Rovio’s Anastasiya Kara on AI, live ops and Spain's growing games market

• Rovio’s Anastasiya Kara will be speaking at Pocket Gamer Connects Barcelona on June 15th-16th.

At Pocket Gamer Connects Barcelona (June 15th to 16th), Rovio lead product manager Anastasiya Kara is will present a session on the evolution of live ops.

The talk will look back at how changes from the 2010s to the present reflect a shift toward increasingly sophisticated, data-driven and player-centric strategies. 

As the lines between genres continue to blur, Kara believes free-to-play titles will increasingly implement features from contrasting genres to enhance player engagement and monetisation.

Ahead of the conference, we spoke with Kara about her talk, the state of Spain’s rising games market and broader industry challenges and growth opportunities.

PocketGamer: Tell us briefly about your company and what you’re working on right now

Anastasiya Kara: I am leading the live ops and feature production for a new match-3 game in the Angry Birds universe at Rovio, focusing on bringing its humour and destruction of our brand to make the next smash hit.

What is the biggest challenge and opportunity in the games industry in 2026?

The biggest challenge and opportunity are one and the same: AI.

It's a market-wide race to see who can integrate AI into their production without losing that spark of human creativity which made us all fall in love with games in the first place.

How is the Spanish game sector doing at the moment?

I’m very optimistic about the Spanish games industry. Spain is increasingly positioning itself as a global talent hub, with growing investment, strong mobile expertise and more studios gaining international visibility.

What’s one change you wish to enforce on the industry?

One change I care about is improving gender representation in gaming, particularly in leadership roles. 

Women currently make up roughly 25% of the workforce and only 10% to 16% of leadership, despite being close to 50% of players, especially in mobile. Closing this gap will strengthen the industry and create products that better reflect our player base.

On a personal level, what are you most optimistic about?

On a personal level, I’m optimistic about what newer casual titles like Pixel Flow and Colour Block Jam represent. They show there’s a very strong appetite for fresh gameplay ideas, and it’s encouraging to see innovation happening alongside mature live-ops models.

Hear more from industry experts at Pocket Gamer Connects Barcelona on June 15th and 16th - secure your tickets today.