Gaming
innovation conference
The next wave of play
Explore the industry’s powerhouse status as a dominant entertainment and cultural platform. This programming highlights how brands, marketers, and creators are leveraging immersive gaming ecosystems to build deep community connections and launch next-generation digital campaigns. Dive into the groundbreaking innovations and creative breakthroughs leading the next wave of multimedia evolution.
Joost Van Dreunen
video games professor, superjoost playlist
“What works is the baked in audience. It leads you to this natural observation that it’s not just about the game or the franchise. We start to think less about making games and more about making audiences.”
programming themes
- AI in Gaming
- Creator Economy Overlap
- Platform Agnostic Movement
- Gaming IP as Media
Past Speakers
The people shaping how stories get made.
Sara Thacher, Walt Disney Imagineering
“Immersive Experts Unleashed: Building Successful Experiences”
Hideo Kojima, Kojima Productions
“Hideo Kojima Presents “DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH”
Melissa Cash, Pok Pok
“Why the Future Depends on How Kids Play”
Johanna Faries, Blizzard Entertainment
“Claiming the Future of Entertainment”
Conference Rewind
Take a look back at the sessions you don’t want to miss.
Hideo Kojima on DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH
Legendary game creator, Hideo Kojima will discuss and share new details about DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH, the upcoming sequel to the critically acclaimed DEATH STRANDING video game, coming to PlayStation®5.
SuperJoost’s State of Play 2026
Now in its sixth year, State of Play is SXSW’s annual briefing on how games forecast the future of media, tech, and culture. In 2026, the $250B games industry is rebounding — but the bigger story is how play is becoming the new cultural operating system. From musicians and brands building games into their business models to shifting platforms and audience behaviors, this data-driven session reveals where consumers, capital, and creativity are headed next.
Johanna Faries Claiming the Future of Entertainment with Conan O'Brien
Gaming has been at the forefront of entertainment for nearly 50 years. Within that time, gaming has gone through various iterations of change while becoming more popular than ever. Join President of Blizzard Entertainment Johanna Faries, as she shares with comedy legend Conan O'Brien how long-lasting IPs continue to excite audiences and build communities, not only with gaming enthusiasts, but also in the entertainment/pop culture space.
Additional Information
Each year, SXSW brings the best speakers in the world to Austin, TX< to present sessions on what’s next in the worlds of film, culture, music, and technology.
The convergence of first-class talent from so many different disciplines and backgrounds creates a unique environment for attendees to explore.
SXSW Conferences include the Innovation Conference, Music Conference, and Film & TV Conference.
Accompanying the SXSW Conference are events including expos, a pitch competition, parties, and more.
Explore Keynotes, Featured Speakers, Session Formats, and programming tracks, of visit the Conference Formats page.
SXSW Conference sessions will be divided into multiple tracks across three overarching verticals:
- Innovation Conference Tracks explore technology, marketing, health, the creator economy and more.
- Film & TV Conference covers both the creative and business elements of film and TV production.
- Music Conference features content on the making, marketing, impact and future of music.
Visit the Tracks pages for detailed information on each of the tracks.
Conference session formats range from presentations and fireside chats to panels, workshops, mentoring, networking and more.