Jukka Laakso is the CEO of Rival Games. At Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki on September 11-12 he'll be giving a presentation called Narrative Meets Gameplay - Thief of Thieves: Season One. Click here to get more info on the show and to buy your tickets.
As a founder of Rival Games, Laakso has seen the ups and downs, launched games, hired
people, fired people, and made a lot of mistakes. Most importantly he's learned from those mistakes and managed to keep Rival Games alive while negotiating and securing various major IP deals.
He's known as the guy who rarely smiles, gets things done, and is always honest.
Q: What does your role at the company entail?
A: I've done almost everything except programming and audio as part of the team for the games Rival Games has shipped. Plus I take care of biz dev and some marketing.
Q: What do you think have been the most exciting developments in gaming since the last Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki?
A: The major shift from casual to midcore on mobile with Battle Royale -genre making its debut on new platforms.
Q: What are your thoughts on the way the industry has grown in the last 12 months?
A: The growth has definitely been interesting with a clear new market leaders on mobile and traditional platforms. The Battle Royale genre has taken the industry by storm, but there is definitely still room for different kind of games on all platforms.
Q: What do you think the next 12 months in mobile gaming are going to look like?
A: Using an established brand to drive player recognition will keep growing.
Q: Which part of Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki are you most looking forward to and why?
A: Meeting new and old friends.
About Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
In a few short weeks the whole mobile gaming industry is set to descend on Helsinki for Pocket Gamer Connects. The event, which runs from September 11th to September 12th, is packed full of talks, tracks, networking opportunities, and more. You can read about the full conference schedule here.
There are still tickets available for the show, and if you click this link right here you'll get all the information you need on how to buy them, and what's going to be happening in Helsinki over the two days.
