How Sound Design Shapes Player Experience | Leon Beilmann

The Future Of Games Is Player Made | Shahar Sorek & Sandi Montaño

Shahar Sorek and Francisco “Sandi” Montaño represent two complementary sides of the modern gaming creator economy: the platform-builder and the breakout creator. Sorek is the Chief Marketing Officer at Overwolf, the Tel Aviv-based “guild for in-game creators” that helps developers, modders, and UGC creators build, distribute, and monetize in-game apps, mods, and player-made experiences. In his role, he leads marketing and growth while working across investor relations, fund activity, and partnerships with game studios and developers. His public work is closely tied to the belief that gaming is becoming a creator-led ecosystem, where passionate players can extend the life, value, and cultural relevance of game IP beyond the original studio pipeline.Montaño, known online as Sandi_00, is one of the clearest examples of that shift in practice. A self-taught mod creator and former marketer, he began making mods as a personal project for his daughter before turning that work into a full-time creator business inside the ARK: Survival Ascended ecosystem. His CurseForge catalogue now spans dozens of projects and more than 110 million downloads, with popular releases including Modern Structure Skins, Modern Furniture Skins, Modern Furniture V2 Skins, and Arcadian Structure Skins Premium. His work focuses on cosmetics, furniture, structure skins, and creative tools that help players make survival spaces feel more expressive, personal, and home-like.Together, Sorek and Sandi reflect the growing importance of UGC, modding, and community-led creation in games. Sorek brings the strategic, platform, and go-to-market perspective, shaped by a career across games, startups, entertainment, and storytelling, while Sandi brings the hands-on creator perspective of someone who has built a serious business by listening to players and turning community demand into high-performing content. Their combined story captures where gaming is heading: worlds that are not only built by studios, but continuously expanded by creators, players, brands, and communities.https://www.linkedin.com/in/%F0%9F%90%B0-shahar-sorek-%F0%9F%94%9Ccannes-lions-83ab299/https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandi-montano-a2444035a/

How AI & Streaming Will Change Game Development Forever | Matt Gordon

Matt Gordon is a veteran graphics and systems engineer whose career spans some of the most technically ambitious areas of modern gaming and interactive technology. Starting as a graphics programmer at PlayStation before joining Microsoft, Matt played a key role in graphics emulation, GPU optimization, and the foundational architecture behind xCloud game streaming. His work helped bridge Xbox hardware into hyperscale Azure data centers and contributed to the real-time streaming infrastructure that enabled cloud gaming at global scale. Across GPU emulation, media streaming, and systems architecture, Matt has consistently operated at the intersection of high-performance engineering and next-generation gaming technology.More recently at Meta, Matt has led large-scale technical initiatives across metaverse systems, AI-native engineering, real-time clients, cloud infrastructure, and avatar technology. Known for his “T-shaped” approach across graphics, cloud systems, and AI, he has become a respected technical leader capable of scaling complex projects from concept to organizations spanning hundreds of engineers. His work today focuses on AI agent systems, model deployment, and the future of interactive digital experiences, making him one of the few engineers to have worked deeply across gaming, cloud streaming, metaverse infrastructure, and modern AI systems.https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-gordon-14542847/

Why Great Game Developers Never Stop Adapting | Hannes Seifert

Hannes Seifert is a veteran game developer and executive whose career spans nearly four decades across some of the industry’s most influential studios and franchises. Starting with his first Commodore 64 game in 1987, Hannes went on to co-found neo Software, which later became Rockstar Vienna following its acquisition by Take-Two Interactive. Over the years, he has held leadership roles across Rockstar Games, Deep Silver, Square Enix, Riot Games, and now serves as Co-CEO at Crytek. His work has touched iconic franchises and titles including Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, Hitman, Dead Island, League of Legends, VALORANT, and Hunt: Showdown.Known for his deep understanding of both creative production and studio leadership, Hannes has helped shape games across nearly every major platform generation, from the Commodore 64 era to modern live service ecosystems. Throughout his career, he has focused on the intersection of storytelling, player experience, organizational leadership, and technological innovation. Beyond development, Hannes has become a respected voice on game production, live games, publishing, and the future of the industry, regularly speaking internationally on creativity, leadership, and how games continue to evolve as a cultural medium.https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannesseifert/https://www.crytek.com/

The Hidden Data Behind WoW & RuneScape Communities | Rachit Moti

Rachit Moti is the founder and CEO of Accord, a platform helping game studios turn Discord conversations into actionable player insight. Over the last several years, he has worked closely with game developers and online communities to better understand how player sentiment, feedback, and behavior shape live service games. His work focuses on bridging the gap between fast-moving player communities and the slower decision-making processes inside studios, giving teams a clearer understanding of what players actually care about.Before founding Accord, Rachit was the founder and CEO of Layer, an IP licensing marketplace for the games industry that was used by over 1,500 game teams and later acquired in 2025. Across both companies, his work has centered around the intersection of games, community systems, and data-driven decision making.https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachitmoti/https://www.accord.gg/

Can MMORPGs Ever Return to Their Peak? | Scott Hartsman

Scott Hartsman is a veteran game developer and executive whose career spans nearly four decades of online worlds and MMORPGs. Beginning in the era of text-based MUDs in the 1980s, Scott went on to hold key leadership roles on landmark online games including EverQuest, EverQuest II, RIFT, Trove, and ArcheAge. He served as Technical Director on EverQuest and EverQuest II before becoming Executive Producer and later CEO at Trion Worlds, where he helped lead the launch and live operation of some of the most ambitious MMOs of the modern era. Beyond shipping large-scale online games, Scott has become one of the industry’s most respected voices on live service development, studio leadership, and the future of online worlds. Over the years he has advised and invested in multiple game studios and platforms, including Sony Interactive Entertainment, NCSOFT West, Playable Worlds, and a range of emerging MMO and live game startups. Known for his deep understanding of player communities, live operations, and MMO design philosophy, Scott continues to shape conversations around the evolution of massively multiplayer games and the future of virtual worlds.https://www.linkedin.com/in/hartsman/