The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences’ 2018 D.I.C.E. Summit (#DICE18) event will take place February 20-22, 2018 in Las Vegas. Leading video game executives and creators will gather to participate in the premier industry networking event and listen to key speakers address the conference theme – Made Better – tackling some of the industry’s biggest ideas and trends.
The Conference Opening Keynote will be presented by Phil Spencer, Executive Vice President, Gaming at Microsoft. With a talk entitled “Building a Living and Learning Company Culture” Spencer will share his thoughts on how a large company like Microsoft continues to learn and evolve. He’ll explore the importance of a purposeful company culture and how it defines not only the work environment but also how it informs strategy and impacts business growth.
Additional speakers confirmed for the 2018 D.I.C.E. Summit event:
Chet Faliszek – Creative Director at Bossa Studios. Faliszek will be presenting “AI for Storytelling.” The talk will delve into the use of Artificial Intelligence to create deep, meaningful stories not created by designers, but by the player’s own actions.
Lidwine Sauer – Director of Insights and Trends for Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovation Lab. Sauer will reprise her session from September of this year as the “Best of D.I.C.E. Europe” discussion. She will be presenting on how to “Navigate the Rapid currents of Change,” in a time of accelerated disruption and transformation, where innovations that originate in one industry can very quickly upend many others. Unexpected events have almost become the norm. Faced with rapid and regular revolutions, how do you anticipate the opportunities — and the risks — that the future holds? How do you drive forward-thinking change in a creative organization?
“The D.I.C.E. Summit has always strived to unite the game industry around ideas of positive growth and change, and our theme Made Better will look to amplify this,” said Meggan Scavio, president, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. “We hope that our diverse line-up of amazing speakers will inspire our attendees to do great things.”
With the conference theme Made Better, speakers this year will examine the full spectrum of what drives the creative development process within the interactive entertainment community. What are the measures of success, and how do we design towards them? How do we evolve and balance innovation risk? How do we inspire individuals and teams to drive change? D.I.C.E. speakers will share personal insights and experiences on how they foster creativity and prosperity within the video game industry today and beyond.
Unmatched networking opportunities are a hallmark of the D.I.C.E. Summit experience. This year’s networking events include Topgolf Las Vegas, Magic: The Gathering, go-karting, a golf tournament and a poker tournament on the first day, a single-track speaker program, the popular roundtable workshops, lunches and happy hours. On the final day, the conference will culminate with the 21st D.I.C.E. Awards (#DICEAwards) co-hosted by Greg Miller and Jessica Chobot, honoring the best video games from 2017.