Explore the world of hypercasual games, unlock methods on how you can keep and boost your acquisition and retention, and discover how to successfully build your studio from the ground up - Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5 is just around the corner!

In under two weeks time, the leading B2B games industry conference goes live on February 8th to 12th, and we’re delighted to announce more speakers in the lineup.

Taking place completely online over 1,500 virtual attendees from all around the world will hear from more than 250 expert speakers of the games industry across 14 conference tracks. These topic areas include hypercasual and social games, industry visions and values, global trends, growth and more.

Each talk, panel, keynote and seminars is streamed live, recorded and made available on demand, so with a ticket you can interact with our speakers during their talks through our Q&As or catch up at a later time if you’re unavailable for the stream.

Over the last couple of months, we’ve announced a ton of speakers which you can see on the official website, but as we’re in the final build up to the event, we’re thrilled to reveal the final speakers who will share their insights with you at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5.

The biggest names

In addition to incredible speakers already announced, including Cavan Scott who’s currently writing for Star Wars: The High Rebepublic, we’re thrilled to introduce some more heavyweights to our line-up in February.

Last month he was all over the news, and now he’s addressing the crowd at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5: Nifty Games’ board member Peter Moore takes a look and discusses some of the opportunities for sports games in the age of COVID. With a background that takes in Sega, Xbox, EA Sports and Liverpool FC, industry legend Moore is described by Forbes as “the biggest name in sports and video gaming ever”, so you should definitely bookmark this in your MeetToMatch event programme.

And you’ll also want to find time to hear from Survios’ CPO TQ Jefferson. Jefferson is one of the industry’s most influential speakers, with a background at Disney, FoxNext, Skybound and more - you’ll have seen his credit on huge franchise games such as Spider-Man, The Walking Dead and Alien: Blackout. He’s taking part in a fireside chat with GreenPark Sports’ CEO Ken Martin, to discuss the topic of building virtual worlds and digital experiences for fans.

How to publish hypercasual and social games

In hypercasual games, time is of the essence and you can't let anyone beat you to the punch. CrazyLabs’ senior publishing manager Shai Sasson discusses five ways to make sure your development process is moving fast yet accurately, and demonstrates which steps you can skip altogether - and which are crucial for your game success and can take you all the way to the top spot.

Homa Games’ marketing intelligence and Toulouse studio lead Guillaume Cazelles, Umami Games’ CEO Riley Andersen, Lightneer’s lead producer Anastasios Katopodis and Maysalward’s CEO Nour Khrais discuss how to create ever-lasting hypercasual experiences.

Quicksave Interactive’s CEO Elina Arponen and SOFTGAMES’ CEO Alexander Krug share their thoughts on what to expect in the social games market with a panel.

JoyPac’s senior publishing manager Vivian Dong joins a panel to discuss and list some of the important factors developers should keep in mind when choosing a publisher.

Grow your revenues...

It's sometimes said that to succeed in the mobile gaming industry you have to focus, however, in the long run every studio needs to diversify their portfolio to minimise the risks. CrazyLabs’ senior publishing manager Rotem Eldor discusses what brought CrazyLabs into hypercasual games to begin with, what was the effect of having an internal game development studio on top of a team of publishing experts, and pin-point the steps that small indie studios can take in order to grow their business during 2021.

We’re looking forward to hearing from Facebook Audience Network’s strategic partner manager Shri Gunasekera as he shows how you can effectively monetise your mobile games in 2021.

Funday Factory’s product manager and partner Emil Kjaehr and Adverty’s director of sales Alex Ginn discuss some of the most important lessons that need to be learned in game monetisation. Kjaehr also appears on another panel focused on how to take user acquisition and retention to the next level. App Annie’s senior market insights manager Lexi Sydow shares her expertise on the monetiser track session at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5.

Are user-friendly monetisation tactics a myth or a reality? Pixel Noire Games’ head designer Javier Barnes and Metamoki’s head of product, monetisation and user acquisition Eiso Kawamoto discuss with a panel of other experts.

Due to Apple's recent changes in their App Tracking Transparency policy, app and mobile game marketers have become more concerned about the impact of these changes in mobile user acquisition strategies. AppTweak’s head of ASO Simon Thillay takes a closer look at the potential role of app store optimisation and shares everything you need to know including the performance of app store native advertising channels and how to easily identify insights of your customer intent.

Dimoso’s CEO Jacki Vause shares her expertise and experience into how PR and UA work together. Akupara Games’ producer/marketing producer Alyssa Kollgaard dedicates her session to showing how you can market your game on a shoestring budget.

HyprMX’s business development manager Dylan Umali, Gamejam’s CEO Christian Calderon, BoomBit’s head of marketing Goncalo Martins and Unico Studio’s UA manager Uzeyir Baser analyse the Apple privacy changes and what the impact that will have on AD monetisation on this superstar speed panel. Navigating through uncertainty is always tricky, but this panel will help.

Elevate your game! Learn how impression-level data can take your game to the next level with IsCool Entertainment’s CEO Hadrien des Rotours and MoPub’s senior publisher account director Vincent Fevrier. And keep elevating your game with MoPub’s lead strategy publisher manager Kate Ellis-Hill and Zynga’s senior director, AD monetisation and product Phil Suh as they discuss AD strategy in the age of consolidation.

Luna Labs’ CPO and co-founder Adam Stevens focuses his session on how insights and creative automation can transform your growth strategy. And Xsolla’s interim director of business development - Europe Miikka Luotio provides essential insights into mobile game commerce.

More money, fewer problems! AudioMob’s CEO and co-founder Christian Facey leads a session on how audio ads can increase revenue without damaging retention and cannibalising revenue.

Adjust’s head of partnerships, EMEA Richard Smith dedicates his solo seminar session on how developers can gain and retain their audiences in 2021.

… and protect your revenues

Then you can look more specifically at challenges of tampering and cheating and how that affects the money you make. How do we protect mobile games against hackers, crackers and copycatters? Denuvo by Irdeto’s product owner, anti-cheat Michail Greshishchev discusses all the different avenues to protect mobile games.

And you can explore the real costs of cheating on studios, mobile games and mobile gaming communities with Ubisoft Abu Dhabi’s lead producer/production manager Peeyush Gulati and Denuvo by Irdeto’s CMO Steeve Huin featuring on a panel.

On a less technical, more financial note, learn how to manage your investor relationship and find out what to do when things go south with Mark Cochrane as he shares his experiences and advice on a panel.

Meaningful play and creative visions

Outfit7’s general manager Milena Dolenc joins a panel focusing on making lasting changes in your company culture. If that’s relevant to you, then check out this session too: Stillfront Group’s COO Alexis Bonte and Storm8’s CSO Terence Fung unite for a fireside chat discussing the importance of culture and values when building a free-to-play studio.

Good stories make better games! 10th Muse’s CEO and creative director Karoliina Korppoo hosts a session on how to find the story to fit your game. And we’re especially excited to hear from Apple Arcade’s creative producer Armando Soto, hosting a superstar session which looks at what developers tend to overlook while trying to create meaningful experiences to the audience.

Homa Games’ CEO and co-founder Daniel Nathan explains how Homa Games disrupts the content creation process. And you can explore the unreal journey from live events, concerts and music videos to mobile game creation for a rock band with vision, with Creative Works’ co-founder and executive creative director Dan Potter.

Tiny Hydra's CEO Martin Mittner lists some of the challenges and advantages of creating a game remotely on a panel. You can explore the power of Google in the palm of your hand with Google Firebase’s developer advocate Patrick Martin.

What is the next big game idea? Jet Play’s founder and CEO Tom Pigott hosts his session on harnessing the power of AI to create chart topping games.

JUMP’s data science director Carlos De Las Heras Peña hosts a superstar session on how to enhance the gaming experience through content micro-personalisation.

Genvid Technologies’ director of developer relations’ Christopher Hamilton hosts a Genvid demo session, a new type of session at Pocket Gamer Connects. Have you seen Rival Peak on Facebook? Speaking of which, you can also explore how to integrate Facebook Gaming services and how to leverage Facebook login for gaming with Facebook Partnerships’ strategic partner manager Alessio Aristide.

The wider community of gamers

Live Tech Games’ co-founders Samuel Worsley and Nathan Moore provide insights into competitive gaming on British television channel ITV.

Is 2021 the year of esports? Esports Insider’s managing director and co-founder Sam Cooke discusses with other esports industry executives.

Carry1st’s chief of staff and partnerships lead Sean Gotkin and Africacomicade’s co-founder Oscar Michael unite for a fireside chat where they discuss how a two week Gamathon in Africa went.

Happy Warrior’s founder and president Rebecca Longawa features on a roundtable which discusses how to unlock the potential of your brand and fandom.

What can we expect in the PC/console game market after the vaccine? Super Evil Megacorp’s chief business officer Taewon Yun and DECK13 Interactive’s co-founder and managing director Jan Klose discuss on a panel.

Square Enix London Mobile’s producer Shanzay Usama features on a panel which looks at whether or not more games should be designed with influencers in mind from the start.

Building indie games often means building your own company and becoming an entrepreneur in the gaming business. Storybyte Studio’s CEO Rosemary Lokhorst talks through building the organisation around your game, by sharing the lessons learned from experiences and testimonials, taking examples of games that meant to make money, and games that serve a higher purpose to games that were simply meant to be enjoyed.

We’re also excited to be joined by JoyPac’s UA manager Louise Bay as she looks to share her expertise on the growth track. Additionally, we’re glad to welcome Tamalaki’s CEO Martine Spaans, FinPlay AG’s design director Kelly Vero, and MobileGroove’s lead analyst and founder Peggy Anne Salz as hosts for our incredible tracks at Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5.

Book now!

Those are some incredible seminars and panels you could virtually attend by registering for Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5! Book before midnight tomorrow (January 28th) and save up to $210 with our Mid-term prices!

We’re also allocating a limited amount of free passes solely for small indie developers, enabling them to meet with investors and publishers, and learn from the industry’s biggest names. If you think you qualify, sign up here.