Search Results

Ander Bergstrom has spent more than 22 years in film, animation, and game production as a Cinematic Animator and Motion Capture Director. His mocap credits include the Academy Award–winning animated feature Happy Feet (2006) and the Emmy Award–winning Westworld VR Experience, with game development work for publishers and studios including Blur Studio, Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Game Studios, THQ, and Midway Games.

I am an animation artist with experience contributing to world-class titles at Sony Santa Monica Studio and Riot Games. I worked on God of War Ragnarök and League of Legends, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to deliver high-quality, performance-driven animation for globally recognized franchises. I'm passionate about crafting expressive, responsive movement that elevates gameplay and storytelling. Growth is at the core of my career and I'm constantly refining my craft, studying performance, and pushing myself technically and creatively. Animation isn't just my profession; it's what drives me.

Megan Friedenberg is an Imagineer at Walt Disney Imagineering who specializes in multi-gpu rendering and real-time technologies. She has spent the last 5 years working in both AAA gaming and the entertainment industry as an engineer, programming everything from low-level RHI layer optimizations to animation tools. Megan originally got her start through the animation industry by developing tools for real-time animation productions such as Big City Green's Virtually Christmas special. She has worked in AAA gaming for Sony Interactive Entertainment at Insomniac Games and San Diego Studio as both a technical artist and graphics engineer with credits on Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and the MLB The Show series. As an Imagineer, Megan is part of the engine team working on Walt Disney Imagineering's custom fork of Unreal Engine.

Rachel Kowert is a research psychologist and globally recognized authority on the psychology of games and trust and safety. She has published more than 100 scientific articles and 20 books on the psychology of play, and advises governments, studios, and platforms on translating research into safer, healthier online spaces. She has presented her work to audiences worldwide, including the United Nations and the United States Congress. Kowert's recent research has focused specifically on quantifying the business impact of toxicity in games. In 2025 she led the first known cross-cultural study of toxicity's effect on player engagement and presented those findings at GDC 2026. This session extends that work from self-reported attitudes into observed behavior, drawing on a collaboration with Sony's safety team analyzing more than 10 million real safety incidents on the PlayStation Network. She has presented on the ROI of trust and safety at GDC since 2024. In 2025, Games for Change awarded Kowert its Vanguard Award, recognizing her innovation in games and mental health. She is VP on the board of the Extremism and Gaming Research Network (EGRN), founder of the DLC Leadership Program, and founder of the Psychgeist, a multimedia content production and consulting studio. She is a repeat GDC speaker and won a GDC best-presentation award in 2020. For more: www.rkowert.com

Will Martins is the Senior Director of Marketing, Anime & Gaming at Sony Music Masterworks' Milan Records, where he leads global marketing strategy for some of the world's most recognizable video game, anime, and Japanese music franchises. With over a decade of experience at the intersection of music, gaming, and entertainment, he oversees worldwide campaigns spanning digital, physical, experiential, and fan engagement initiatives for titles including Cyberpunk 2077, 007 First Light, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Ghost of Yōtei, Helldivers 2, Destiny 2, Marathon, Dune: Awakening, Chainsaw Man, JUJUTSU KAISEN, Frieren, and many more.

Sue Pacete is a Lead User Researcher at Sony Interactive Entertainment with over a decade of experience at the intersection of player psychology, research, and game design. She partners with teams across PlayStation Studios to develop bespoke research strategies that integrate player insights while supporting each studio's creative ambitions, development culture, and production realities.

Books Schwartz is a professional narrative designer and game writer. They started in video games with the mobile smash hit Lifeline, and have gone on to work at places like Ubisoft Stockholm, CD Projekt, Possibility Space, Sony Santa Monica Studio, and Studio Drydock. They currently work on narrative-focused mobile games at Microfun. Prior to working in video games, they spent a decade designing and running larps at summer camps for kids and teens and in Polish castles for adults.