain Studios), Ahmed Abdullah  (Decoy Games), Bryna Dabby Smith  (Brass Lion Entertainment)

Location: Room 215, South Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Advocacy, Production & Team Leadership

Format: Session

The Future of Game Development with Bungie Founder Alexander Seropian (Presented by Amazon Web Services)

Sponsor Speakers: Alexander Seropian  (Bungie Founder), Chris Melissinos  (Amazon Web Services)

Location: Room 2011, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Production & Team Leadership

Format: Sponsored Session

Keeping Online Communities Healthy (Presented by Microsoft)

Speakers: Jennifer Mills-Perov  (Microsoft), Ivory Harvey  (Microsoft)

Location: GDC Industry Stage, Expo Floor, South Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Programming

Format: Sponsored Session

G.A.N.G. Demo Derby: Sound Design

Speakers: Nick Hartman  (Game Audio Network Guild), Shannon Potter  (Formosa Interactive), Scott Gershin  (Sound Lab at Keywords Studios), Kristen Quinn  (Polyarc), Elise Baldwin  (Netflix Games)

Location: Room 3006, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Audio Pass

Topic: Audio

Format: Session

GDC Pitch: Day 2

Speakers: Jason Della Rocca  (Execution Labs), Anlu Liu  (Kowloon Nights), iAsia Brown  (Xbox), Justin Woodward  (Media Indie Exchange)

Location: GDC Partner Stage, Expo Floor, North Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Business & Marketing, Special Event

Format: Special Event

20 Years of Game Testing: Life in the Trenches, What We've Learned and How We've Improved Our Craft (Presented by TransPerfect Gaming Solutions)

Sponsor Speakers: Chris Chamberlain  (TransPerfect Gaming), Blazej Zawadzki  (TransPerfect Gaming)

Location: Room 3009, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Production & Team Leadership

Format: Sponsored Session

Making Player Data Work Roundtable Day 2: Production

Speaker: Sebastian Long  (Player Research)

Location: Room 312, South Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass

Topic: Production & Team Leadership

Format: Roundtable

Hearing Health in Video Games

Speaker: Brian Schmidt  (GameSoundCon)

Location: Room 3002, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Advocacy, Audio

Format: Session

Subscriptions Impact on Game Lifecycles

Speaker: David Sidebottom  (Fancensus)

Location: Room 2010, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass

Topic: Business & Marketing

Format: Session

Operation Innovation: How xbox Employs Military Talents in Gaming

Speakers: Fiona Cherbak  (Xbox Game Studios), iAsia Brown  (Xbox Game Studios Publishing), Lisa Elswick  (USO), Jenn Panattoni  (Xbox/Microsoft), Jason Coon  (Xbox/Microsoft)

Location: Room 3005, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Game Career Development

Format: Session

Cross-Platform Determinism in 'Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin'

Speaker: Bradley Pollard  (Frontier Developments)

Location: Room 2005, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass

Topic: Programming

Format: Session

How 'SMITE' and 'Rogue Company' Increased Engagement and Revenue through Data-Informed Strategies

Speaker: Nancy Garcia  (RallyHere)

Location: Room 2010, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass

Topic: Business & Marketing

Format: Session

Making Player Data Work Roundtable Day 3: Live-Operations

Speaker: Sebastian Long  (Player Research)

Location: Room 312, South Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass

Topic: Production & Team Leadership

Format: Roundtable

G.A.N.G. Town Hall

Speakers: Brian Schmidt  (GameSoundCon), Sabrina Hutchinson  (Defiant Talent Management)

Location: Room 3002, West Hall

Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass, Summits Pass, Expo Pass, Audio Pass, Indie Games Summit Pass

Topic: Audio, Special Event

Format: Special Event

Abdullah, Ahmed

Title: CEO

Company: Decoy Games

Ahmed Abdullah co-founded Decoy Games, a multi-award winning indie game company focused on creating unique game experiences, merchandise and content. With no prior professional video game development experience, they used their deep passion for video games and background in software sales to self-publish their debut award winning title Swimsanity! on Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch and Steam.

Baldwin, Elise

Title: Senior Audio Lead

Company: Netflix Games

Elise Baldwin has been fortunate to work in game audio for more than 20 years. She is currently employed as a Senior Audio Lead within the Games group at Netflix Inc. Prior to that, she had been an audio director on the Publishing team at Xbox, where she collaborated closely with external studios to develop first-party games for the Xbox platform. She also served as a lead of the diversity and inclusivity team for the studio and co-led the Game Audio @Microsoft group for three years. Elise worked at Electronic Arts for over a decade, mainly as an Audio Director within the Sims division. While there, she contributed quality audio experiences on over a dozen games, and directed audio for the MySims franchise and Sims Medieval among other award-winning titles. In addition to creating, directing, mixing and authoring content, she was a senior team leader and a core contributor to audio development and pipeline innovations. With a background in film, experimental music and sound design, Elise is extremely passionate about creating entry points for women and LGBTQIA+ folks in the fields of audio production and interactive media.

Book-Larsson, Bjorn

Title: VP, Creator Platform

Company: Epic Games

Bjorn Book-Larsson is the Vice President of Creator Platform at Epic. He has created game platforms and games for 25 years, dating back to the first commercial casual skill gaming platform “SkillJam” used by Microsoft, AOL and Real Networks in the very early days of the internet, before working on AAA games for PC and Xbox, like Hawken and All Points Bulletin: Reloaded. Most recently Bjorn was the VP of Product for Avatars at Roblox, and prior to that the VP of Product at HTC Vive building AR/VR software platforms.

Brown, iAsia

Title: Senior Producer

Company: Xbox Game Studios Publishing

iAsia, also known as "Tech Picasso" and Senior Producer at Xbox, loved her 16-year military career, with four years in the U.S. Air Force and 12 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. At Microsoft, she champions military veterans and the LGBTQIA+ community, drawing on her prior combat experience. Her passions include art, gaming, film, bodybuilding, aqua scaping and documentary filmmaking. Brown's journey showcases resilience and creativity, bridging military service with technological innovation.

Chamberlain, Chris

Title: Senior Director, Gaming Services

Company: TransPerfect Gaming

Formerly a Principal Executive Producer, Design Director, Lead Software Test Engineer, and Tester at Xbox Game Studios, DoubleDown Interactive, and Looking Glass Studios from 1999-2023. Chris worked on games for Nintendo 64 (Destruction Derby), P.C. (Crimson Skies, Oni, Wordament for Teams, Minesweeper for Teams), PlayStation 2 (Oni), Xbox (Halo: Combat Evolved, Blinx the Timesweeper), Xbox 360 (Kameo: Elements of Power, Viva Pinata, Banjo Kazooie, Gears of War 3), Kinect (Kinect Sports), Xbox One (Ryse: Son of Rome, Scalebound), and iOS & Android (DoubleDown Casino, DoubleDown Fort Knox, Minesweeper). He’s been an active Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences D.I.C.E. Award Panelist (RPG & Adventure Games) for over 15 years, was cohost of retired gaming podcasts Platform Biased and Rage Gauge, and is a 30-year collector and enthusiast of import and domestic video games and consoles, arcade cabinets, and original video game art.

Cherbak, Fiona

Title: Lead Talent Program Manager

Company: Xbox Game Studios

Fiona designs and drives inclusive hiring initiatives across Xbox first-party studios. Fiona was previously Talent Acquisition Lead, Worldwide Studios for Sony Interactive Entertainment. Fiona is former chairperson of IGDA Women in Games SIG, co-founder of Women in Games International, co-creator of GameMentorOnline and prior advisor to Women in Games Jobs U.K. Fiona is co-founder and prior executive producer of Boston Festival of Indie Games, now in its 12th year. Fiona participated in a women in games roundtable at the U.S. White House in 2015.

Coon, Jason

Title: Director of Xbox Safety Operations

Company: Xbox/Microsoft

Jason is a 22-year veteran of Microsoft where he leads Safety Operations for the Xbox online gaming service. Jason manages Xbox player safety policy, implementation of corporate and legal compliance regarding player conduct, and supervises operational teams responsible for enforcement of policy, appeals, investigations and escalations to law enforcement. Prior to Xbox, Jason served 12 years on active duty in the U.S. Army, rose to rank of Captain in the Signal Corps, holding roles of Chief of Computer Operations at NATO’s European Combat Simulation Center and Executive Officer for U.S. Army Space Command, Europe. Jason is a graduate of the United States Military Academy, West Point, NY and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science.

Curnoe, Zoe

Title: Studio Director

Company: Timbre Games

Zoë is a Leadership and Executive Coach and Consultant who uses her unique perspectives, humour and candour to help leaders break through limitations, become more self aware and harness their true potential so they can foster thriving and healthy cultures to unlock creativity and innovation.

She adds to this deep knowledge of the video game industry based on her 20 years holding production and operational leadership positions at a range of companies that have spanned working with eccentric artists in the Canadian Rocky Mountains at the Banff Centre, to smaller independent video game studios to large powerhouses such as Riot Games, Electronic Arts and XBOX. While at XBOX Zoë led the Campaign team on Gears of War 4 and Gears 5, two of her most proud achievements in her career.

In 2021 Zoë co-founded Timbre Games under the Sumo Digital umbrella, with the goal to create a studio that is a platform for new voices making games that are more fun and accessible for everyone. Zoë has acted as both Studio Production Director and Studio Director for Timbre growing the studio from just 3 founders to 100 employees in 2024.

Zoë is committed to helping traditionally marginalized people enter and succeed in the game industry and finding ways to encourage their voices to not only be heard but listened to, creating an environment where everyone can do their best work and truly thrive.

She has been an avid Wonder Woman fan since childhood and lives with her husband and their two cats, Leeloo Dallas Multipass and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Vancouver, BC.


Denton, Greg

Title: Principal Product Manager, Microsoft PlayFab

Company: Microsoft

Greg Denton has worked at Microsoft since 2020, and is currently Principal Product Manager at XBOX. Prior to joining XBOX he worked as a software engineer in visual effects and animation building art tools and pipelines.

Desodt, Charu

Title: Studio Head

Company: Interior Night

Charu is Studio Head at INTERIOR/NIGHT, an independent narrative games studio based in London. Having studied mechanical engineering, she started her career as a core programmer on Sony’s $billion SingStar franchise before transitioning to Production.Since then she has earned her stripes releasing titles such as Wonderbook: Book of Spells and As Dusk Falls in 2022 while working at a mix of studio; from Xbox to start-up independents. Her games are characterised by their innovation and ability to challenge industry norms.

Ferencz, Joe

Title: CEO

Company: Gamefam

Joe Ferencz is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder at Gamefam, a leading metaverse game developer and publisher that creates connected experiences with the largest gaming communities and well-known brands. He has been a business and creative leader as an artist, strategist, marketer, and producer to pop culture and gaming’s biggest brands over the past two decades. Joe founded Gamefam in 2019 and has led the company’s growth and evolution as the world’s first professionally-managed, fully-dedicated metaverse gaming developer and publisher. In his executive role, Joe oversees strategy and production at Gamefam and has developed and evangelized the company’s vision and structure, driving 14 consecutive quarters of revenue growth. His leadership style is to set goals and then collaborate with leaders within the company to find the best ways to achieve those goals - including constantly raising the bar creatively by delivering the most delightful and well-produced live operated games in the metaverse. Joe began his career as an art director on sports licensed consumer products, including NFL, NCAA, and NHL merchandise before attending business school at the University of Michigan. In the years leading up to founding Gamefam, Joe leaned into his love for video games and dove head first into the industry, soon becoming a brand strategist and marketing executive, using his creativity and innovative ideas to benefit intellectual properties such as Assassin's Creed, Subway Surfers, and Crayola. He helped each IP expand beyond its core platform into new forms of media, including tech-driven merchandising and revenue streams. Joe’s game design and producing credits include App Store Editors' Choice winners He-Man: The Most Powerful Game in the Universe, Star Wars Rebels Recon Missions, and Hot Wheels Race Off, which has over 100 million downloads. As the consulting Executive Producer for Hot Wheels video games, Joe helped elevate the brand to one of the top toy IPs in gaming today, executing 15 successful product launches between 2015 and 2018, including the Forza Horizon 3: Hot Wheels Expansion Pack, named the “#1 Xbox Exclusive of 2017” by Metacritic and Hot Wheels Infinite Loop, nominated for “Best Mobile Game” and “Best Racing Game” at Gamescom 2019 and named a “Best of 2019 Games” by Apple. Joe is based in Los Angeles and enjoys a fulfilling life that includes close friends and family, and a blind dog whom he proudly serves as an obsessive caretaker. He spends his time outside of Gamefam playing jazz piano, volunteering at 826LA, and deepening his love of animation and anime.

Garcia, Nancy

Title: Product Marketing Director

Company: RallyHere

As a product and user-focused marketer with over ten years of experience including technology sales marketing, analytics, brand management, communications strategy, and gaming, Nancy is currently Director of Marketing for RallyHere, an integrated platform for launching live services games. For Rockstar Games, she led successful global digital sales strategies for the company’s major mobile gaming titles (GTA III, GTA Vice City, and GTA San Andreas). Working closely with external partners such as Amazon, Apple, Playstation and XBox, she led platform and mobile game launches and promos which exceeded sales targets. Having held product and UX-focused roles within sales and marketing orgs at start-ups and technology companies such as Shazam, GetGlue, and Slutty Vegan - she's now enjoying working in Atlanta, GA with the brightest, most experienced, talented, and humble C-Suite, colleagues and partners.

Harvey, Ivory

Title: Senior Technical Program Manager Gaming Trust and Safety

Company: Microsoft

Ivory Harvey works on building services and tools to help the Gaming and Entertainment industry create inclusive and safe communities for everyone. Ivory has been at Microsoft for almost 10 years, and has led various programs from the Xbox Ambassadors Program to Gaming Compliance, and recently finished her term as a co-lead of Women in Gaming, connecting the main theme of her career - when people feel welcome, safe, and part of a community, we all flourish.

Henderson, Jessica

Title: Principal Corporate Counsel for Gaming

Company: Microsoft

Jessica Henderson is currently Principal Corporate Counsel for Gaming at Microsoft (Xbox Game Studios). Jessica is the frontline product counsel for the Forza and Fable game franchises, and happily calls herself the “mini general counsel” for Turn 10 Studios, Playground Games, and Simplygon. Jessica additionally leads and manages music and talent licensing and engagement for all Xbox Game Studios and their games. Jessica has been instrumental in leading the global music licensing program for Xbox, including cultivating partnerships with performing rights organizations (PRO’s), music publishers, and record labels worldwide. Jessica focuses her practice on music, talent, and entertainment related transactions to secure the most strategic and innovative creative content for first party game studios, third party developers, and Xbox’s xCloud and Game Pass services. Prior to her stint at Xbox, Jessica worked in both the non-profit humanitarian and corporate sectors, including, International Mission Board, Sony Music Publishing, and LifePoint Health (HCA). Jessica is most passionate about cultivating her legal practice to create “safe spaces” for creativity/innovation to flourish and making the gaming industry the most inclusive creative economy in the world.

Jarvis, Kaila

Title: T&S Specialist

Company: Xbox

As a client-centric Trust and Safety professional, Kaila is dedicated to promoting digital civility and protecting all people from online harms. Throughout my career I’ve had the pleasure or working with large AAA titles and studios as well as brand-new start-ups; from a community perspective, there is no difference. Working with games teams to help them understand the nuances of Trust and Safety is what I enjoy most about my work. About Xbox & Community Sift: Xbox's commitment to holistic gaming inclusivity, accessibility, and safety shines through Community Sift – a beacon for content moderation and community safety.

Kan, Tanya

Title: Director and Executive Producer

Company: Vivid Foundry Corp.

Tanya Kan is the Executive Producer and Director of Vivid Foundry, a Canadian gamedev studio creating narrative games that spark the imagination to face society’s challenges. Vivid Foundry launched the award-winning Solace State: Emotional Cyberpunk Stories on Steam and Xbox in Fall 2023. It is about a group of activists fighting for human rights amid a biotech revolution.

At Vivid Foundry, Tanya works on direction, game design, game writing, 3D art, 2D art, level design, admin, bizdev, production management, funding, marketing, and PR. Additionally, Tanya has 11 years of interactive digital media experience building applications and creating art for amusement parks, fashion storefronts, real estate, and Autodesk. She also taught 3D modelling at OCAD University, provided narrative consultation for games like Celeste, and provided production consultation for Toronto Metropolitan University's incubator.

Long, Sebastian

Title: Managing Director

Company: Player Research

Sebastian Long is MD of Player Research (a Keywords Studio), the leading agency for insight into players and play. As a gameplay researcher Seb has led design-improving playtest studies for hundreds of games, spanning all genres, audiences and platforms - including for beloved IPs Sniper Elite, FIFA, World of Tanks, LittleBigPlanet, Talking Tom, Hungry Shark, LEGO, and games including Control and Elden Ring - and influencing the development direction of international projects for businesses including EA, Sony, Xbox, Tencent Games, and hundreds more. As Managing Director Seb leads a 20-person consultancy based in the UK and Canada, providing research that drives game development decision-making, as both a consultant research strategist and the company Director. Seb is a member of BAFTA, community leader within the IGDA Games User Research & UX SIG, prolific speaker and educator, and is based in Brighton on the UK south coast.

Merceron, Julien

Title: Worldwide CTO

Company: Bandai Namco Studios

Julien started as a programmer on the Atari Jaguar in the early 90s at Shen Technologies in Paris. He then joined Ubisoft Entertainment to work in game and engine teams before becoming the worldwide technical director of Ubisoft Entertainment in 1999. In this role, he played a major part in the studio's creation, organization, technology, production pipeline design, and multi-platform strategy, as well as in AAA features integration, on brands such as 'Rayman', 'Far Cry', 'Splinter Cell', 'Prince of Persia', and 'Assassin's Creed'. He also took responsibility for middleware and development strategy, communication and cooperation strategy, and hardware manufacturers and middleware relations. At the end of 2005, after having worked extensively on PS3 / XBox360, Julien pursued his career at Eidos, where he served as the worldwide CTO working on the technology strategy, before getting involved in initiating Eidos Montreal and Eidos Shanghai Studios. Julien became the worldwide technology director for Square Enix Group, working on a wide variety of engines and franchises including 'Tomb Raider', 'Final Fantasy', 'Hitman', 'Deus Ex' and 'Kingdom Hearts'. In 2013, he joined Konami as the worldwide technology director to oversee Fox Engine, work directly on the acclaimed 'Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain', and help advance many games in the group including 'Pro Evolution Soccer' 2015 and 2016. Julien joined Bandai Namco Studios early 2016, where he now serves as their CTO.

Montgomery, Marcus

Title: Design Director

Company: Xbox Game Studios Publishing

Marcus Montgomery entered the game industry in the late Sega Genesis era as a game tester. After testing games for a few years he transitioned into game design around the PlayStation era. Since then he’s worked at a companies both large and small designing both boxed and F2P titles. Currently, Marcus is a Design Director at Xbox Game Studios Publishing.
 

Panattoni, Jenn

Title: Head of Xbox Social Impact

Company: Xbox/Microsoft

Jenn began her journey to the video game industry on the Xbox Live Policy & Enforcement Team before founding the Xbox Social Impact team in 2018. She created the Gamers Give program at Xbox to help the gaming community make a difference and fundraise for the nonprofit causes. The Xbox Social Impact team has grown to include global community campaigns, nonprofit partnerships, humanitarian relief and sustainability marketing. Jenn has worked with the gaming community and industry partners to contribute over a hundred million dollars to vital causes, including emergencies, global health and animal welfare. Jenn believes in the power of gaming to bring people together and enact real-world, positive change.

Santiago, David

Title: Principal Technical Artist

Company: Insomniac Games

David Santiago joined Insomniac Games in 2012 to implement several Procedural Systems for Sunset Overdrive (Xbox One). He continued on titles such as Ratchet and Clank for PS4, and Edge of Nowhere for Oculus Rift, Marvel's Spider-Man, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS4, PS5), Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart and Marvel's Spider-Man 2. Previously, David was a visual effects and animation Supervisor and Consultant for over ten years. His 2004 book "Creating 3D Effects for Film, TV and Games" provides a thorough introduction to the world of digital effects. David's first career out of school was developing ultra-stable fiber optic distribution systems, cryogenic microwave oscillators, and ionic frequency standards at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. David entered the visual effects industry working on Dante's Peak, The Fifth Element, Titanic, and Armageddon at Digital Domain. He has supervised and created visual effects for feature films, music videos and commercials, and continues to concentrate on pipeline design, and process integration and optimization in support of creative needs. Other notable film projects include The Ant Bully, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Master and Commander: Far Side of the World, and Black Hawk Down.

Schmidt, Brian

Title: Founder

Company: GameSoundCon

Brian Schmidt is one of the early pioneers of the game audio industry. The 2008 recipient of the Game Audio Network Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and 2017 inductee into the Pinball Expo Hall of Fame, Brian has been creating game music, sounds and cutting edge technology for more than 35 years. With a credit list of over 140 games and a client list including Electronic Arts, Zynga, Microsoft, Sony, Capcom, Sega, Data East, Namco and many others. Brian has used his combined expertise and experience in music composition, sound design and his deep technical knowledge to further the state of the art in game audio and his music has been featured in TV, Film and in the CD-set, Legends of Game Music.

Brian began his career in game audio in 1987 as a composer, sound effects designer and music programmer for Williams Electronic Games in Chicago writing music and creating sound effects for pinball machines and coin-operated video games. While there, he was the primary composer of the video game NARC. His main theme from NARC was later recorded and released by The Pixies. In 1989, Brian left Williams and became one of the industry’s first independent game composers, where he worked on such games as John Madden Football, the Desert Strike Series, Mutant League Football and the award winning Crueball. Other credits include Guns and Roses Pinball, where he worked closely with Slash to create a truly interactive Rock and Roll game experience.

In 1998, Brian was recruited by Microsoft to lead the direction of game audio technologies.While there, he joined the then-fledgling Xbox organization as the primary architect for its audio and music system.Brian has been credited with bringing Dolby Digital Surround Sound to interactive gaming through his efforts at Xbox (where he also created the original Xbox startup sound).Through his ten-year tenure at Microsoft, Brian continued to drive and advance game audio technologies through tools such the award-winning “XACT” (Xbox Audio Creation Tool); the first-of-its kind tool to provide interactive mixing for video games.Brian was also responsible for the overall audio system of the Xbox 360 game system, including the XMA audio compression format, winner of the G.A.N.G “Best New Technology award” and finalist in IGDA’s “Best new technology” category.Brian currently works as a consultant to the video game industry working with companies large and small.

Brian is the creator of GameSoundCon, the industry's largest conference dedicated to composing video game music and video game sound design. Brian is a frequent and in-demand speaker on game audio and game audio technologies, having given literally hundreds of educational and inspirational talks at events all over the world.Events such as the Game Developers Conference, Microsoft’s Gamefest, Sega Devcon, and the Audio Engineering Society Conference, SiGraph and esteemed institutions such as Yale University, Northwestern University and Digipen have invited Brian to share his knowledge and insight into the industry.

Brian received undergraduate degrees in music and computer science from Northwestern University in1985,where he created the first dual degree program between the School of Music and the Technological Institute. He went on to complete his Masters in Computer Applications in Music in 1987, where portions of his thesis work was published in the prestigious Computer Music Journal and presented by invitation to the AES special conference on Audio Technology.

Brian currently serves as President of the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.), a position he was elected to in 2012, sits on the advisory board of the Game Developer Conference, is a former steering committee member of the Interactive Audio Special Interest Group (ia-sig) of the MMA, and has been a featured keynote speaker at GDC, Project BBQ and the Montreal Interactive Games Summit (MIGS).

Seiden, Jenna

Title: Sr. VP of Partnerships

Company: Sky Dance

Xbox, HTC, Maker Studios, Meta, and Niantic. Jenna is a board advisor to three Emmy-winning immersive games studios, Arvore, Baobab, and Felix & Paul, consults across the AI and XR landscape, and founded Zambezi Partners, an AI and IoT solutions company for conservation and sustainability. Jenna holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the UCLA Anderson School of Management."}" data-sheets-userformat="{"2":829,"3":{"1":0},"5":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":{"1":2,"2":0}},{"1":0,"2":0,"3":3},{"1":1,"2":0,"4":1}]},"6":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":{"1":2,"2":0}},{"1":0,"2":0,"3":3},{"1":1,"2":0,"4":1}]},"7":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":{"1":2,"2":0}},{"1":0,"2":0,"3":3},{"1":1,"2":0,"4":1}]},"8":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":{"1":2,"2":0}},{"1":0,"2":0,"3":3},{"1":1,"2":0,"4":1}]},"11":4,"12":0}">Jenna Seiden has 25+ years of experience as an executive in video games, XR, and media. Currently, Senior VP of Business Development at Skydance Interactive, leading strategic partnerships, licensing, and publishing, Jenna began her career in sports marketing at the NBA and has held executive positions at CAA, Xbox, HTC, Maker Studios, Meta, and Niantic. Jenna is a board advisor to three Emmy-winning immersive games studios, Arvore, Baobab, and Felix & Paul, consults across the AI and XR landscape, and founded Zambezi Partners, an AI and IoT solutions company for conservation and sustainability. Jenna holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Sidebottom, David

Title: VP Insights

Company: Fancensus

David has over 25 years experience in insights and analytics across the wider content and technology sectors, helping content holders, service platforms and technology providers navigate the evolving commercial digital landscape. Since joining gaming analytics provider, Fancensus, David has worked on behalf of a range of developers and publishers, from indie and Mid-Tier publishers (e.g. Secret Mode) to top-tier (CD Projekt, Xbox Studios), providing actionable insights to help determine their pre-and-post-launch strategies.

Smårs, Jonathan

Title: Lead Engineer and Designer on Valheim

Company: Iron Gate Studio

Jonathan is a Swedish guy who has been a game developer for pretty much his whole life. He started out in the modding scene when he was in the 7th grade when a truck he made for an Unreal Tournament mod got featured in the PC Gamer magazine. Since then he has worked on a number of games, both Triple A and indie. He loves joining game jams and has made many games by himself from scratch. He started out as purely a 3D artist, but has moved into primarily engineering, game design and project management. He joined the Iron Gate team to work on Valheim and is now working as lead engineer on finishing the game that was a huge success and has sold over 12 million copies during early access release on Steam and Xbox game pass.

Stelzer, David

Title: President

Company: Xsolla

Xbox, PlayStation, Switch), Free-to-Play (F2P), social games, meta, IP, finance, entertainment, product development, licensing, and global management."}" data-sheets-userformat="{"2":12729,"3":{"1":0},"6":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":{"1":2,"2":0}},{"1":0,"2":0,"3":3},{"1":1,"2":0,"4":1}]},"7":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":{"1":2,"2":0}},{"1":0,"2":0,"3":3},{"1":1,"2":0,"4":1}]},"8":{"1":[{"1":2,"2":0,"5":{"1":2,"2":0}},{"1":0,"2":0,"3":3},{"1":1,"2":0,"4":1}]},"10":0,"11":4,"15":"Lato","16":11}">David Stelzer, President of Xsolla, is a seasoned executive with over two decades of experience in the digital entertainment and video game industry. In his most recent role, David successfully led the Games business of the Unreal Engine for Epic Games, showcasing a deep understanding of the gaming ecosystem. David is known for his ability to collaborate effectively with companies of all sizes, from startups to industry giants, building high-performance teams and driving revenue growth. David's specialties include business development, corporate development, strategy, marketing, mobile games (App Store, Google Play), major gaming platforms (Xbox, PlayStation, Switch), Free-to-Play (F2P), social games, meta, IP, finance, entertainment, product development, licensing, and global management.

Tikhman, Alex

Title: President

Company: TikGames

As founder of several software development companies since 2002, Alex has designed, produced, and published over 100 digital games and applications across multiple platforms. Many of those titles include licensed IP such as Pictionary, Winnie the Pooh, and Monopoly. Bestselling game titles such as Tik’s Texas Hold’em for Xbox, and Cuboid on PlayStation have been created and published under Alex’s lead. Alex also served as CEO of a digital meditation and games application called Happy Not Perfect and built the product and company to a global success which was eventually acquired by NeoPets. Currently serving as President at TikGames.

Tingvall, Jesper

Title: Simplygon Studios

Company: Microsoft

Jesper Tingvall works as a product expert at Simplygon Studios. There he helps internal Xbox studios and external partners to solve performance problems in their game using automated asset optimization. Coming from an indie developer background he has now joined Simplygon Studios. During his 2 years at Simplygon he has written several articles on video game asset optimization, and he is passionate about sharing his knowledge.

Voelker, Tara

Title: Senior Xbox Game Studios Accessibility Lead

Company: Xbox

Tara is currently the Xbox Game Studios Accessibility Lead. In this role, she conceptualizes strategic programs and spearheads development initiatives to establish and promote a superior yet accessible gaming experience across all Xbox Game Studios titles. She is also the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Game Accessibility Conference (#GaConf), a two day conference fully dedicated to accessibility in game development. She also has a passion for horror media and would love to see more accessible horror games in the market.

Wright, Katy Jo

Title: Senior Director, Xbox: Gaming For Everyone Sustainability Microsoft

Company: Microsoft

Katy Jo Wright is Senior Director, Xbox: Gaming For Everyone & Sustainability. In this role, she drives Team Xbox’s ultimate business objective: making gaming fun for everyone across the planet. Additionally, Katy Jo oversees Xbox’s role in Sustainability: making data-driven decisions, to ensure Xbox is minimizing its carbon footprint.  

Prior to joining Xbox nine years ago, Katy Jo worked for 15 years in a variety of high impact roles across Microsoft optimizing for customer experiences, scaling solutions, and creating tools that result in meaningful customer experiences.  

 A passionate advocate for Intentional Leadership, Katy Jo lives by her Gaming For Everyone team’s Core Principle: “If you don’t intentionally include, you unintentionally exclude.

Youichiro, Miyake

Title: Lead AI Researcher

Company: SQUARE ENIX

Youichiro Miyake is a general manager of AI Division, SQUARE ENIX. He is also a project professor of Institute of Industrial Science (IIS), the University of Tokyo. He has been developing AI of digital games in game industry as AI technical director while researching game AI technologies as lead AI researcher in a digital game company in twenty years. He developed the technical design of AI for the following game titles: CHROME HOUNDS (2006, Xbox360), Demon's Souls (2009,PlayStation3), Armored Core V (2012, Xbox360, PlayStation3) developed by FROM SOFTWARE, and FINAL FANTASY XIV, FINAL FANTASY XV, and Kingdom Hearts III developed by SQUARE ENIX. He is also a board member of Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) JAPAN and a chair of SIG-AI in Japan Chapter, International Game Developers Association (IGDA Japan) from 2006 to resent. He researches the technical design of combination of smart city and metaverse by using game AI system “Meta-Character-Spatial AI dynamic cooperative model”. He published more than 10 books of game AI, and many academic papers. He had many lectures in international academic conferences such as SIGGRAPH, SIGGRAPH ASIA, IEEE Conference On Games, and ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents, and international industrial conferences such GDC and CEDEC.

Zawadzki, Blazej

Title: Director of Gaming Solutions

Company: TransPerfect Gaming

With an impressive 18-year tenure in the gaming industry and credited in over 60 game titles, Blazej Zawadzki is a trailblazer known for his visionary contributions. As the Founder of the games test organization at Lionbridge, he set new industry standards for quality assurance. Notably, his pivotal role in the launch titles for Kinect and Xbox One showcased his strategic acumen. Currently overseeing Quality Assurance, Player Support, and Localization, Blazej continues to shape the gaming landscape, leaving an indelible mark on the industry through his dedication to innovation and unwavering commitment to excellence.

Zhang, Haiyan

Title: General Manager of Gaming AI

Company: Xbox

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