The team behind Gamelab Barcelona 2020 Live has confirmed that iconic video game, role-playing game and board game designer Mike Pondsmith and filmmaker Jordan Vogt-Roberts, who’s currently preparing the big-screen adaptation of Metal Gear Solid, will be attending the event. The two famous figures from the USA will be joined at the forthcoming online conference by other big names such as American McGee, Ilkka Paananen, Tracy Fullerton, Ian Livingstone, Mike Sepso, and many more. These top-notch speakers prove once again the international influence of one of the top events in the video game and digital entertainment industry.
Mike Pondsmith is a real guru in the sector. As a designer of video, role-playing and board games, he created the Cyberpunk games series and founded the company R. Talsorian Games. His CV features other prominent titles, including Mekton, Castle Falkenstein and various lines of Dungeons and Dragons. Mike came up with the original idea for one of the most eagerly awaited video games of the year, Cyberpunk 2077, which will be released in September with actor Keanu Reeves as one of the characters.
Another prominent speaker at the 2020 edition of the conference will be filmmaker Jordan Charles Vogt-Roberts, who is currently preparing the big-screen adaptation of the Metal Gear Solid video games series for Sony Pictures, a saga which has sold more than 40 million copies around the world. Sony Pictures entrusted the director with the adaptation of the game after his latest movie, Kong: Skull Island, won over audiences all over the world and grossed more than 500 million dollars. What’s more, Jordan and the creator of the Metal Gear Solid saga, Hideo Kojima, are friends and have made various nods to one another in their respective projects. The filmmaker even made an appearance in the video game Death Stranding.
Amy Hennig will also be attending the event. The writer and creative director of the Uncharted saga received the Gamelab Honour Award in 2018 and is considered to be one of the most influential women in the video game industry. She’s won numerous awards, including two consecutive Videogame Writing Awards from the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the BAFTA Special Award in recognition of her immense contribution to the sector.
Another name on the list of confirmed speakers is American McGee. An independent video game designer with more than 27 years’ experience, the developer and entrepreneur was behind success stories such as Doom, Quake and American McGee’s Alice. McGee has now switched his focus to mobile platforms, online business and Free2Play.
Alongside them, we’ll also be seeing one of the most important academics in the video game sector worldwide. Tracy Fullerton is a renowned designer who has produced several independent games, which have been highly influential internationally. Through her Games Innovation Lab, she has designed prominent experimental games such as The Night Journey (in collaboration with acclaimed video artist Bill Viola) and Walden, which won awards in 2017. She’s also the author of Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, a video game design textbook used in schools and universities across the globe. Tracy, who has been appointed ambassador to the GDC (Game Developers Choice Awards), nominated for the Emmy Awards for interactive television and featured in Time magazine, will be another of Gamelab’s famous speakers.
From Finland, young entrepreneur Ilkka Paananen will also be joining the event. Ilkka is the founder and CEO of Supercell, one of the biggest digital businesses in the world. With games like Hay Day, Clash of Clans, Boom Beach, Clash Royale and Brawl Stars, his company has positioned itself at the centre of the industry, with annual revenues exceeding 2 billion dollars. Thanks to the mobile esports phenomenon, the company became the first European start-up to be valued at more than 10 billion dollars in 2016.
MORE BIG NAMES
The line-up for Gamelab Barcelona 2020 Live continues to grow in size and quality: new names offering talent and experience in a wide variety of fields in the sector will give the event a more global feel than ever before. These leading figures include the visionary actor, musician and filmmaker Jon Neverdie, Ian Livingstone, one of the founding fathers of the video game industry in the United Kingdom, who was behind the launch of global franchises such as Lara Croft: Tomb Raider; and Mike Sepso, president and co-founder of the Electronic Sports Group.
The latest list of participants to be released also features: Asher Kagan, Ina Jang, Jacob Navok, Maarten Noyons, Mike Fisher, Nicolas Pouard, Caty Tedman, Noel Llopis, Robby Yung, Samuel Lee, Terence Mosca and Youtubers Alvaro845 and Fukuy. They’ll be participating in a series of talks held during the conference, which is broadening its horizons and reaching out to new audiences with this virtual edition.
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