Europe’s leading B2B conference for the global mobile games industry, Pocket Gamer Connects London, begins in mere days and we could not be more excited to share with you the fantastic speakers gracing us with their knowledge and expertise on February 14-15!
You can view the entire speaker line-up here to get a full scope of the talent that will be speaking this February. To give you a glimpse of what you can expect, we are spotlighting some of the most highly anticipated speakers to showcase the incredible talent and top-tier businesses that will be sharing their insights with us.
Gracia Pozo, manager of EMEA games partnerships at Snap, will discuss the significant influences and benefits of Snapchat and bringing friend-to-friend recommendations and text and voice chat functionality without the need to download new apps, and the success of this approach with three Snap developer partners.
PocketGamer.biz: What do you think the next big disruptor in mobile games will be?
Gracia Pozo: I honestly can’t wait and hope for this to be AR! While we have already seen the potential and success of the first AR early adapters in games, I am very excited about the possibility of this tech becoming ubiquitous and opening the doors to a whole new level of immersive experiences that could be accessed by anyone from anywhere.
Our community is hugely engaged with AR lenses already, and some of our partners have already started experimenting and offering AR lenses as a fun reward for their games. Over 200 million people engage with augmented reality on Snapchat every day, and our community now plays with AR Lenses an average of more than six billion times per day... I can’t wait to see what’s next on the horizon for our games!
Having spent some time at Google Stadia, I’m also personally interested in the democratisation of game distribution that the cloud aims to provide and having game experiences be more instantly available to anyone that wants to play. And I'm excited to see that HTML5 is already reaching a technical maturity that allows for incredible 3D, multiplayer games (such as those developed in PlayCanvas) to be built and delivered to hundreds of millions of players worldwide in platforms like Snap Games and others.
What’s your favourite ever mobile game?
There are a number of games which I always come back to from time to time, and as part of my job I get lucky enough to try new concepts every day. However, if I have to choose one that has been consistently in all of my most recent phones and that I have played the most, that would be Homescapes by Playrix. I find it very relaxing, unlocking new rooms keeps me intrigued and the dialogues are just hilarious!
Is hypercasual gaming here to stay?
Definitely! Hypercasual is going through change and adaptations but it has already influenced a new generation of mobile game developers. It has the best of many worlds: it is easy to play, offers low entry barriers for players, and it doesn’t require a huge amount of time or expertise to ultimately provide entertainment and fun!
It continues to help expand the concept of gamers to a wider and diverse range of people and us continuously adapting and becoming deeper and more social. When my dad retired, I was the one who suggested he should download classic casual games like quick puzzles or word games on his phone, now he is the one telling me about what’s new in the hypercasual gaming world and I find that crazy!
As hypercasual matures, it will change, games may start including deeper progression and economies, they may leverage recognisable IP or become more social, and multiplayer. I’m personally excited to see key partners like Voodoo and others doubling-down on their HTML5, social games (hypersocial!) investments.
What do you enjoy most about working in the mobile games industry?
The people! Having the chance of working with amazingly talented, hard working, arty, and creative folks on a daily basis is what I appreciate the most about my job. We have a very special relationship with our partners as we work together on multiple projects and it is always exciting to be part of the next game release on our platform.
Can people get in touch with you at the event? What sort of people would you like to connect with?
Definitely! We are in the hunt for passionate mobile gaming developers, IP owners, indie producers… people who can help us develop and envision what’s next for our platform. We are still a young platform and would love to hear your ideas, so don’t be shy and reach out to us!
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Don’t miss out on the opportunity to meet with Gracia Pozo and other industry leaders at Europe’s #1 B2B games industry conference on February 14-15. Make sure you secure your spot today!
