Balatro’: Turning Low Resolution into High Praise
Wout van Halderen unpacks the marketing strategy behind Balatro, a
| Time | Main Stage | Stage B | Stage C | Port Centre (Audio Summit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:30 am | The Combat of ‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’
Michel Nohra
Lead Game Designer, Sandfall Interactive
| |||
| 10:30 am | How to Design and Build Killer Game UI
Tod Bouris
Developer Relations Engineer, Rive
Dave Doherty
Strategic Account Executive, Rive
| |||
| 10:45 am | Objects that Speak: Shaping Narrative through Audio and Object Interaction
Beatrix Moersch
Audio Lead, Don't Nod Montreal
Julien Goyon
Sound Designer, Don't Nod Montreal
| |||
| 11:30 am | The 10 Moves Every Studio Needs to Make Before It’s Too Late
Adam Boyes
Founder & CEO, Vivrato
| Prioritization Framework for Game Design Features
Osama Dorias
Creative Director, Heartloop Games
| ||
| 12:30 pm | Rolling Back The Curtain – Designing for Rollback Netcode
Yona Montineri
Programmer, Thunder Lotus
| Building Scalable Creator Programs
Justin Sacks
CEO, Nexus
| Players As Creators. UGC in the Age of AI
Andy Mauro
CEO, Storycraft
| |
| 1:00 pm | Balatro’: Turning Low Resolution into High Praise
Wout van Halderen
Communications Director, Playstack
| Views from Anywhere: International Approaches to Overcoming Global Indie Challenges
Daniel Wilén
Managing Director, Arctic Game
Luca Cannellotto
Head of National Funding, Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council
Ignacio Baldini Pescarmona
CEO, Byzantium
| From the Story of Four to the Fate of Forty Thousand
Maciej Sułecki
Game Director, 11 bit studios
| Wwise Tour 2025
Thiago Schiefer
Audio Designer, Yellow Brick Games
Todd Baker
Music & Audio Artist / Director, Freelance
Joakim Enigk Sjöberg
Senior Technical Sound Designer, Hazelight
Philip Eriksson
Audio Director, Hazelight
|
| 3:30 pm | Exploring Opportunities Between Canada, Saudi Arabia and MENA
Brian Ward
CEO, Savvy Games Group
| Cheating on My CPU with Distributed Unreal Builds: A UBA Love Story
Mike Seese
Head of Unreal Tooling, Hathora
| Establishing Publishing Functions Within a Game Studio
Elizabeth Howard
GM, FarBridge
| |
| 4:00 pm | Epic Games Store PC + Mobile: Current and Future States
Sarah Thomson
BD Director, Epic Games Store PC + mobile, Epic Games Store
| Beyond Surface Metrics: Uncovering the Human Behind Player Behavior
Andrew Pappas
Founder, Rengen Marketing
| The Hybrid Future: Artists + AI in Game Development
Justin Webber
Head of Game Development, Shutterstock Studios
| |
| 4:30 pm | over the hill: From Announcement to 200k Wishlists in a Month
Dune Casu
Founder & Creative Director, Funselektor
| Inside the Indie Playbook: Our Lessons From Self-Publishing (Big Wins, Some Fails, and Everything In Between)
Reid Schneider
Studio Head, Raccoon Logic
| Mastering Multiplayer: Trends, Tools, and Creative Pathways
Mark Val
Head of Growth, Photon
|
| Time | Main Stage | Stage B | Stage C | Port Centre (Audio Summit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:30 am | Friendly Fire: Surviving Success as a Studio
Linda Tiger
Chief Operating Officer, Arrowhead Game Studios
| Crafting the Music and Audio of The Outer Worlds 2
Christian Hurst
Co-Founder, Managing Director, Interleave
Oleksa Lozowchuk
Co-Founder/Creative Director, Interleave
| ||
| 10:30 am | Everything Sucks and I Have No Time: Self-Publishing and Marketing
Victoria Tran
Communications Director, Innersloth
| Building an OP Cashflow Strategy for your Studio to Thrive
Muddassir Mahmood
Co-founder, Insert Coin
Matthew Walach
Co-founder, Insert Coin
| Building and Operating Teams with a Live Service Mentality
Matt Lee
Executive Producer / Game Manager, Gameloft Montréal
| Creative Collaboration in Game Audio Development
Oleksa Lozowchuk
Co-Founder/Creative Director, Interleave
|
| 11:30 am | Rethinking External Asset Creation in the Assassin’s Creed Franchise
Isabelle Bismuth
Director of Studio Partnerships, AC Franchise, Ubisoft
Erika Benacka
Senior Outsourcing Production Manager, Ubisoft
| The Rising Chinese Indie Game Market: Characteristics and Trends
Tony Shong
Global Head of Developer Relations, Gamirror Games / indieLight
| The Role of Sound in Video Games
Jorge Peirano
Global Creative Audio Director, Gameloft Montréal
| |
| 12:30 pm | Canada’s Video Game Industry – From Strength to Staying Power
Paul Fogolin
President & CEO, ESAC
| D2C in Action: Publisher, Player, and Content Creator Perspectives
Chip Thurston
Head of Gaming, FastSpring
Justin Sacks
CEO, Nexus
| ||
| 1:00 pm | Publisher Panel: Tips and Tricks for Market Success
Jason Della Rocca
Founder, Execution Labs
| Worldbuilding for a Generated City
Tanya X. Short
Captain, Kitfox Games
| ||
| 2:00 pm | Breaking the Code – Unconventional Advice for Women Leaders in Tech and Video Games
Stephanie Marchand
Sr VP Production, Behaviour Interactive
| Emerging Marketing Tactics, Less Overhead, a More Complete Package
Hans Haave
Head of Publishing, Oro Interactive
| South of Midnight: My Tales and Takeaways
Michael Jungbluth
Animation Director, Compulsion Games
| |
| 3:45 pm | The Influencer Landscape: Common Mistakes and Pitfalls To Avoid in Today’s Market
Clara Sia
Business & Marketing Consultant, Folks At Play
| The Price of Success: Why Making Your 2nd Game is Even Harder
Abhi Swaminath
Creative Director, Visai Games
Shahrin Khan
Lead Producer, Visai Games
|
Wout van Halderen unpacks the marketing strategy behind Balatro, a
Most teams are chasing the same player metrics and wondering
Let’s discuss strategies that enable studios of any size to
How can studios build creator programs that support both community
Economic impact, global competitiveness, and the policy foundation for growth
Direct-to-consumer is reshaping how games engage players and drive revenue—but
This talk will explore how new publishers have popped up
At Epic, we like to disrupt. We believe in giving
Publishing is more than marketing. It is the set of
Congratulations! You’re making a cool game. A common step for
Join Brian Ward, CEO of Savvy Games Group, for a
Helldivers 2 was a breakout success – but behind every
In this session we’re going to reverse engineer Raccoon Logic’s
Funselektor has spent 11 years building stylized vehicle games and
This panel will explore the current pathways to success for
After speaking with over a hundred studio heads across North
Whether you’re launching your first commercial game or tenth, influencer
The number 1 question a lot of indies have is
A deep dive into the development, current state, and unique
Successful games can come from anywhere. From the side of
Building a great game is only part of the journey—structuring
Unlock the power of Unreal Build Accelerator to distribute Unreal
This War of Mine, Frostpunk and Frostpunk 2 are games
In most game studios, designers create the UI and then
Multiplayer games continue to dominate top gaming charts, but transforming
From map editors, to mods, Minecraft, to Roblox games have
This session proposes a new framework that helps teams meet
Join Isabelle Bismuth and Erika Benacka as they share how
“Rollback Netcode” is understood by many to be the state
South of Midnight is a deeply personal game for many
“After earning a degree in Mathematics, I was fortunate to
AI isn’t here to replace game artists; think of it
Our Constantinople-inspired city in Streets of Fortuna is populated by
This team has been collaborating on the audio and music
This talk will cover creative collaboration in game audio and
In Lost Records: Bloom and Rage, examinable objects – toys,
This year, Audiokinetic is celebrating their 25th anniversary, and they
Wout van Halderen unpacks the marketing strategy behind Balatro, a
Most teams are chasing the same player metrics and wondering
Let’s discuss strategies that enable studios of any size to
How can studios build creator programs that support both community
Economic impact, global competitiveness, and the policy foundation for growth
Direct-to-consumer is reshaping how games engage players and drive revenue—but
This talk will explore how new publishers have popped up
At Epic, we like to disrupt. We believe in giving
Publishing is more than marketing. It is the set of
Congratulations! You’re making a cool game. A common step for
Join Brian Ward, CEO of Savvy Games Group, for a
Helldivers 2 was a breakout success – but behind every
In this session we’re going to reverse engineer Raccoon Logic’s
Funselektor has spent 11 years building stylized vehicle games and
This panel will explore the current pathways to success for
After speaking with over a hundred studio heads across North
Whether you’re launching your first commercial game or tenth, influencer
The number 1 question a lot of indies have is
A deep dive into the development, current state, and unique
Successful games can come from anywhere. From the side of
Building a great game is only part of the journey—structuring
Unlock the power of Unreal Build Accelerator to distribute Unreal
This War of Mine, Frostpunk and Frostpunk 2 are games
In most game studios, designers create the UI and then
Multiplayer games continue to dominate top gaming charts, but transforming
From map editors, to mods, Minecraft, to Roblox games have
This session proposes a new framework that helps teams meet
Join Isabelle Bismuth and Erika Benacka as they share how
“Rollback Netcode” is understood by many to be the state
South of Midnight is a deeply personal game for many
“After earning a degree in Mathematics, I was fortunate to
AI isn’t here to replace game artists; think of it
Our Constantinople-inspired city in Streets of Fortuna is populated by
This team has been collaborating on the audio and music
This talk will cover creative collaboration in game audio and
In Lost Records: Bloom and Rage, examinable objects – toys,
This year, Audiokinetic is celebrating their 25th anniversary, and they
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