Interview

Speaker Spotlight: Amy Venier, VP of Gaming and Esports at Fandom, discusses the importance of broadening your job search in the games industry to find your place

Meet the superstar experts that will be leading the conversation at Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle, May 9-10

Speaker Spotlight: Amy Venier, VP of Gaming and Esports at Fandom, discusses the importance of broadening your job search in the games industry to find your place

There’s just a week to go until the leading b2b conference for the mobile games industry descends upon the West Coast for networking galore, insightful discussions and good times – the anticipation is building! We could not be happier to share with you some of the incredible speakers that will be joining us to share their wisdom and expertise at our upcoming Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle next month.

This May 9th to 10th, we are welcoming hundreds of the game industry’s finest speakers to share their expertise with us on 16 diverse topic tracks covering the most pressing issues facing the industry today. You can view our stellar speaker line-up so far here to get an idea of the level of incredible talent that will be joining us in Seattle. The immense wisdom and insight that our talented speakers bring to our conference is a major part of what makes ours the number one b2b mobile gaming conference. To give you a sneak preview at what you can expect from our conference, we are spotlighting some of our most highly anticipated speakers to showcase the fantastic talent and top-tier businesses that will be sharing their insights with us next month.

We recently spotlighted THNDR’s CEO Desiree Dickerson. You can catch up on our speaker spotlights so far here.

Next up in our spotlight series is Amy Venier, Vice-President of Gaming and Esports at Fandom. Amy oversees Fandom’s gaming & esports advertising strategy. In her role, she works closely with game publishers to develop strategic partnerships that expand and deepen collaboration for game promotion, and with brand marketers who want to align with Fandom’s gaming audience in meaningful ways.

Join us at PG Connects Seattle on May 9-10 to hear Venier discuss how to engage communities to grow your business.
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PocketGamer.biz: Tell us a bit about your company
Amy Venier: Fandom is the world’s largest gaming & entertainment platform, providing the deepest library of immersive information & content to over 300 million fans globally. We’re home to over 250,000 fan-powered wiki communities and over 40 million pages of content for fans to explore. With over 30 billion pageviews across our platform, Fandom is the youngest site among Comscore’s Top 100 Ad-supported sites in the US with a median age of 31.

Why did you want to work in the games industry?
I pursued a career in gaming because games have always been at the forefront of innovation and game marketers are creative, curious and always interested in trying something new. That always kept me interested and inspired. And most importantly, my job makes my kids proud.

What advice would you give to anyone looking to get into it?
Don’t limit your search to development or design. There are thousands of jobs in & around video games, and almost certainly something that will suit you perfectly. Think about how games are bought, played, shared and distributed - there’s a business behind all of it to explore.

How has the games industry changed since you first started?
I first dipped my toes in gaming in 1997 so it’s safe to say it’s changed quite a bit since then! When I told people what I did, they usually didn’t understand it. “Do you sell games?” or “do you play games?” were usually the questions people asked. The best way to describe the evolution is that the industry has matured and evolved, but the heart & soul of gaming is largely the same. I’d say this is because there are many people still in the industry that were there when I first started - most don’t leave it. I think that says something!

What are your thoughts on the industry in the last 12 months?
I often wonder if the players are top of mind. Much of the conversation is around what’s good for the industry and we seem to be forgetting how complicated gaming ecosystems are. There are countless ways you can buy, play and share gameplay, and we could risk consumer burnout through optionality.

Which part of the Connects event are you most looking forward to and why?
I look forward to connecting and learning from my peers, hearing from studios, and comparing thoughts & ideas on 2023 and beyond.

Meet the experts in-person
There’s no place like Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle to connect with incredible industry leaders like Amy Venier. Don’t miss out on attending our West Coast conference – secure your seat now and get early access to our meeting platform to schedule all the meetings and see who all will be joining us in Seattle come May.

Marketing Executive