The 2030 Games Almanac
A Collective Map of Futures for Games and Digital Culture
The 2030 Games Almanac is the central outcome of this year’s Games Executive Summit Europe. It is not a policy paper or an industry report, but a collective foresight document, written from the imagined vantage point of 2030 and tracing the paths that could have led us there.
Born from the conversations in Asturias, the Almanac captures the shared intelligence of GESE’s community of leaders, documenting the transformations, breakthroughs, and dilemmas that may define the decade ahead.
At its core, GESE is a journey of foresight: participants not only exchange views on today’s most pressing challenges, but also co-create a shared narrative of what lies ahead. This narrative takes form in the GESE Almanac 2030, a living document that captures the collective intelligence of the group and outlines potential futures for games and digital entertainment.
An Inquiry Through the Lens of Transformation
Artificial Intelligence as Catalyst, Context, and Mirror
The 2025 edition of GESE takes place at a moment when technology, creativity, and society are converging in unprecedented ways. The group’s preparatory survey revealed a common intuition: that AI is no longer a separate topic, but a force that permeates every dimension of our work, from creativity and production to ethics, leadership, and business.
Rather than holding a Summit about AI, we will look at the future of our industry through its lens, exploring how intelligence, human and artificial alike, is reshaping the way games are imagined, made, shared, and valued.
This input helps define the thematic pillars of the summit. Rather than a fixed program imposed from outside, GESE develops a living agenda, shaped by its members and guests, ensuring that discussions resonate with the real concerns and ambitions of the group.
Thematic Constellations
Where the Group’s Curiosity Converges
From the survey results, six key areas have emerged as anchors for our inquiry. Each will host a set of interconnected conversations, combining vision, tension, and foresight:
1. The Shape of Business
How companies, ownership models, and alliances evolve to sustain creativity and value in 2030.
2. The Studio of the Future
What cultures, leadership styles, and work structures ensure resilience and originality in a changing world.
3. Creativity, IP & AI
How human and machine collaboration transforms authorship, artistry, and innovation.
4. Growth, Audiences & Attention
Where expansion and engagement come from, and how new behaviors redefine success.
5. Ethics, Integrity & Wellbeing
How responsibility, inclusion, and creative honesty guide decision-making in a time of acceleration.
6. Europe & Collaboration
How Europe can assert cultural leadership through cooperation, sovereignty, and shared purpose.
Each theme is not an isolated track but part of a larger constellation. Together, they outline the coordinates of a new creative and industrial ecosystem.
From Questions to Conversations
Building the Almanac in Real Time
In Asturias, these themes will be translated into facilitated dialogues rather than presentations. Each conversation begins with a set of critical questions derived from the group’s own input, the same questions that will structure the chapters of the Almanac.
Rather than seeking consensus, the sessions will surface contradictions, paradoxes, and alternative futures, capturing not only what leaders think, but how they reason and disagree.
The resulting notes will be validated collaboratively after each session, forming the foundation of the 2030 Games Almanac.
Beyond the Horizon
In an industry often driven by immediacy, the 2030 Games Almanac invites a different tempo, one of reflection, curiosity, and long-term vision. It is both a mirror of today’s priorities and a compass pointing toward the futures we may still have time to shape.
GESE is not about predicting the next trend, it is about understanding how the choices we make now will echo across the next five years of games, culture, and creativity.
A Living Document
From Shared Insight to Lasting Influence
After the Summit, Essex78 will coordinate the editorial synthesis of the Almanac, weaving together the validated notes into a structured narrative.
The outcome will not be a definitive vision, but a living reflection of the group’s foresight: a document to revisit, question, and expand as the decade unfolds.
The 2030 Games Almanac will circulate within the GESE network and among selected institutional and industry partners, influencing strategy, policy, and imagination far beyond the Summit itself.
Time Travellers
- Chris Kingsley, CEO – Rebellion
- Ilari Kuittinen, Managing Director – Housemarque
- Carolin Krenzer, CEO – Trailmix Games
- Fernando Vasconez, Head of Gaming Investments and Partnerships – SAGA Origins
- Guillermo Arias, VP Investment Services – DDM
- Jaime Giné Domínguez, Board Member – Amber
- Oskar Wolontis, Chief Operating Officer – Hazelight Studios
- Simon Barratt, Co-Founder – JECO & Cooperative Innovations
- Michael Schade, CEO & Co-Founder – ROCKFISH Games
- Ralph Egas, Managing Director – Virtuos Europe
- Uwe Wuetherich, Managing Director – ROCKFISH Games
- Daniel Cervantes, VP Partner – IDG Intelligence EMEA
- Matias Myllyrinne, CEO – Redhill Games
- Markus Windelen, COO – Plug In Digital
- Michael Hooper, Marketing Director at CCP Games
- Martijn van Zwieten, Executive Coach, Mentor and Advisor
- Kim Nordström, CEO – PlayerUnknown Production
- Rami Ismail, Game Industry Advocate & Speaker
- Maarten de Koning, Founder at Seafire Ventures
- Audra McIver, Founder – Plan of Attack
- Jean-Marc Broyer, Managing Director – Breeyo Advisory
- Juan Cañada, Director of Engineering – Epic Games
- Nick Button-Brown, Partner – The Game Angels
- Céline Pasula, Co-Founder – RedLynx
- Sophie Vo, Founder & Leadership Coach – Rise & Play
- David Higley, Partner – PW Partners
- Richard Bartle, Professor & Co-Creator – MUD
- Brendan Greene, Founder & CCO – PlayerUnknown Productions
- Dino Patti, CEO – Coherence
- John Clarke, CBO at Modoyo
- Begoña Villacís, Executive Director – DC Spain
- Brian Cooley – Partner Mindfiness
- Morten Larssen, CCO ay Combined Effect/Raw Fury
- Fabien Rossini, Head of Gaming studio EMEA at Globant
