Edinburgh Interactive Festival 2009

Monday 22nd June/... The Edinburgh Interactive Festival today announced that Kristian Segerstrale, CEO and Co-founder of Playfish, and respected industry consultant, Margaret Robertson, are both confirmed to speak at this year’s event. Segerstrale and Robertson join an impressive list of guest speakers: including, among others, Peter Moore, President of EA Sports and Peter Cowley, Managing Director of Digital Media for Endemol UK.

Segerstrale will be addressing the audience with a session titled “Lessons from Social Games - or How Today's Social Networks Will Change the Way You Make, Play and Sell Games Tomorrow”. He leads Playfish, one of the largest and fastest growing social games companies in the world, which creates titles for friends to play together over social and mobile platforms such as Facebook, MySpace, iPhone and Android. Each of the company’s seven games has been a top 10 hit on Facebook, including Pet Society, the platform’s most popular game enjoyed by more than 11 million people every month.

Segerstale will discuss how social games – or games designed for play with friends on social networks such as Facebook and MySpace – have experienced explosive growth and are right at the centre of broader industry trends such as free-to-play, games-as-a-service, social game design, user-generated content, and digital distribution. He’ll also offer some predictions of how the game industry might change as a result.

Kristian Segerstrale, CEO of Playfish, said: “I'm delighted Playfish has been invited to deliver a keynote presentation at this year's Edinburgh Interactive Festival, an important showcase event for the gaming industry.

"Social gaming has attracted tens of millions of enthusiastic players and rapidly risen to become a key gaming sector. I'm looking forward to offering insight on how companies such as Playfish and social networks are changing the way games are created, played and sold."

Industry consultant and former EDGE magazine editor, Margaret Robertson, will offer the Edinburgh crowds a rare insight into the videogames industry with a session titled ‘Stop Telling Tales’.

What if someone told you that you could make fans just as happy for a fraction of the effort and cost? Typically, fans of triple ‘A’ game titles expect lavishly told and epic stories. Though anyone who's been on the thinking end of the development process for such titles will tell you that it's a very expensive, cumbersome and inefficient process – which can often take its toll on the overall quality, budget and deadline of a game.

As a consultant and advisor to companies such as EA, Sony and Channel 4 on game design and industry trends, Robertson will draw on her consultancy experiences across a wide range of story-based games. While breaking down concepts and highlighting elements to which fans relate and demonstrating how studios might deliver these to consumers in a more timely and cost-effective fashion.

To purchase a delegate pass, download the booking form www.edinburghinteractivefestival.com

If you would like receive more details about partnership opportunities available for this year’s festival contact jodie.holdway@edinburghinteractivefestival.com

Press enquiries should be directed to sarah.hartland@bhpr.co.uk or tom.sargent@bhpr.co.uk

Ends.

About Edinburgh Interactive Festival 2009

Now celebrating its seventh year, the Edinburgh Interactive Festival is powered up to showcase the continued popularity, growth and influence of video games. And this year, the Interactive Festival is more synchronised with the world famous Edinburgh Festival than ever, appealing to the press, public and professionals from film, television and interactive media backgrounds alike, offering a bigger event for delegates, more consumer focusing – an overall spectacle for all.

The Edinburgh Interactive Festival 2009 will again host a Free Game Play and Recruitment areas specifically tailored to cater for the public - allowing them access to the latest games and job opportunities in games.

As ever, the Interactive Festival wouldn’t be complete without the cornerstones of conferences, keynotes, panel sessions, debates, games screenings and even more people than ever jostling to get through the doors.

The Edinburgh Interactive Festival is managed by a committee drawn from all areas of the games industry, including publishers, developers and the two industry trade bodies: The Independent Game Developers Association (TIGA) www.tiga.org and the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) www.elspa.com.