Promo banner for the gamescom dev leadership summit powered by Xsolla, February 24-26, 2026 in Lisbon, Portugal

Program & Speakers

The gamescom dev leadership summit powered by Xsolla offers an exclusive platform for industry leaders to exchange insights, discuss emerging trends, and explore strategies for driving innovation in the gaming and tech sectors.

The summit program includes keynote speeches, roundtables, panel discussions, and networking opportunities designed to foster collaboration and leadership development.

Participants of a roundtable at the leadership summit

Please visit our main event page for more infos on the summit, the venue, partnering options, and more.

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Agenda

Tuesday

February 24, 2026

Morning

  • Arrival in Lisbon

Afternoon

  • Welcome Speech
  • Keynote

Evening

  • Hot Takes
  • Networking Dinner

Wednesday

February 25, 2026

Morning

  • Networking Breakfast
  • Panels & Sessions
  • Networking Lunch

Afternoon

  • Roundtables
  • Networking Coffee
  • Roundtables

Evening

  • Keynote
  • Networking Dinner

Thursday

February 26, 2026

Morning

  • Networking Breakfast
  • Hot Takes
  • Networking Lunch

Afternoon

  • Keynote
  • Goodbye Speech

Speakers

The line-up is not yet final – more speakers will be announced soon!

Picture of Christian Fonnesbech

Christian Fonnesbech

(he/him)

Founder & Head of IP Development, Leverage Partnership

Picture of Stefanía Halldórsdóttir

Stefanía Halldórsdóttir

(she/her)

CEO, Avalanche Studios Group

Picture of Lars Janssen

Lars Janssen

(he/him)

CEO, DECK 13

Picture of Lisa Kretschmer

Lisa Kretschmer

(she/her)

Senior Manager for Global Studio Strategy, IO Interactive

Picture of Adam Lason

Adam Lason

(he/him)

Co-Founder, PixelAnt Games

Picture of Pawel Rohleder

Pawel Rohleder

(he/him)

Co-Founder, PixelAnt Games

Picture of Garry Seto

Garry Seto

(he/him)

Co-Founder, Massive Damage Games

Picture of Tymon Smektala

Tymon Smektala

(he/him)

Dying Light Franchise Director, Techland

Picture of Per Strömbäck

Per Strömbäck

(he/him)

Managing Director, Dataspelsbranschen

Picture of Tommy Thompson

Tommy Thompson

(he/him)

Director, AI and Games

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Keynote:
“Dream. Fall. Rise again: We bought the studio back!”

Picture of Adam Lason

Adam Lason

Co-Founder, PixelAnt Games

Picture of Pawel Rohleder

Pawel Rohleder

Co-Founder, PixelAnt Games

Adam and Pawel are AAA veterans who left big studios to make their dream game – faster dev cycles, rational design, real playtesting, respect in the team. But ambition turned into chaos: they grew too fast, got twisted in corporate structures, and lost control of their project when investors pulled the plug. Being “ex-AAA” wasn’t enough. So they bought the studio back.

This is their story of growth, failure, recovery, and rebuilding – how dream, determination, and strategic thinking helped them take back creative freedom and start over on their own terms.

More keynotes will be announced soon!

Roundtables

In collaboration with industry leaders, we are developing a three-day program centered on personalized networking, expert insights, and meaningful discussions.

To facilitate these conversations, six expert-led roundtables will be held, each focusing on a key theme and supported by potential subtopics designed to inspire and guide dynamic, meaningful discussions.

Leadership, Talent & Organizational Resilience

Equip yourself to lead through volatility, retain top talent, and reinforce studio stability.

  • Leading through industry volatility: restructures, shutdowns, and uncertainty
  • Executive accountability for team well-being and burnout prevention
  • Leadership succession: Preparing the next generation of studio leaders
  • Talent retention in a post-loyalty job market
  • The future of work contracts: Full-time, freelance, and the new negotiation power

Production Excellence in High-Constraint Environments

Strengthen your production systems to ship quality games despite rising operational pressures.

  • Lean production at scale: doing more without doing too much
  • Co-dev done right: quality, control, and contract guardrails
  • Decision bottlenecks: Who owns what when everyone is a stakeholder?
  • The evolution of the producer role in 2026: Orchestrator, negotiator, firefighter?
  • Process debt is the new tech debt: managing accumulating operational drag

Future-Fit Business Models & Strategic Growth

Shape your studio’s long-term strategy through smarter economics and adaptive funding models.

  • The post-acquisition era: Integration, identity, and independence
  • Portfolio or power IP? Rethinking long-term studio strategy
  • Beyond publishers: New capital sources, risk profiles, and expectations
  • Sustainable studio economics: Killing the “growth at all cost” era
  • The new geography of funding: Incentives, globalization, and local constraints
  • From data-informed to insight-led: Avoiding the analytics trap

Tech Strategy, Engine Leverage & Ecosystem Risks

Make technical decisions that align with your capabilities and reduce dependency risk.

  • Owning vs. renting your tech stack: Strategic dependency decisions
  • Unreal, unity, or in-house: The new cost-benefit reality
  • When middleware becomes mission-critical infrastructure
  • The return of specialized engineering talent as a competitive edge
  • The hardware horizon: Cloud, handhelds, and cross-platform complexity

Creative Risk, Player Experience & Market Relevance

Tune your creative trajectory to stay distinctive, player-focused, and market-relevant.

  • The innovation cliff: Why everyone talks bold but builds safe
  • Designing for longevity vs. virality: Economy of attention trade-offs
  • Reclaiming the creative authority of game design teams
  • Scope vs. soul: When “more game” hurts the experience
  • Remasters, remakes & preservation: IP strategy or short-term revenue play?
  • Trend borrowing vs. trend setting: Strategic differentiation that survives

AI Adoption, Regulation & Strategic Implementation

Gain clarity on AI practices, governance models, and the strategic choices we face today.

  • From experimentation to institutionalization: Using AI across the org
  • Legal, ethical & copyright risk frameworks that studios can operationalize
  • Who owns ai decisions? Governance, accountability, and policy design
  • Creative displacement vs. creative amplification
  • AI-Native production planning: Team structure, cost, and time impact
  • Competitive AI advantage: Proprietary pipelines vs. off-the-shelf tools
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