Get excited for PG Connects Seattle 2020 with these six videos from last year's conference

From publishing in China to running live events, there's something for everyone

• The fun never stops! The art and science of live events

  Live ops continues to be vitally important to free-to-play games - after all, if your rabid fanbase of players doesn't have anything to do, why would they keep playing your game?

  Crystin Cox, a liveops evangelist for PlayFab (Microsoft), knows this all to well, and took to the stage to discuss live events in particular, and especially why players want to engage with them.

  "Live events are a great way to reinvigorate your core gameplay loop by changing things up just a little bit," she explains, adding that it helps you to direct players to specific parts of the game that they aren't playing at the moment.

  Make sure to grab your tickets for PG Connects Seattle 2020 now!

  
  

• Tips on making your hyper-casual game a success in China

  If there's one thing the mobile games industry loves at the minute, it's hypercasual. And if there's another thing it has always been confused by, it's China.

  Now what if you smashed those two topics together and got Mintegral GM Americas Jeff Sue to give a talk about it? You'd get the fascinating video below.

  Regarding why hypercasual is so popular in China, Sue pointed out that "mobile is their main gaming device" due to a lack of home consoles, and hypercasual games are well suited to first-time gamers who aren't used to the traditional titles you see in the West.

  Make sure to grab your tickets for PG Connects Seattle 2020 now!

  
  

• 10 must-know business tips for games industry freelancers

  One thing that PG Connects events are great for is supporting indie developers. Not only is there an indie showcase and a Big Indie Pitch at each event, but we also have an indie track for smaller developers to share their learnings with fellow members of the industry.

  At last year's PG Connects Seattle, independent composer Taylor Ambrosio Wood went on stage to share 10 must-know business tips for fellow freelancers in the industry, including thinking of yourself as a business, building a portfolio, and advice on dealing with contracts.

  "I know if you're, like, a freelance artist or level designer, we tend to think, 'oh, we're an artist', which is great, but you also need to like, put your own business hat on," noted Wood on her first point.

  Make sure to grab your tickets for PG Connects Seattle 2020 now!

  
  

• 80% data, 20% luck – How to make profitable games in 2019

  In the world of free-to-play, data is king - but running the numbers isn't going to instantly make your game super successful.

  To help with figuring out what all these figures really mean, deltaDNA chief product officer Isaac Roseboom gave a talk on making profitable games using mostly data, with a little bit of luck.

  It's not going to be easy, of course. "We know the biggest games in the world are entrenched in the top of the charts," Roseboom pointed out, noting that seven of the top 10 grossing games at the time were over two years old.

  Make sure to grab your tickets for PG Connects Seattle 2020 now!

  
  

• Culture and diversity in games

  Culture and diversity are two of the hottest topics in the games industry at the moment, and it's heartening to see more companies taking steps to improve the diversity on their teams to ensure their games represent the widest audience possible.

  In this panel, Geogrify's Kate Edwards leads a discussion on that very topic, alongside representatives from Spry Fox, LBC Studios, Rebind.io, and more.

  "From a talent pool perspective, when we put out calls for any position, we get people from minority backgrounds, and women, etc. for virtually every position except for programming," noted David Edery, CEO of Spry Fox.

  Make sure to grab your tickets for PG Connects Seattle 2020 now!

  
  

• Analysing the Japanese games market

  China may be an interesting, near-impenetrable market for most developers, but the rest of Asia is just as varied and valuable if you have the right game - and the right partner.

  On that very topic, our own Patty Toledo sat down to speak with Chorus Worldwide founder and CEO Shintaro Kanaoya, who took some time to explain why the publisher has pivoted away from mobile recently (which is still interesting for mobile developers in its own way!)

  "We would be able to happily release a mobile premium game and basically make very little money for us, and obviously very little revenue share for the original developers, whereas with console we've been able to pay a revenue share for absolutely everything we've done, even the lowest-performing stuff," Kanaoya said.

  Make sure to grab your tickets for PG Connects Seattle 2020 now!