Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019 will take place on January 21st to 22nd. To give you a taste of what to expect, we'll regularly be publishing interviews with the speakers at the show.

For more details on PGC London and to book a ticket, head to the website here.

In today's Speaker Spotlight we're talking to Dmitry Liapin, the chief business development officer for creative mobile performance agency Zorka.Mobi.

With over seven years of experience in mobile, Liapin has held managerial positions not only at performance and network agencies but also led the product-oriented projects at Nokia.

PocketGamer.Biz: Can you tell us a bit about the company?

Dmitry Liapin: Zorka.Mobi is a creative mobile performance agency. We offer a full range of mobile marketing services – from strategy development to its execution with tools like Influencer Marketing, CPI/CPA media buying and remarketing campaigns.

Our agency cooperates with globally-known developers and agencies such as Plarium, Pixonic, Wargaming, Game Insight, Youzu Interactive, NetEase, Pocket Gems, Gameloft, Yandex, Mail.Ru Group, Vivaki, OMD Resolution and others.

What does your role entail?

I search for new business growth opportunities uniting all departments.

Being focused on the main strategic goals of the company, I try to find and implement the best way to Zorka.Mobi development with the help of new technologies, partnerships and processes.

Why did you want to work in the games industry?

The rise of mobile technology has formed a perfect foundation for the mobile games industry’s success.

The mobile games sphere has developed very fast and has nearly half of all global gaming revenue. It came naturally that mobile games developers are our top clients.

I play mobile games almost every day, and I find it extremely exciting to contribute to their improvement.

What advice would you give to anyone looking to get into it?

The games industry is highly competitive, so you could succeed here only if you know your niche, differ from others, strive for perfection and have a portion of luck.

What are your thoughts on the industry in the last 12 months?

The success of the industry attracted the attention of many content creators and influencers.

We work closely with many bloggers, so we see the increasing popularity of streaming channels with an engaged and loyal audience.

Also, we see more opportunities for game monetisation through advertising. Brands of all types spend their budgets on ads inside games to reach global gaming audience.

I should mention the new European privacy rules GDPR which went into effect this year. The regulations are intentionally broad, which has led them to affect industries that aren't typically thought of as trafficking in user information, like gaming.

What significant trends do you predict in the next 12 months?

It seems that augmented reality has successfully occupied its niche in the mobile gaming world and it will continue to grow.

More game developers will find ways to implement AR technology into their games improving the user experience.

Revenue from mobile games will exceed revenue from both PC and console games. One of my predictions is a new direction in influencer marketing: hiring celebrities from other entertainment industries as ambassadors for gaming brands.

Playable ads will highly increase its popularity in gaming. They create the best engaging experience around a potential player and companies will learn how to do them effectively.

How has the games industry changed since you first started?

Since I started, the industry has changed dramatically. There were no smartphones and nobody had any idea that mobile games would become as advanced and popular as PC games.

Now you can play everywhere and these are not just primitive simple games like it was with the first mobile phones. A few years ago mobile games became awesome because of VR/AR technology.

Which part of the Connects event are you most looking forward to and why?

I can’t say which part of the event I’m looking forward to most because the whole conference is a great chance to talk to the best industry representatives and get unique insights in an informal atmosphere.

Find out more about Pocket Gamer Connects London 2019 on the website.