One stage, one conversation, and a theme ripped from our conversations with researchers: It Depends: Embracing Uncertainty.
Speakers spoke openly and didn't sugarcoat their challenges: the studies that went sideways, the pivots that shaped new ways of working, and the questions they're still losing sleep over. Insightful feels like a uniquely safe space where people say the quiet part out loud, and no one claims to have all the answers, but they're happy to share the ones they have.
Here's a taste of every session (the rest stays in the room!):
Lanie Dixon · Director of User Research, WB Games
What if your research team had a brand? Lanie showed how treating research as a strategic system, with a clear identity and a consistent voice, moves teams from one-off studies to research that grows alongside development.
To scale, you need systems, not studies.
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Genevieve Conley Gambill & Josh Rivers · User Research & Consumer Insights, Xbox
User research or market research? At Xbox, the answer is increasingly "both." Genevieve and Josh walked through real case studies of their two teams dropping the turf lines so the business gets the answers it needs, with both disciplines in the room when decisions get made.
Market Research and User Research didn't just end up in the same room. We made sure we were in the same rooms together.
Lauren Frager · Zynga
What happens when your research question is outdated before the study is done? Researching a new game is nothing like researching an existing one. The product changes weekly, the player doesn't exist yet, and the questions that mattered last sprint may be obsolete by the time you have answers.
Lauren gave an honest retro on what broke, what she'd do differently, and how her team moved from a lot of uncertainty to a bit more certainty.
Some periods are about finding out - go wide, be wrong, learn something. And then some are about being right.
Colum Slevin · Chief Product Officer, StoryToys
Designing for preschoolers requires more than simplifying interfaces or reducing difficulty. It demands a fundamental shift in perspective. Young children approach the world with what Zen teachers call "beginner's mind": a state of openness, curiosity, and endless possibility. They don't arrive looking for the most efficient path. They explore, experiment, repeat, and discover through play.
Drawing on StoryToys' child-centred design philosophy, and years of observing thousands of young players, Colum shared how designing for children means letting go of adult assumptions and embracing curiosity as a design principle.
Adults optimise for competence. Kids optimise for curiosity.
Moderated by Jonny Dankoff (Haven) · with Josh Marchand (CD PROJEKT RED), Nicolas Mathieu (Focus Entertainment) and Janus Rau Sørensen (Mob Entertainment)
Game dev rarely goes to plan. The panel got practical about balancing rigorous method with production reality: last-minute pivots, when to push back, and how to deliver insights that land on time at any team size.
Standards are like toothbrushes...everybody agrees they need one, but they only want to use their own.
Adams Greenwood-Ericksen & Oke Müller · Activision
What does it take to support research across the unusually large and complex Call of Duty franchise? User Research Director Adams Greenwood-Ericksen and Global Insights VP Oke Mueller shared how Activision’s Player Insights and User Research teams evolved their organizational model, research cadence, tools, telemetry, automation, and AI strategy to serve both development teams and publisher leadership.
What is the core contribution of a researcher to the research process? Expert judgment.
Deborah Hendersen · UX Researcher, Meta
There is incredible value in watching players play the game.
JR Greger · Head of Research Operations, Scopely
Automation starts before technology.Sometimes the best automation could be as easy as removing a step that does not add value.
Helena Lorenzo · Principal UX Researcher, Blizzard
Do you know the feeling of being so proud of something that never saw the light of day? This is what it's like to work on new games.
We kicked things off with a proper Wilkommen in the beer garden, with pretzels, beer, sausage and traditional music; the perfect backdrop for turning LinkedIn connections into lifelong connections.
The Prince Charles Berlin is a nightclub housed within walls of a former piano factory. The employee swimming pool was the backdrop for so many conversations (and the dance floor after the sessions ended and the DJ took over). We're only slightly bummed our ball pit idea didn't make the final cut in event planning. Next year!
Our friends at Starberry Games kindly opened their doors for us to host a half-day focused on making games more players can love. Talks were presented by:
