4:00 PM - 5:15 PM
Session B:
The Video Game Industry Rivals Mainstream Entertainment
Compared to feature films or television syndication, the video game industry continues to take a back seat. But that may not be for long. In December, Variety reported that video game software and console sales in 1999 totalled $7.2 billion, just short of the motion picture industry's 1999 box office take of $7.4 billion - an amazing sum. Add to that statistic the fact that new video game systems coming to market now and in the near future will rival motion picture technology in the quality of the audio and visual experience - as well as access the internet to enhance the interactive experience - and you have another revolution at hand. In this session, we will hear major hardware and software players discuss their newest strategies that will fuel the continued rapid growth of this important entertainment industry segment.
Alex St. John, President, CEO and co-Founder, WildTangent
Neal Robison, Vice President, Third Party Marketing, Sega of America
John S. O’Rourke, Director of Games Marketing, Microsoft Corporation
Neil Young, Vice President and Executive in Charge of Production, Electronic Arts
Jim Charne, President & Executive Director, Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, Moderator
Alex St. John, President, CEO and co-Founder, WildTangent: Named by Ziff-Davis as one of the "Most Influential People in Multimedia," Alex St. John has devoted his career to evangelizing the adoption of multimedia technologies. Prior to co-founding WildTangent, St. John started out at Boston-based Hell Graphics and Harlequin Ltd. in the UK where he developed a postscript interpreter. Shortly thereafter, St. John joined Microsoft as the general manager for Microsoft’s multimedia marketing and evangelism group. He was one of the principal creators of Microsoft's DirectX technology, which became the foundation for all Windows multimedia and the source of over 50% of all Windows retail applications in three short years. Before leaving Microsoft in 1997, St. John worked on creating Chromeffects, a family of multimedia technologies to extend Internet Explorer to support 3D graphics and real-time interactive animation. Perceiving that multimedia technology was not advancing rapidly enough to meet the demands of the Internet, St. John founded WildTangent Inc. to drive the development and adoption of streaming 3D technology. He is a frequent speaker at Multimedia and Internet conferences, and recently passed the torch as a regular columnist for Maximum PC (formerly Boot Magazine). A book entitled, Renegades of the Empire: How Three Software Warriors Started a Revolution Behind the Walls of Fortress Microsoft, published in 1999, chronicles St. John’s antics and the history of the Manhattan Project and how it changed computing.
John S. O’Rourke, Director of Games Marketing, Microsoft Corporation: As Director of Marketing for Microsoft’s Gaming Division, John O’Rourke oversees all marketing efforts for the Division. O’Rourke manages the advertising, PR, packaging, events, research, direct marketing and e-commerce for both the X-Box video-game console and software, as well as all PC game software. From 1997-1999, O’Rourke was Director of Marketing for the Learning, Entertainment, and Productivity Division of Microsoft, which developed and marketed software in the home productivity, education, reference and games areas. Prior to that job, he was a Group Product Marketing Manager for the Desktop Applications Division responsible for the various marketing efforts of Microsoft’s family of productivity applications including: Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, FrontPage and Works. O’Rourke joined Microsoft in January 1992 as Product Manager for Microsoft Publisher. Before coming to Microsoft, O’Rourke was an Account Supervisor for a Seattle-based direct marketing company. He holds a bachelor of arts in business and a master’s in business administration from the University of Washington.
Neil Young, Vice President and Executive in Charge of Production, Electronic Arts: Neil Young started in the interactive entertainment industry 12 years ago as a programmer and producer with Imagitec, a small UK development company, working on platform conversions for Electronic Arts, ORIGIN Systems, Microprose and Mindscape. In 1990 he joined Probe Software as a senior producer and worked on many titles for Acclaim, Sega, Hudson, USGold and Virgin Interactive. In 1992 Neil began working in the U.S. at Virgin and was soon promoted to vice president of product development. In 1997, Young was named vice president and general manager of ORIGIN Systems, Electronic Arts' Austin, Texas subsidiary. There, Neil oversaw the launch of the highly successful Ultima Online. In 1999, Neil left ORIGIN to become vice president and executive in charge of production at Electronic Arts where he currently is creating next-generation interactive content for EA's new online business division, EA.com.
Jim Charne has been President and Executive Director of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences since early 1998. Before joining the Academy, Jim maintained an interactive entertainment and music Industry law practice in Santa Monica, CA. He has also served as Vice President Legal and Business Affairs and General Counsel from start-up phase to I.P.O. for an east coast interactive software entertainment studio/publisher, produced entertainment and personal productivity software for Activision, served on the corporate staff of the Technology Acquisitions Group of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. in New York, and worked in the music industry as a national marketing department head for CBS Records (now Sony Music) and as in-house counsel for Arista Records. Jim is admitted to practice law in California, New York, and New Jersey, and has previously taught or moderated programs on software development, contracting practices, and copyright for Game Developers Conference/Miller-Freeman, E3 Expo, CES/Digital Hollywood, Variety Interactive Summit, UCLA Extension, Innovations 99, and California Lawyers for the Arts. Jim may be reached by email at the Academy - charne@interactive.org.
Neal Robison, Group Director, Third Party Licensing, Sega of America: Neal Robi
son brings more than ten years of experience in software engineering and developer support to Sega of America. From inception of the world’s most-advanced videogame system with a built-in 56K modem and 128-bit technology to the biggest product launch of 1999, Neal has been instrumental in making Sega Dreamcast the most successful electronic product of the year. As group director of third party licensing at Sega of America, Neal manages business and marketing relationships with game developers creating content for Sega's hardware platforms. By building future relationships with developers and third party publishers, Neal helps to secure the success of Sega Dreamcast into the next century. In the year 2000, over 160 game titles will be available throughout the United States. Previously, Neal held the position of technical evangelist at Sega, where he worked on the design of Sega Dreamcast from its inception, assisted developers with technical challenges and helped them devise solutions to take full advantage of the Sega Dreamcast hardware throughout game development. The system launched with an unprecedented 18 titles and is the first next-generation console with a built in 56K modem. Sega partnered with industry leaders such as NEC, Yamaha, AT&T, Hitachi and Microsoft to provide the most powerful videogame console the market has ever seen. Before joining Sega of America, Neal worked at The 3DO Company as the director of technical marketing services. His responsibilities included the management of five departments, including global marketing, customer service, direct sales, the company’s audio/video production lab and the developer technical relations program for the 3DO multiplayer system and M2 developers and licensees. Prior to Neal’s tenure at The 3DO Company, he was a partner at BungDabba Software Productions, a software development and consulting company he helped found and manage. He also served as a supervisor at Claris Corporation, managing QuickTime development tool projects and establishing key relationships with multimedia customers across the globe. Neal began his career in technology at Apple Computer, where he served as the lead engineer for several development projects, including the video communication system for the U.S. State Department in Washington D.C. Neal holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from Brigham Young University.