Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital is around the corner, taking place on September 14th - 18th. To give you a taste of what to expect, we'll regularly be publishing interviews with the speakers at the show.

The conference spans across five days and will feature a broad selection of tracks, talks and speakers, as well as various fringe events and a new and improved meeting system. For more details on PGC Helsinki Digital and to book a ticket, head to the website.

Today's spotlight is on Anh Luong, head of business development at Miniclip. Luong will be hosting a talk titled 'What to Look for in a Publishing Partnership', where he'll cover everything you need to know about pitching to publishers. He's been in the industry for 15 years, with previous roles and Sega and EA, and we think he knows thing or two about the perfect pitch.

Pocketgamer.biz: Tell us a bit about your company?

Anh Luong: Miniclip is a global leader in digital games with a mission of unleashing the gamer in everyone. The Company develops, publishes and distributes highly engaging games to an audience of over 200 million monthly active users across mobile, social and online platforms.

Founded in 2001, the Company has successfully grown a huge global audience in over 195 countries and across six continents. Miniclip has a unique understanding of the digital games space and has developed a strong portfolio of over 60 high-quality mobile games, extensive worldwide distribution, and an internationally recognised brand name. To date, Miniclip franchises including 8 Ball Pool™, Golf Battle™, Football Strike™ and Agar.io™ have generated more than 2 billion downloads.

As of April 2020, Miniclip has more than 60 million daily active players reaching people across the world in the pursuit of ‘unleashing the gamer in everyone’.

What does your role entail?

I am responsible (along with my awesome team) for driving forward the business development of Miniclip's 3rd Party Publishing, Co-Development, Strategic partnerships and Investment/M&A opportunities.

Why did you want to work in the games industry?

I’ve been a gamer since I was very young and it was always a dream of mine to work in the industry that I’m so passionate about. 15 years on and I still pinch myself from time to time when I realise where I’ve ended up through hard work, determination and luck, but mostly luck!

What advice would you give to anyone looking to get into the space?

It’s important to get a good understanding of what part of the industry you want to work in. I started at where people may perceive to be at the bottom rung of the career ladder in QA testing and worked my way up to where I am today - but my goal was always to move more into the more commercial areas of the business.

If I can do it, then you can most certainly do it.

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

It’s been up and down for obvious reasons but what’s impressed me is how resilient an industry we are.

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

A new console generation always brings some great excitement along with it.

If the last 12 months is anything to go by, we’ll also see a lot more consolidation in the industry through investments and M&A.

How has the games industry changed since you first started?

Consoles and PC dominated the landscape back then, and playing video games was still very much seen as a specialist thing to do.

Fast forward to now and it’s incredible to see gaming so accessible to the masses whether it be on your mobile or using the cloud. One thing that has remained a big constant however is it’s all about great content.

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

Presenting in the track, meeting with developers, and listening to all the other great sessions during the conference.

Check out the full schedule to see the complete range of impressive speakers attending. You can also check out our other track rundowns and coverage of previous Pocket Gamer Connects conferences ahead of the event itself.

There's still time to register for Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki Digital here.