Conferences & Speakers
Cutting-edge insights from gaming’s most influential voices. Our speaker lineup features visionary developers, successful entrepreneurs, leading investors, and industry pioneers shaping the future of interactive entertainment. Get the knowledge and connections you need to advance your gaming career or business.
Jacques Benchetrit
Kate Edwards
Gonzalo 'Phill' Sánchez
Antonio Teoli
Tomo Moriwaki
Joel Nelson
Josh Nilson
Enrique Martínez
Lucía Quijano
Pablo De la Nuez
Kristian Roberts
Jay Powell
Rich Bisso
Marco Polo Moraga
More Speakers Coming Soon
Cutting-edge insights from gaming’s most influential voices. Our speaker lineup features visionary developers, successful entrepreneurs, leading investors, and industry pioneers shaping the future of interactive entertainment. Get the knowledge and connections you need to advance your gaming career or business.
Jacques Benchetrit
Kate Edwards
Gonzalo 'Phill' Sánchez
Antonio Teoli
Tomo Moriwaki
Joel Nelson
Josh Nilson
Enrique Martínez
Lucía Quijano
Pablo De la Nuez
Kristian Roberts
Jay Powell
Rich Bisso
Marco Polo Moraga
More Speakers Coming Soon
Jacques Benchetrit
Agora Gaming Partners
Finance and Deal Making
This session will provide a comprehensive overview of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and fundraising. It will cover the basics of the M&A process, including a clear, step-by-step guide to these essential business activities. The speaker will discuss common pitfalls and illustrate them with real-world examples. Additionally, the session will explore the principles of company valuation, such as the time value of money, and explain how to navigate and interpret complex valuation aspects.
The session will also introduce the core principles of negotiation, equipping participants with crucial skills for successful deal-making.
By the end of the session, attendees will have a solid understanding of M&A and fundraising processes, company valuation, and negotiation techniques, enabling them to execute successful business deals and growth strategies.
About Jacques
Jacques started his career in investment banking in London at HSBC and then at Houlihan Lokey on the Special Situations team (complex cross-border M&A and fundraising in difficult regulatory environments). After leaving Houlihan Lokey he accepted a position as M&A Manager at Zordix, a Swedish video gaming roll-up where he led >$100 million in M&A. During that time he realized there was a real need for video gaming advisory services focused on smaller companies. This realization was the genesis for the creation of Agora Gaming Partners which he recently co-founded.
Kate Edwards
Geogrify / SetJetters
When Worlds Collide – Creating Games in a Polarizing World
When you create a game, you create a world of content that carries culture – of yourself, your team, your company, and your place of origin. While you can control the forces that guide your creative vision and shape your game’s world, you can’t influence how global players will react to your game. More game creators are allowing this fear to paralyze creative direction and second guess their choices.
Learn from the award-winning, 30+ year culturalization expert Kate Edwards about how to successfully navigate world-building in a cultural and political environment of increasing division.
Attendees will receive a quick education and enlightenment on the impact of releasing games in today’s complicated social, cultural, and political environment. While many developers are very aware of the reality of potential negative reactions, they will gain a better appreciation for their games as key carriers of culture and their role in shaping worldviews. This awareness will empower them to make better creative choices.
About Kate
Kate Edwards is an award-winning 30+ year veteran of the game industry, and the CEO and principal consultant of Geogrify, the consultancy which innovated game culturalization, as well as the CXO and Co-Founder of SetJetters, a screen tourism app. She is also the former Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) and the Global Game Jam. In addition to serving in several board and advisory roles, she is a geographer, writer, and corporate strategist. Kate is the recipient of the Game Developers Choice Awards 20th Annual Ambassador Award, and in 2021 she was included in the Forbes’ “50 Over 50” Vision List as well as being inducted into the Women in Games Hall of Fame.
Gozalo ‘Phill’ Sánchez
Liquid Development
Building and Leading a Pro Team
Building and managing a professional team involves bringing together talents from diverse disciplines. It’s essential to establish a clear structure of roles and processes, encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration, and ensure that each member understands both the game’s visual style and the technical requirements of the pipeline.
The goal of this presentation is to share a solid model that can serve as a guide for both indie and larger companies on how to build a professional team.
About Gonzalo
Senior Art Producer with 3+ years of experience in managing and building AAA artist teams for the Game Art outsourcing sector. Committed to creating places and opportunities within the digital entertainment industry to cultivate new talent and develop more and better artists.
I also have a long history in digital art, game development (Indie to AAA) and teaching.
Antonio Teoli
Andromeda Sound
From Reactive Scores to Realistic Sound – Crafting Dynamic Music and Orchestral Mockups for Games
Composer Antonio Teoli shares the tools, techniques, and creative mindset behind two key aspects of game scoring: creating dynamic music systems and building realistic orchestral mockups.
With over 20 years in the industry and collaborations with Nintendo, SEGA, Disney, NatGeo, and even Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, Antonio walks through how to write music that reacts to the game in real time. He breaks down how to structure adaptive scores, layer emotions, and make the music feel like part of the gameplay itself.
In the second half, he shifts to the art of making orchestral mockups that sound as natural as a live performance. From selecting the right libraries to detailed programming, articulations, and mixing tricks, Antonio shares how to turn MIDI into something emotionally believable and production-ready.
Whether you’re scoring a cinematic moment or a boss fight, this session blends creativity with practical insight from someone who has lived inside the world of game music for over two decades.
About Antonio
Antonio Teoli is an award-winning music composer widely known as a Brazilian pioneer in Game Audio dating back to 2002. Teoli was in the first graduating class for Game Design at Universidade Anhembi Morumbi in Latin America. Since then, he has enjoyed scoring across all screens including over 450 games, animated cartoons and feature films.
Notable projects include the Taikodom franchise, which to date is the biggest MMORPG developed in Brazil. As the Audio Director and sole composer, Teoli wrote 6 hours of music, provided sound design, and recorded voiceover actors in São Paulo and Los Angeles. Other projects include Sonic 30th Anniversary, Marvel Future Revolution Symphony, Nintendo Good Job!, Dolmen, Stormbound, Nailed-It!, Angra, The Sandbox, Finding Monsters, Lottie Dottie Chicken, Felipe Andreoli, Graham Bonnet, Noblesse, Takt Op. Destiny, and Shadowverse. Clients include Nintendo, Disney, DeNA, Paladin Studios, SEGA, Netflix, Samsung, LEAP Game Studios, Limit Break, Hoplon, VICE, Level Up, Marvel and many more.
Recently, Antonio finished scoring a National Geographic Special, and he’s currently working on new arrangements and orchestrations of classic songs and new songs by Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden.
Tomo Moriwaki
Hyperkinetic Studios
Imagination, Communication, and the Objectives We Make Schedules For
Game design starts with experience design. Do you put enough thought into the player’s experience? Is that what you design to solve? How hard is it for you to imagine what the player goes through before you build something? How do you describe all this to your team?
About Tomo
Tomo has 27 years of game development experience and has been a driver of award-winning AAA game development, most notably in the roles of Creative Director on Spider-Man 2: The Game, Producer of Medal of Honor (2010), and Lead Designer for BAFTA Award-winning Boom Blox. Co-founded Hyperkinetic Studios, teaches a level design class at Pasadena Art Center, and does some mentoring of small teams.
Joel Nelson
RocketRide Games
Pitching Publishers: Building the Perfect Proposal
Learn the all of do’s and don’ts when it comes to crafting a pitch deck and a proposal for publishers.
From this presentation, you’ll learn what game publishers are looking for from a concept proposal and how to get your pitch deck read, and how to make your game concept stand out in an industry crowded with independent game pitches.
About Joel
12 years in Game Business Development.
Leads game business development agency consisting of 7 BD agents.
Secured multiple million dollar deals for game studios.
Hundreds of publishing co-dev / WFH / distribution deals signed.
Spent 10 years in the film industry prior to working in games.
Josh Nilson
Maskwa
The Business of Games
Join our panel of experts that have been in the game industry for over 15 years. Everything from publishing, self publishing, working on your own IP and doing co-dev. Bring your questions, this will be interactive with the audience.
Walking away from this you will take some learnings from our learned lessons, some helpful tips and new insights into the business side of games.
About Josh
Josh Nilson, is Métis and from Willow River, BC. He is a founder of East Side Games (ESG), making mobile games like Trailer Park Boys, The Office, Ru Paul Drag Race Superstar and more. After ESG he has consulted for game companies with his company Maskwa in the Roblox space. He currently works on metislife.ca and interactive media spaces and will always stop for pugs.
Enrique Martínez Romero
Entalto Publishing
From Studio to Publisher: How Hispanic Spirit Lifted Us to Success in the Video Games Industry
In this talk, Enrique Martínez will share the real-life experience of how, in just three years, Entalto went from founding a small video game development company in a regional setting to becoming a global publisher with a presence in key markets and an international catalog.
But beyond business strategy, technical approach, or business model, this talk focuses on something much deeper and more essential: the Hispanic and Latin character that defines us as a team, as a culture, and as a community.
Throughout this journey, what really made the difference was not only the quality of our products or the innovation of our ideas, but the unique way in which we understand teamwork, our passion for storytelling, our resilience in the face of adversity, and our ability to create human bonds that transcend borders.
Latin America and Spain share an essence that, when applied to the world of video games, becomes a competitive advantage: fearless creativity, a sense of community, empathy, humor, and a deeply emotional vision of interactive storytelling.
During the talk, we will explore:
- How the studio was founded and what the first strategic steps were.
- What mistakes we made and how they taught us more than our successes.
- The evolution of the team and the change in mindset necessary to go from developers to publishers.
- Specific cases of projects that opened doors in international markets.
And above all, how our cultural identity influenced each phase of the process.
The talk is designed for both young developers and entrepreneurs who are considering making the leap into the industry, or even those who already have experience but are looking for a new perspective.
Because yes, it is possible to create a video game company and conquer the world from the Hispanic world.
About Enrique
Enrique was born in Zaragoza in 1996, is a Spanish game developer, teacher, and entrepreneur. He is best known as the cofounder and CEO of Entalto Studios, a game development and publishing company based in Zaragoza, and as a game design professor at Universidad San Jorge (USJ). His work spans development, publishing, and porting, with a focus on building bridges between indie creators and broader audiences.
His professional journey began in 2015 when he cofounded 4FreaksFiction, the first student-run game development company in Spain, created under the umbrella of USJ. There, he gained early experience in leadership and design, releasing small projects such as NakedMan VS The Clothes in 2017. After briefly working with Fraxel Games in Málaga, Martínez returned to Zaragoza to launch Entalto Studios in 2020 alongside a small team of collaborators from his previous company. The studio was quickly selected by the Lanzadera and PlayStation acceleration program, setting the stage for its first major release.
Entalto’s breakout title came in 2021 with NeonHAT, a fast-paced virtual reality arcade game for PlayStation VR and PS5. The game made headlines for including multiple languages, among them Aragonese, making it the first professional video game to support this minority language. That same year, Martínez and his team won the official Vampire Jam hosted by Paradox Interactive with Vampire: The Masquerade – Heartless Lullaby, a narrative-driven project later released on Steam as part of the World of Darkness universe. In 2022, the studio launched Grabitoons!, a party game for PC and Nintendo Switch, and won the DeVuego Award for Best Spanish Studio of the year.
Under Martínez’s leadership, Entalto Studios evolved into Entalto Publishing, expanding into publishing, co-development, and porting for other studios. The company has since supported several indie projects, including Manitas Kitchen, Stickin’ the Landing, Two Strikes, and Day of the Shell, bringing these titles to PC and consoles. In parallel, the team has contributed porting expertise to other projects like Morkull: Ragast’s Rage. This diversification has positioned Entalto as a key player in the Spanish indie scene, with a reputation for fair and transparent partnerships.
Alongside his entrepreneurial work, Martínez has been teaching game design at USJ since 2022, sharing his experience with a new generation of developers. He has been an active voice in regional media, appearing in interviews and industry discussions where he emphasizes the growing potential of Spain’s gaming ecosystem. He has often described the current moment as “the true golden age of Spanish software,” highlighting both the challenges and opportunities facing independent creators.
One of Martínez’s personal contributions to the industry has been his advocacy for cultural inclusion in games. By incorporating the Aragonese language into Entalto’s titles, he has helped give visibility to a language spoken by fewer than 30,000 people, blending entertainment with cultural preservation. This vision reflects a broader commitment to making games that resonate both locally and globally.
Today, Martínez continues to lead Entalto Studios and Entalto Publishing, guiding a portfolio that spans original development, publishing partnerships, and technical services. With a growing catalog and international presence, his work represents a fusion of creative passion, business strategy, and a strong belief in the collaborative spirit of game development.
Lucía Quijano
Impulse Lean Publishing
Designing fun and meaningful games: embedding culture into gameplay for global impact
This talk explores how independent developers can transform cultural references into powerful gameplay mechanics that both engage players and communicate cultural identity.
Drawing on the Spanish experience with games like Imperivm and Blasphemous, Lucía and Pablo will share concrete strategies to balance entertainment value with cultural depth. The session highlights how culture can be woven naturally into game design and publishing decisions to create globally relevant titles. Attendees will gain inspiration from proven case studies and receive a practical framework for embedding their own cultural heritage into successful international releases.
About Lucía
With over 13 years of experience in digital innovation, marketing, and business growth, Lucía Quijano has led strategies for global brands, entertainment products, and video games across multiple markets. She is the co-founder of Impulse Lean Publishing, where she helps independent studios self-publish and through data-driven strategies and full go-to-market support.
Alongside her industry work, she teaches at Esade Business School and other universities, is a regular speaker at conferences and industry events, and actively contributes as a mentor, supporting startups and creative projects in their business development, publishing strategies, and market validation.
Pablo De la Nuez
Impulse Lean Publishing
Designing fun and meaningful games: embedding culture into gameplay for global impact
This talk explores how independent developers can transform cultural references into powerful gameplay mechanics that both engage players and communicate cultural identity.
Drawing on the Spanish experience with games like Imperivm and Blasphemous, Lucía and Pablo will share concrete strategies to balance entertainment value with cultural depth. The session highlights how culture can be woven naturally into game design and publishing decisions to create globally relevant titles. Attendees will gain inspiration from proven case studies and receive a practical framework for embedding their own cultural heritage into successful international releases.
About Pablo
Pablo De la Nuez, is an entrepreneur and video game executive with more than 27 years of experience in business management, production and publishing of video games. He has more than 200 games published on all platforms, 12 of them top 1 in sales and 62 top 10. Backed by 33 national and international awards, he has been a founding partner of FX Interactive, member of the management team at Dinamic Multimedia and PlayGiga -acquired by Facebook- and CEO of Raiser Games (Webedia group) and member of the management team of Webedia Spain.
He also collaborates with development studios and investment funds, as well as being a teacher and frequent lecturer in the videogame industry. He is currently the co-founder of Impulse Lean Publishing, a company that helps development studios predict and drive their sales potential before launch through data-driven strategies and full go-to-market support.
Kristian Roberts
Nordicity
The Audience Imperative: How to Build Lifetime Value in an Indie Games Company
As developers and founders, we often think that the value in our companies come from our hardworking and talented team, or our amazing and novel IP. But we are wrong. In the games industry, value is created only from one place: our audiences. In this talk, Kristian will dig into how that value is created — and can be maximized — over the lifespan of an indie games company. The session will be as helpful for an aspiring games entrepreneur as for a seasoned indie vet.
Audience members will come away with insights on thinking beyond individual titles, building teams positioned for today’s marketplace, and understanding the long-term lifespan of an indie games company.
About Kristian
Kristian the CEO of Nordicity, an international consultancy focusing on the creative economy. Kristian is also one of the world’s leading experts in the design, implementation, and evaluation of games industry support systems. From tax credits around the world to local-level industry development, Kristian, and his team at Nordicity act as the translation matrix between industry, investors, and the public sector. Over the last few years, Kristian has become one of the games industry’s leading voices on ecosystem development and economic policy, building on almost two decades of experience working with video game industries around the world. In fact, Kristian got his first job at Nordicity in 2007 by answering the question “What do you know about the games industry?” He provided so much detail that they hired him to make him stop.
Jay Powell
The Powell Group
The Many Benefits of Working With the Mexican Game Industry
The Mexican game industry has grown rapidly in recent years, with developers, service providers, and publishers building a reputation for creativity, technical skill, and reliable delivery. In this panel, Jay (CEO of The Powell Group), Rich Bisso (co-founder of Hyperkinetic Studios), and Marco Polo Moraga (international sales strategist) will explore why Mexico represents a valuable partner for studios and publishers worldwide.
Drawing on decades of combined expertise across business development, production, publishing, and global market expansion, the panelists will highlight the strengths of Mexico’s ecosystem, from competitive advantages in talent and cost to the collaborative spirit of its studios.
Attendees will gain a clear understanding of the opportunities available when engaging with Mexican developers and service providers, and how these partnerships can strengthen production pipelines, expand publishing reach, and open doors to new markets. Whether you are a developer seeking external expertise or a publisher exploring new collaborations, this session will equip you with the knowledge and perspective to leverage Mexico’s potential as a strategic partner in the global games industry.
About Jay
With a wealth of game industry experience spanning over two decades, Jay is recognized as a seasoned business expert renowned for formulating impactful licenses and strategic partnerships. He has spent the last decade building The Powell Group from a solo operation to the robust firm it is today with team members and clients on every continent.
As the visionary driving The Powell Group, Jay established IndieGameBusiness® on the Twitch platform in 2018. This initiative, now a thriving and dynamic platform, serves to affordably educate game developers about the intricate nuances of business operations. Anchored by an active Discord community, a newsletter boasting a substantial subscriber base of over 16,000 readers, a series of weekly podcasts delivered across diverse platforms and the game industry’s longest running digital business conferences, IndieGameBusiness® serves as a tangible testament to Jay’s unwavering commitment and the fervent industry demand for informed perspectives.
Rich Bisso
Hyperkinetic Studios
The Many Benefits of Working With the Mexican Game Industry
The Mexican game industry has grown rapidly in recent years, with developers, service providers, and publishers building a reputation for creativity, technical skill, and reliable delivery. In this panel, Rich (co-founder of Hyperkinetic Studios), Jay Powell (CEO of The Powell Group), and Marco Polo Moraga (international sales strategist) will explore why Mexico represents a valuable partner for studios and publishers worldwide.
Drawing on decades of combined expertise across business development, production, publishing, and global market expansion, the panelists will highlight the strengths of Mexico’s ecosystem, from competitive advantages in talent and cost to the collaborative spirit of its studios.
Attendees will gain a clear understanding of the opportunities available when engaging with Mexican developers and service providers, and how these partnerships can strengthen production pipelines, expand publishing reach, and open doors to new markets. Whether you are a developer seeking external expertise or a publisher exploring new collaborations, this session will equip you with the knowledge and perspective to leverage Mexico’s potential as a strategic partner in the global games industry.
About Rich
Marco Polo Moraga
The Many Benefits of Working With the Mexican Game Industry
The Mexican game industry has grown rapidly in recent years, with developers, service providers, and publishers building a reputation for creativity, technical skill, and reliable delivery. In this panel, Marco Polo Moraga (international sales strategist), Jay Powell (CEO of The Powell Group), and Rich Bisso (co-founder of Hyperkinetic Studios) will explore why Mexico represents a valuable partner for studios and publishers worldwide.
Drawing on decades of combined expertise across business development, production, publishing, and global market expansion, the panelists will highlight the strengths of Mexico’s ecosystem, from competitive advantages in talent and cost to the collaborative spirit of its studios.
Attendees will gain a clear understanding of the opportunities available when engaging with Mexican developers and service providers, and how these partnerships can strengthen production pipelines, expand publishing reach, and open doors to new markets. Whether you are a developer seeking external expertise or a publisher exploring new collaborations, this session will equip you with the knowledge and perspective to leverage Mexico’s potential as a strategic partner in the global games industry.
About Marco Polo
Jacques Benchetrit
Agora Gaming Partners
Finance and Deal Making
This session will provide a comprehensive overview of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and fundraising. It will cover the basics of the M&A process, including a clear, step-by-step guide to these essential business activities. The speaker will discuss common pitfalls and illustrate them with real-world examples. Additionally, the session will explore the principles of company valuation, such as the time value of money, and explain how to navigate and interpret complex valuation aspects.
The session will also introduce the core principles of negotiation, equipping participants with crucial skills for successful deal-making.
By the end of the session, attendees will have a solid understanding of M&A and fundraising processes, company valuation, and negotiation techniques, enabling them to execute successful business deals and growth strategies.
About Jacques
Jacques started his career in investment banking in London at HSBC and then at Houlihan Lokey on the Special Situations team (complex cross-border M&A and fundraising in difficult regulatory environments). After leaving Houlihan Lokey he accepted a position as M&A Manager at Zordix, a Swedish video gaming roll-up where he led >$100 million in M&A. During that time he realized there was a real need for video gaming advisory services focused on smaller companies. This realization was the genesis for the creation of Agora Gaming Partners which he recently co-founded.
Kate Edwards
Geogrify / SetJetters
When Worlds Collide – Creating Games in a Polarizing World
When you create a game, you create a world of content that carries culture – of yourself, your team, your company, and your place of origin. While you can control the forces that guide your creative vision and shape your game’s world, you can’t influence how global players will react to your game. More game creators are allowing this fear to paralyze creative direction and second guess their choices.
Learn from the award-winning, 30+ year culturalization expert Kate Edwards about how to successfully navigate world-building in a cultural and political environment of increasing division.
Attendees will receive a quick education and enlightenment on the impact of releasing games in today’s complicated social, cultural, and political environment. While many developers are very aware of the reality of potential negative reactions, they will gain a better appreciation for their games as key carriers of culture and their role in shaping worldviews. This awareness will empower them to make better creative choices.
About Kate
Kate Edwards is an award-winning 30+ year veteran of the game industry, and the CEO and principal consultant of Geogrify, the consultancy which innovated game culturalization, as well as the CXO and Co-Founder of SetJetters, a screen tourism app. She is also the former Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) and the Global Game Jam. In addition to serving in several board and advisory roles, she is a geographer, writer, and corporate strategist. Kate is the recipient of the Game Developers Choice Awards 20th Annual Ambassador Award, and in 2021 she was included in the Forbes’ “50 Over 50” Vision List as well as being inducted into the Women in Games Hall of Fame.
Gozalo ‘Phill’ Sánchez
Liquid Development
Building and Leading a Pro Team
Building and managing a professional team involves bringing together talents from diverse disciplines. It’s essential to establish a clear structure of roles and processes, encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration, and ensure that each member understands both the game’s visual style and the technical requirements of the pipeline.
The goal of this presentation is to share a solid model that can serve as a guide for both indie and larger companies on how to build a professional team.
About Gonzalo
Senior Art Producer with 3+ years of experience in managing and building AAA artist teams for the Game Art outsourcing sector. Committed to creating places and opportunities within the digital entertainment industry to cultivate new talent and develop more and better artists.
I also have a long history in digital art, game development (Indie to AAA) and teaching.
Antonio Teoli
Andromeda Sound
From Reactive Scores to Realistic Sound – Crafting Dynamic Music and Orchestral Mockups for Games
Composer Antonio Teoli shares the tools, techniques, and creative mindset behind two key aspects of game scoring: creating dynamic music systems and building realistic orchestral mockups.
With over 20 years in the industry and collaborations with Nintendo, SEGA, Disney, NatGeo, and even Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, Antonio walks through how to write music that reacts to the game in real time. He breaks down how to structure adaptive scores, layer emotions, and make the music feel like part of the gameplay itself.
In the second half, he shifts to the art of making orchestral mockups that sound as natural as a live performance. From selecting the right libraries to detailed programming, articulations, and mixing tricks, Antonio shares how to turn MIDI into something emotionally believable and production-ready.
Whether you’re scoring a cinematic moment or a boss fight, this session blends creativity with practical insight from someone who has lived inside the world of game music for over two decades.
About Antonio
Antonio Teoli is an award-winning music composer widely known as a Brazilian pioneer in Game Audio dating back to 2002. Teoli was in the first graduating class for Game Design at Universidade Anhembi Morumbi in Latin America. Since then, he has enjoyed scoring across all screens including over 450 games, animated cartoons and feature films.
Notable projects include the Taikodom franchise, which to date is the biggest MMORPG developed in Brazil. As the Audio Director and sole composer, Teoli wrote 6 hours of music, provided sound design, and recorded voiceover actors in São Paulo and Los Angeles. Other projects include Sonic 30th Anniversary, Marvel Future Revolution Symphony, Nintendo Good Job!, Dolmen, Stormbound, Nailed-It!, Angra, The Sandbox, Finding Monsters, Lottie Dottie Chicken, Felipe Andreoli, Graham Bonnet, Noblesse, Takt Op. Destiny, and Shadowverse. Clients include Nintendo, Disney, DeNA, Paladin Studios, SEGA, Netflix, Samsung, LEAP Game Studios, Limit Break, Hoplon, VICE, Level Up, Marvel and many more.
Recently, Antonio finished scoring a National Geographic Special, and he’s currently working on new arrangements and orchestrations of classic songs and new songs by Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden.
Tomo Moriwaki
Hyperkinetic Studios
Imagination, Communication, and the Objectives We Make Schedules For
Game design starts with experience design. Do you put enough thought into the player’s experience? Is that what you design to solve? How hard is it for you to imagine what the player goes through before you build something? How do you describe all this to your team?
About Tomo
Tomo has 27 years of game development experience and has been a driver of award-winning AAA game development, most notably in the roles of Creative Director on Spider-Man 2: The Game, Producer of Medal of Honor (2010), and Lead Designer for BAFTA Award-winning Boom Blox. Co-founded Hyperkinetic Studios, teaches a level design class at Pasadena Art Center, and does some mentoring of small teams.
Joel Nelson
RocketRide Games
Pitching Publishers: Building the Perfect Proposal
Learn the all of do’s and don’ts when it comes to crafting a pitch deck and a proposal for publishers.
From this presentation, you’ll learn what game publishers are looking for from a concept proposal and how to get your pitch deck read, and how to make your game concept stand out in an industry crowded with independent game pitches.
About Joel
12 years in Game Business Development.
Leads game business development agency consisting of 7 BD agents.
Secured multiple million dollar deals for game studios.
Hundreds of publishing co-dev / WFH / distribution deals signed.
Spent 10 years in the film industry prior to working in games.
Josh Nilson
Maskwa
The Business of Games
Join our panel of experts that have been in the game industry for over 15 years. Everything from publishing, self publishing, working on your own IP and doing co-dev. Bring your questions, this will be interactive with the audience.
Walking away from this you will take some learnings from our learned lessons, some helpful tips and new insights into the business side of games.
About Josh
Josh Nilson, is Métis and from Willow River, BC. He is a founder of East Side Games (ESG), making mobile games like Trailer Park Boys, The Office, Ru Paul Drag Race Superstar and more. After ESG he has consulted for game companies with his company Maskwa in the Roblox space. He currently works on metislife.ca and interactive media spaces and will always stop for pugs.
Enrique Martínez Romero
Entalto Publishing
From Studio to Publisher: How Hispanic Spirit Lifted Us to Success in the Video Games Industry
In this talk, Enrique Martínez will share the real-life experience of how, in just three years, Entalto went from founding a small video game development company in a regional setting to becoming a global publisher with a presence in key markets and an international catalog.
But beyond business strategy, technical approach, or business model, this talk focuses on something much deeper and more essential: the Hispanic and Latin character that defines us as a team, as a culture, and as a community.
Throughout this journey, what really made the difference was not only the quality of our products or the innovation of our ideas, but the unique way in which we understand teamwork, our passion for storytelling, our resilience in the face of adversity, and our ability to create human bonds that transcend borders.
Latin America and Spain share an essence that, when applied to the world of video games, becomes a competitive advantage: fearless creativity, a sense of community, empathy, humor, and a deeply emotional vision of interactive storytelling.
During the talk, we will explore:
- How the studio was founded and what the first strategic steps were.
- What mistakes we made and how they taught us more than our successes.
- The evolution of the team and the change in mindset necessary to go from developers to publishers.
- Specific cases of projects that opened doors in international markets.
And above all, how our cultural identity influenced each phase of the process.
The talk is designed for both young developers and entrepreneurs who are considering making the leap into the industry, or even those who already have experience but are looking for a new perspective.
Because yes, it is possible to create a video game company and conquer the world from the Hispanic world.
About Enrique
Enrique was born in Zaragoza in 1996, is a Spanish game developer, teacher, and entrepreneur. He is best known as the cofounder and CEO of Entalto Studios, a game development and publishing company based in Zaragoza, and as a game design professor at Universidad San Jorge (USJ). His work spans development, publishing, and porting, with a focus on building bridges between indie creators and broader audiences.
His professional journey began in 2015 when he cofounded 4FreaksFiction, the first student-run game development company in Spain, created under the umbrella of USJ. There, he gained early experience in leadership and design, releasing small projects such as NakedMan VS The Clothes in 2017. After briefly working with Fraxel Games in Málaga, Martínez returned to Zaragoza to launch Entalto Studios in 2020 alongside a small team of collaborators from his previous company. The studio was quickly selected by the Lanzadera and PlayStation acceleration program, setting the stage for its first major release.
Entalto’s breakout title came in 2021 with NeonHAT, a fast-paced virtual reality arcade game for PlayStation VR and PS5. The game made headlines for including multiple languages, among them Aragonese, making it the first professional video game to support this minority language. That same year, Martínez and his team won the official Vampire Jam hosted by Paradox Interactive with Vampire: The Masquerade – Heartless Lullaby, a narrative-driven project later released on Steam as part of the World of Darkness universe. In 2022, the studio launched Grabitoons!, a party game for PC and Nintendo Switch, and won the DeVuego Award for Best Spanish Studio of the year.
Under Martínez’s leadership, Entalto Studios evolved into Entalto Publishing, expanding into publishing, co-development, and porting for other studios. The company has since supported several indie projects, including Manitas Kitchen, Stickin’ the Landing, Two Strikes, and Day of the Shell, bringing these titles to PC and consoles. In parallel, the team has contributed porting expertise to other projects like Morkull: Ragast’s Rage. This diversification has positioned Entalto as a key player in the Spanish indie scene, with a reputation for fair and transparent partnerships.
Alongside his entrepreneurial work, Martínez has been teaching game design at USJ since 2022, sharing his experience with a new generation of developers. He has been an active voice in regional media, appearing in interviews and industry discussions where he emphasizes the growing potential of Spain’s gaming ecosystem. He has often described the current moment as “the true golden age of Spanish software,” highlighting both the challenges and opportunities facing independent creators.
One of Martínez’s personal contributions to the industry has been his advocacy for cultural inclusion in games. By incorporating the Aragonese language into Entalto’s titles, he has helped give visibility to a language spoken by fewer than 30,000 people, blending entertainment with cultural preservation. This vision reflects a broader commitment to making games that resonate both locally and globally.
Today, Martínez continues to lead Entalto Studios and Entalto Publishing, guiding a portfolio that spans original development, publishing partnerships, and technical services. With a growing catalog and international presence, his work represents a fusion of creative passion, business strategy, and a strong belief in the collaborative spirit of game development.
Lucía Quijano
Impulse Lean Publishing
Designing fun and meaningful games: embedding culture into gameplay for global impact
This talk explores how independent developers can transform cultural references into powerful gameplay mechanics that both engage players and communicate cultural identity.
Drawing on the Spanish experience with games like Imperivm and Blasphemous, Lucía and Pablo will share concrete strategies to balance entertainment value with cultural depth. The session highlights how culture can be woven naturally into game design and publishing decisions to create globally relevant titles. Attendees will gain inspiration from proven case studies and receive a practical framework for embedding their own cultural heritage into successful international releases.
About Lucía
With over 13 years of experience in digital innovation, marketing, and business growth, Lucía Quijano has led strategies for global brands, entertainment products, and video games across multiple markets. She is the co-founder of Impulse Lean Publishing, where she helps independent studios self-publish and through data-driven strategies and full go-to-market support.
Alongside her industry work, she teaches at Esade Business School and other universities, is a regular speaker at conferences and industry events, and actively contributes as a mentor, supporting startups and creative projects in their business development, publishing strategies, and market validation.
Pablo De la Nuez
Impulse Lean Publishing
Designing fun and meaningful games: embedding culture into gameplay for global impact
This talk explores how independent developers can transform cultural references into powerful gameplay mechanics that both engage players and communicate cultural identity.
Drawing on the Spanish experience with games like Imperivm and Blasphemous, Lucía and Pablo will share concrete strategies to balance entertainment value with cultural depth. The session highlights how culture can be woven naturally into game design and publishing decisions to create globally relevant titles. Attendees will gain inspiration from proven case studies and receive a practical framework for embedding their own cultural heritage into successful international releases.
About Pablo
Pablo De la Nuez, is an entrepreneur and video game executive with more than 27 years of experience in business management, production and publishing of video games. He has more than 200 games published on all platforms, 12 of them top 1 in sales and 62 top 10. Backed by 33 national and international awards, he has been a founding partner of FX Interactive, member of the management team at Dinamic Multimedia and PlayGiga -acquired by Facebook- and CEO of Raiser Games (Webedia group) and member of the management team of Webedia Spain.
He also collaborates with development studios and investment funds, as well as being a teacher and frequent lecturer in the videogame industry. He is currently the co-founder of Impulse Lean Publishing, a company that helps development studios predict and drive their sales potential before launch through data-driven strategies and full go-to-market support.
Kristian Roberts
Nordicity
The Audience Imperative: How to Build Lifetime Value in an Indie Games Company
As developers and founders, we often think that the value in our companies come from our hardworking and talented team, or our amazing and novel IP. But we are wrong. In the games industry, value is created only from one place: our audiences. In this talk, Kristian will dig into how that value is created — and can be maximized — over the lifespan of an indie games company. The session will be as helpful for an aspiring games entrepreneur as for a seasoned indie vet.
Audience members will come away with insights on thinking beyond individual titles, building teams positioned for today’s marketplace, and understanding the long-term lifespan of an indie games company.
About Kristian
Kristian the CEO of Nordicity, an international consultancy focusing on the creative economy. Kristian is also one of the world’s leading experts in the design, implementation, and evaluation of games industry support systems. From tax credits around the world to local-level industry development, Kristian, and his team at Nordicity act as the translation matrix between industry, investors, and the public sector. Over the last few years, Kristian has become one of the games industry’s leading voices on ecosystem development and economic policy, building on almost two decades of experience working with video game industries around the world. In fact, Kristian got his first job at Nordicity in 2007 by answering the question “What do you know about the games industry?” He provided so much detail that they hired him to make him stop.
Jay Powell
The Powell Group
The Many Benefits of Working With the Mexican Game Industry
The Mexican game industry has grown rapidly in recent years, with developers, service providers, and publishers building a reputation for creativity, technical skill, and reliable delivery. In this panel, Jay (CEO of The Powell Group), Marco Polo Moraga (international sales strategist), and Rich Bisso (co-founder of Hyperkinetic Studios) will explore why Mexico represents a valuable partner for studios and publishers worldwide.
Drawing on decades of combined expertise across business development, production, publishing, and global market expansion, the panelists will highlight the strengths of Mexico’s ecosystem, from competitive advantages in talent and cost to the collaborative spirit of its studios.
Attendees will gain a clear understanding of the opportunities available when engaging with Mexican developers and service providers, and how these partnerships can strengthen production pipelines, expand publishing reach, and open doors to new markets. Whether you are a developer seeking external expertise or a publisher exploring new collaborations, this session will equip you with the knowledge and perspective to leverage Mexico’s potential as a strategic partner in the global games industry.
About Jay
With a wealth of game industry experience spanning over two decades, Jay is recognized as a seasoned business expert renowned for formulating impactful licenses and strategic partnerships. He has spent the last decade building The Powell Group from a solo operation to the robust firm it is today with team members and clients on every continent.
As the visionary driving The Powell Group, Jay established IndieGameBusiness® on the Twitch platform in 2018. This initiative, now a thriving and dynamic platform, serves to affordably educate game developers about the intricate nuances of business operations. Anchored by an active Discord community, a newsletter boasting a substantial subscriber base of over 16,000 readers, a series of weekly podcasts delivered across diverse platforms and the game industry’s longest running digital business conferences, IndieGameBusiness® serves as a tangible testament to Jay’s unwavering commitment and the fervent industry demand for informed perspectives.
Rich Bisso
Hyperkinetic Studios
The Many Benefits of Working With the Mexican Game Industry
The Mexican game industry has grown rapidly in recent years, with developers, service providers, and publishers building a reputation for creativity, technical skill, and reliable delivery. In this panel, Rich (co-founder of Hyperkinetic Studios), Jay Powell (CEO of The Powell Group), and Marco Polo Moraga (international sales strategist) will explore why Mexico represents a valuable partner for studios and publishers worldwide.
Drawing on decades of combined expertise across business development, production, publishing, and global market expansion, the panelists will highlight the strengths of Mexico’s ecosystem, from competitive advantages in talent and cost to the collaborative spirit of its studios.
Attendees will gain a clear understanding of the opportunities available when engaging with Mexican developers and service providers, and how these partnerships can strengthen production pipelines, expand publishing reach, and open doors to new markets. Whether you are a developer seeking external expertise or a publisher exploring new collaborations, this session will equip you with the knowledge and perspective to leverage Mexico’s potential as a strategic partner in the global games industry.
About Rich
Marco Polo Moraga
The Many Benefits of Working With the Mexican Game Industry
The Mexican game industry has grown rapidly in recent years, with developers, service providers, and publishers building a reputation for creativity, technical skill, and reliable delivery. In this panel, Marco Polo Moraga (international sales strategist), Jay Powell (CEO of The Powell Group), and Rich Bisso (co-founder of Hyperkinetic Studios) will explore why Mexico represents a valuable partner for studios and publishers worldwide.
Drawing on decades of combined expertise across business development, production, publishing, and global market expansion, the panelists will highlight the strengths of Mexico’s ecosystem, from competitive advantages in talent and cost to the collaborative spirit of its studios.
Attendees will gain a clear understanding of the opportunities available when engaging with Mexican developers and service providers, and how these partnerships can strengthen production pipelines, expand publishing reach, and open doors to new markets. Whether you are a developer seeking external expertise or a publisher exploring new collaborations, this session will equip you with the knowledge and perspective to leverage Mexico’s potential as a strategic partner in the global games industry.
About Marco Polo
Marco Polo Moraga is a sales professional skilled at leveraging multi-cultural environments. He has extensive experience in international business development, identifying new opportunities abroad, and expanding into new markets.
His expertise includes business planning, B2B and B2C sales, market research, and organizing events and trade fairs. He has developed new business and grown existing operations in the US as well as across European countries by increasing direct exports and connecting with new partners and clients.
Over the years, he has built an extensive network of contacts and collaborators across a variety of industries worldwide. His professional experience spans sectors such as food and beverage, agriculture, specialty fruit, and fresh produce.