Ready to learn from some of the sharpest minds in game development?
MIGS25 returns with more stages, more speakers, and more opportunities to grow your business and career.
This year features four content stages – spanning business, marketing, audio, external development strategies, and game development tracks – to deliver the insights, strategies, and stories shaping what’s next.
From AAA giants to trailblazing indies, these industry experts have built worlds, launched hits, and led global teams.
| Time | Stage A | Stage B | Stage C | Port Centre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:15 am | ||||
| 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
| Beyond Tax Credits: Aim for Success
William Dubé
CEO, Thunder Lotus Games
Marwan Bitar
Founder & President, Innoprofits Solution (Marwan Bitar inc.)
| ||
| 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
| Visions of the Future for the Canadian Video Game Business
Joshua Nilson
Founder, Maskwa Games
Christopher Chancey
General Manager, Indie Asylum
John Nguyen
Regional Vice-President - Canada, Xsolla
| Ubisoft and SOCAN Foundation Screen Music Lab: Empowering Creative Collaboration in Games
Simon Landry
Music Supervisor, Ubisoft
Julien Boumard Coallier
Gestionnaire des programmes de subvention, Fondation SOCAN
|
| 12:30 pm | Rolling Back The Curtain – Designing for Rollback Netcode
Yona Montineri
Programmer, Thunder Lotus
| Building Scalable Creator Programs
Justin Sacks
CEO, Nexus
| Cheating on My CPU with Distributed Unreal Builds: A UBA Love Story
Mike Seese
Head of Unreal Tooling, Hathora
| |
| 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
|
| 2:00 pm | The MIGS Indie Pitch Competition
Jason Della Rocca
Founder, Execution Labs
| |||
| 3:30 pm | Exploring Opportunities Between Canada, Saudi Arabia and MENA
Brian Ward
CEO, Savvy Games Group
| Players As Creators. UGC in the Age of AI
Andy Mauro
CEO, Storycraft
| 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 | Stage A | Stage B | Stage C | Port Centre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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
Logan Wall
Senior Sound Designer, Interleave Creative
Andy Frech
Senior Sound Designer, Interleave Creative
James Duncan
Senior Sound Designer, Interleave Creative
| ||
| 10:30 am | Everything Sucks and I Have No Time: Self-Publishing and Marketing
Victoria Tran
Communications Director, Innersloth
| Advancing AI Game Development with AMD and GPUOpen
Tian Yue Liu
Sr. Software Development Engineer, AMD
Alexander Cann
Staff Software Engineer, AMD
Max Kiehn
Senior Fellow Software Development, AMD
Alex Blake-Davies
Sr. Developer Product Marketing Specialist, AMD
| 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
Rob Bridgett
Senior Manager, Sound, Sony Interactive Entertainment / Creative Arts
Audrey Dubois
Producer, Cloud Chamber
Bénédicte Ouimet
Music Supervisor, Ubisoft
Louis-Philippe Dion
Audio Director, Haven Studio
|
| 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
| Building an OP Cashflow Strategy for your Studio to Thrive
Muddassir Mahmood
Co-founder, Insert Coin
Matthew Walach
Co-founder, Insert Coin
| 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
Ryan Holowaty
CEO, Noodlecake
Matthew White
CEO, Whitethorn Games
Matthew Handrahan
Portfolio Director, kepler interactive
| Worldbuilding for a Generated City
Tanya X. Short
Captain, Kitfox Games
| Building for Xbox Play Anywhere and the New Era of Handhelds
Nick Landry
Developer Relations PM Lead, Microsoft Xbox
| |
| 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
| Finding Success with ID@Xbox: Getting Started and Partnership Programs
Chloé Giusti
ID@Xbox Regional Lead - Americas/ANZ, Microsoft - Xbox
|
| 3:00 pm | Maximizing Results on Xbox Platforms
Chloé Giusti
ID@Xbox Regional Lead - Americas/ANZ, Microsoft - Xbox
| |||
| 3:15 pm | The Pulse of Canadian Gaming: A Look Ahead with the Canadian Game Awards
Carl-Edwin Michel
Founder, Canadian Game Awards
| How Walmart Is Leaning into Gaming
John Gaudiosi
President, Moonrock
| ||
| 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
|
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