Jami Laes is Co-Founder and CEO at Futureplay Games. At Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki he'll be giving a talk entitled Battlelands Royale - Inside View Into The Process And Development Of Futureplay’s Hit Game.

Click here to get more info on the show and to buy your tickets.

Laes has been working in mobile games since 2000 and has overseen well over 200 launches on numerous platforms and business models.

Over the years he has built and managed studios globally at small and large companies such as Sumea, Digital Chocolate, Playfish, EA, and Rovio.

In 2015 he finally co-founded Futureplay Games and they have seen rapid success with their idle games portfolio and 2018 summer launch of Battlelands Royale.

PocketGamer.Biz: What does your role at the company entail?

Jami Laes: As the CEO my role entails staying out of the way of our game development and making sure nothing or no one gets in the way either.

I also try to nudge games, projects and people to focus on the right things by asking a lot of questions.

I also brew the strongest dark roast coffee at Futureplay Games.

What do you think have been the most exciting developments in gaming since the last Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki?

I think the whole market development of battle royale games on console, PC and mobile - I think we have just scratched the surface of the opportunity.

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

I still believe that the game industry is one the only industries where I can work until I retire and see growth through my whole career.

Growth will change markets, countries, platforms, genres, business models etc. but we are still a relatively young industry that will keep growing for a long time.

What do you think the next 12 months in mobile gaming are going to look like?

The next year looks good, there are new market areas that are validated but not exhausted, like battle royale and hyper-casual.

There are lots of evergreen genres that still have room for innovation, like match-3  and every year there is room for new games to succeed in those genres.

Competition is not getting any easier regarding user acquisition, marketing, influencers, recruitment etc., but the best companies will know how to work with it and succeed, like always.

I wish the gap between East and West could somehow be made easier to cross going forward - getting traction in the huge markets of China, Korea, and Japan continues to be one of the hardest things to do for Western developers.

Which part of Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki are you most looking forward to and why?

The Pecha Kucha sessions are always fun, I'm intrigued by the blockchain and games sessions and there's always a number of good post-mortems and panels to go to.

If I find the time for it from meeting so many people at the event.

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 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.