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Sessions

Ready to learn from some of the sharpest minds in game development?

MIGS26 returns with more stages, more speakers, and more opportunities to grow your business and career.

This year features four content stages – spanning business, 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.

learn from the developers behind these games

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Registration
• Early registration is available at the venue on Monday November 9 from 2 – 5
• Main registration opens at 8am on Tuesday November 10
• Note: registration stays open all day

main stage sessions
Red Stage Blue Stage Green Stage

9:15 am

9:30 am

10:00 am

10:15 am

11:00 am

11:15 am

12:00 pm

1:00 pm

1:45 pm

2:00 pm

2:45 pm

3:00 pm

3:20 pm

3:35 pm

4:20 pm

4:35 pm

Welcome

9:15 am - 9:30 am (15 min)
Red Stage
Jason Lepine
Founder & CEO, XP Gaming Inc.
Jean-Jacques Hermans
Directeur général/Executive Director, La Guilde du jeu vidéo du Québec

How IO Interactive’s Studio Strategy Shaped 007 First Light

9:30 am - 10:00 am (30 min)
Red Stage
Sandra Smedegaard Mondahl
Senior Manager - Global Studio Strategy, IO Interactive

So You Went Indie: How to Survive to the Pitch

10:15 am - 11:00 am (45 min)
Red Stage
Tanya Short
Captain, Kitfox Games
Pierre-André Déry
Co-Founder & CEO, Studo Ricochet
Clint Hocking
Founder, Build Machine Games
Kris Schoneberg
Co-Founder & Design Director, Studio Reset

The Invisible Art of Interactive Mixing

10:15 am - 11:00 am (45 min)
Blue Stage
Rob Bridgett
SVP, Audio, Interleave

Far Far West – Early Early Access

11:15 am - 12:00 pm (45 min)
Red Stage
Robert Feather
Senior Product Manager, Fireshine Games

Making Games with AI in the Room: From Tripo to the Future of Game Worlds

11:15 am - 12:00 pm (45 min)
Blue Stage
Eric Kim
Country Manager, Tripo Studio, North America, Tripo AI
REN FU
Head of Solutions, Tripo AI
Shawn Woods
Founder and CEO, Brave Bear Ventures
Jordan Henry
Co-Founder & CBO, METATAILOR
Julien Bouvrais
CTO, aNormal Game Studio

What Publishing Deals Tell Us About the Current Market

11:15 am - 12:00 pm (45 min)
Green Stage
Astrid Refstrup
CEO, WINGS
Gabriela Siemienkowicz
Communications Lead, 11 bit studios
George Willard
Director, Secret Sauce
Frank MEIJER
Game Scout, Focus Entertainment

Building for the Long Game: Lessons from Three Decades in Games

1:00 pm - 1:45 pm (45 min)
Red Stage
Ryan Sno-Wood
Director of Marketing & Communications, XP Gaming Inc.

You’ve Leveled Up: What Now? Legal Stories for Maturing Game Businesses

1:00 pm - 1:45 pm (45 min)
Blue Stage
François Tremblay
Partner, DLA Piper (Canada) LLP

Franchise Storytelling Across Games, TV, Film and Beyond

1:00 pm - 1:45 pm (45 min)
Green Stage
Dallas Dickinson
Head of Franchise, Story Kitchen

Alt Funding: New Approaches to Financing Games in a Self-Published World

2:00 pm - 2:45 pm (45 min)
Red Stage
Kristian Roberts
CEO, Nordicity
Nick Hall
Commercial Manager, Reforged Studios
Daniel Wilén
Head of Games, Oh My

Leading a Studio to Overwhelmingly Positive Success

2:00 pm - 2:45 pm (45 min)
Blue Stage
James Karras
Executive Producer, Brain Jar Games

404 Error: Player Not Found

2:00 pm - 2:45 pm (45 min)
Green Stage
Junae Benne
Marketing journalist, Benne Media Solutions

The UX Challenge of Omniplatform Development

3:00 pm - 3:20 pm (20 min)
Red Stage
Valerie Motard
UX/UI Lead, Frima Studio

Small Models for Small Problems: Using a Little Reinforcement Learning to Make Life Easier

3:00 pm - 3:20 pm (20 min)
Blue Stage
Alexander Blake-Davies
Sr. Developer Product Marketing Specialist, AMD

Validating the Emotional Impact of a New IP

3:00 pm - 3:20 pm (20 min)
Green Stage
Sam Kabachek
Lead Game Designer, Soft Rains

The Ups and Downs of Open Development with the Deep Rock Galactic Franchise

3:35 pm - 4:20 pm (45 min)
Red Stage
Søren Lundgaard
CEO, Ghost Ship Games

Forward Looking Publishing Deals

3:35 pm - 4:20 pm (45 min)
Blue Stage
Louis-René Auclair
CEO, RocketRide Games inc.

International Growth Markets

3:35 pm - 4:20 pm (45 min)
Green Stage
Jason Della Rocca
Co-Founder, Execution Labs
Alexander Champlin
Senior Analyst, Niko Partners
Hugo Obi
Founder, Maliyo Games
Ignacio Baldini Pescarmona
CEO, Byzantium

The Next Level: Charting the Future of Canada’s Video Game Industry

4:35 pm - 4:55 pm (20 min)
Red Stage
Paul Fogolin
President & CEO, ESAC

Social Design: Creating Connections and Making Better Games

4:35 pm - 4:55 pm (20 min)
Blue Stage
Allison Cole
Sr Social Systems Designer, Electronic Arts

Less Is More: A Writer/Narrative Designer’s Request for Fewer Words

4:35 pm - 4:55 pm (20 min)
Green Stage
Deborah Chantson
Writer/Narrative Designer, Independent

Watch five indie studios pitch live to a jury of industry experts and see what makes a pitch stand out.

Red Stage Blue Stage Green Stage

9:30 am

10:00 am

10:15 am

10:35 am

10:55 am

11:15 am

11:30 am

12:15 pm

1:15 pm

2:00 pm

2:15 pm

3:00 pm

3:15 pm

Paralives: From Solo Dev to Competing with The Sims

9:30 am - 10:00 am (30 min)
Red Stage
Alex Massé
Founder and lead developer, Studio Paralives

MIGS Indie Pitch Competition Presented by Gaggle

10:15 am - 11:15 am (60 min)
Red Stage
Jason Della Rocca
Co-Founder, Execution Labs
Shawn Fischtein
CEO, Gaggle Studios

Back from the Dead: No More Room in Hell 2

10:15 am - 10:35 am (20 min)
Blue Stage
Kenneth Bourgon
Senior Brand Manager, Torn Banner

Prioritizing Player Safety

10:55 am - 11:15 am (20 min)
Blue Stage
Josh Logue
Director, Policy and Government Relations, Video Games Canada

Climate Change: Structuring Studios for Success in Todays Environment

11:30 am - 12:15 pm (45 min)
Red Stage

Live-Service Lessons Across Two Horror Games (Dead by Daylight x 7 Days to Die)

11:30 am - 12:15 pm (45 min)
Green Stage
Aude Laliberté
Senior PR Manager - Gestionnaire Séniore des Relations Publiques, Behaviour Interactive
Isabelle Mocquard
VP Product & Executive Producer, Behaviour Interactive
Stefan Beauchamp-Daniel
Executive Producer, Production, Behaviour Interactive

The Best Crisis Is the One That Never Happens

1:15 pm - 2:00 pm (45 min)
Red Stage
David Boileau
Technical Director of Game Engineering, Gamebreaking Studios
June Aguirre
Art Director, Indomi
Fleur Marty
Executive Producer, Gearbox Studio Québec
Brigitte Janssen
Production Manager, Yellow Brick Games

What It Takes to Build a Cathedral

1:15 pm - 2:00 pm (45 min)
Blue Stage
Pascal Nataf
President of the board, Indie Asylum
Kim Berthiaume
Creative Director, Indie Asylum

Stop Building Games Nobody Wants: How Early Market Validation Helped Us Make 2 Hit Games

1:15 pm - 2:00 pm (45 min)
Green Stage
Mike Coeck
CEO, Cybernetic Walrus

AI – The Reality & Impact So Far

2:15 pm - 3:00 pm (45 min)
Red Stage
Claude Bordeleau
CRO, Winking Studios
Stephanie Marchand
Sr VP Production, Behaviour Interactive

Windrose: A Publishing Case Study

2:15 pm - 3:00 pm (45 min)
Blue Stage
Phil Molodkovets
Publishing Director, Kraken Express

The Environment Is the Strategy: Balancing Creative Ambition and Production Reality

2:15 pm - 3:00 pm (45 min)
Green Stage
Matt Lee
Executive Producer, Gameloft Montreal

Great Games Are Built with Great Partners: Lessons from Years of Co-Dev

3:15 pm - 4:00 pm (45 min)
Red Stage
Martin Poirier
Directeur des technologies, Behaviour Interactif
Julien Tolszczuk-Jalbert
Producteur principal, Behaviour Interactif

Silence Is Not Golden: Lessons from the Trenches of Audio Co-Development

3:15 pm - 4:00 pm (45 min)
Blue Stage
Dave Sanderson
Senior Director, Co-Development & Client Services, Interleave
Christian Hurst
Co-Founder, Managing Director, Interleave

open stage sessions
PG Connects Stage

10:35 am

10:55 am

11:15 am

11:55 am

1:00 pm

1:20 pm

2:20 pm

2:40 pm

2:50 pm

3:10 pm

3:15 pm

3:35 pm

3:40 pm

4:00 pm

4:05 pm

AI May Make Your Game Cheaper. Does It Make Your Studio More Valuable?

10:35 am - 10:55 am (20 min)
PG Connects Stage
Rhys Dekle
Partner, Strategic Alternatives LLC

When to Burn It Down and Start Again: The Story of Adventure Capitalist 9.0

10:55 am - 11:15 am (20 min)
PG Connects Stage
Alexandre Denault
VP Production, Hyper Hippo Entertainment Ltd.

Liveops Strategy – Managing a 10+ Year Old Successful Liveops Game

11:15 am - 11:55 am (40 min)
PG Connects Stage
Lucas Larbodiere
Sr. Product Manager, Ludia
Karl Dandan
Senior Director, Ludia Games

Building Your Discord Server Through Every Stage of Game Development

1:00 pm - 1:20 pm (20 min)
PG Connects Stage
Anthony Tešija
Senior Developer Advocate, Discord

Indie Dev & AI: Accelerating Without Compromising

2:20 pm - 2:40 pm (20 min)
PG Connects Stage
Adam Clare
Cofounder, Game Space Agency

How an Indie Company Can Thrive in Difficult Times by Building Real Capacity for Change

2:50 pm - 3:10 pm (20 min)
PG Connects Stage
Frederic Tremblay
VP Strategic Growth, ALTKEY

Six Months, Nothing Shipped: What Founding a Studio Actually Costs

3:15 pm - 3:35 pm (20 min)
PG Connects Stage
Jon Huffman
President & Co-Founder, Phantom Rowboat Ltd.

Shipping Is Not the Final Boss – How to Build Resilient Live Service Businesses for Fun & Profit

3:40 pm - 4:00 pm (20 min)
PG Connects Stage
Sean Wylie-Toal
CEO, Extra Dimension Games

Writing for Established IP

4:05 pm - 4:45 pm (40 min)
PG Connects Stage
Ashley Cooper
Principal Writer, Motive Studio
Lonnie Nadler
Franchise Narrative Director, Bandai Namco
Dev Shorts

10:50 am

11:10 am

11:25 am

11:45 am

12:00 pm

12:20 pm

1:15 pm

1:35 pm

1:50 pm

“We’ll Fix It in Pickups”: The Most Expensive Sentence in Game Development

10:50 am - 11:10 am (20 min)
Dev Shorts
Susan O'Connor
Founder & CEO, The Narrative Department

How to Panic Responsibly When People Actually Want Your Game

11:25 am - 11:45 am (20 min)
Dev Shorts
Pietro De Grandi
COO, Funselektor

Beyond the Stack Trace: A Crash in Three Acts

12:00 pm - 12:20 pm (20 min)
Dev Shorts
Amir Mujacic
Engineering Manager, Sentry

Multiplayer Unbound: Build the Game You Imagine

1:15 pm - 1:35 pm (20 min)
Dev Shorts
Mark Val
Head of Growth, Photon

Everywhere at Once: Multi-Storefront Launch Basics

1:50 pm - 2:10 pm (20 min)
Dev Shorts
Sarah Thomson
Account Management Director, EGS and UE, Epic Games Store

Round Tables

november 10

Salle Sylvie Vachon

12:45 pm

1:30 pm

Game Audio Mixer

12:45 pm - 1:30 pm (45 min)
Salle Sylvie Vachon
Christian Hurst
Co-Founder, Managing Director, Interleave

Game Audio Round Table

1:30 pm - 2:30 pm (60 min)
Salle Sylvie Vachon
Christian Hurst
Co-Founder, Managing Director, Interleave

MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED