PlayUK Russia: Online public talks with UK games experts

Peter Molyneux OBE

The first speaker of the series of inspirational talks will be Peter Molyneux OBE, who has remained one of the most recognisable faces in the video games industry across 4 decades of landmark game titles and is still considered to be one of the world’s most innovative and celebrated game designers. As the former Creative Director of Microsoft Games Europe, founder and CEO of both Bullfrog Productions, Lionhead Studios and now 22cans, Peter has led various sized businesses in the industry and designed hugely successful products (both critically and commercially) such as Populous, Theme Park, Syndicate, Theme Hospital, Dungeon Keeper, Black & White and the Fable franchise. His work has granted him multiple Lifetime Achievement Awards from various sources such as BAFTA, GDC Awards and the Academy for the Interactive Arts and Sciences. Despite his legacy, Peter considers himself to only be getting started. His most recent endeavour 22cans stepped into the casual gamer space with "Curiosity - What’s inside the cube” which won an Online Innovation award at the Develop Awards, then came Godus, a return to the God Game genre which Peter is widely regarded to have created early in his career. Peter’s last release ‘The Trail’ continues to bring unique experiences to the world and in December 2016, Apple honoured ‘The Trail’ as one of the top 10 games of the year

Tim Woodley, Hello Games

A video games executive with over 20 years’ experience in the industry, Tim has held prominent positions in large NASDAQ-listed corporations and small independent companies alike. He currently heads up all commercial and publishing efforts at Hello Games, the UK-based independent developer of the globally successful No Man’s Sky. He has sat on the board of the UK trade body for the video games industry (UKIE) for six years and recently assumed the position of Chair. He is also an Ambassador for the video games charity, Special Effect.

Ian Livingstone CBE is Chairman of the Sumo Group plc and a partner in Venture Capital fund Hiro Capital. He is a founding father of the UK games industry having co-founded Games Workshop in 1975 and launching Dungeons & Dragons in Europe. In 1982, he co-authored The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, the first Fighting Fantasy gamebook in the series which has sold 20 million copies worldwide. He moved into video games in the early 1990s, later becoming Executive Chairman of Eidos plc where he launched Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Hitman and Deus Ex. His angel investments in video games studios include Playdemic (Golf Clash) and Mediatonic (Fall Guys). He is a leading advocate for computing in schools to promote creativity, computational thinking and problem solving and in September 2021 opened The Livingstone Academy Bournemouth in association with Aspirations Academies Trust. 

Fiona Sperry, Three Fields Entertainment

Fiona is the Co-founder and CEO of Three Fields Entertainment, a small Independent Game Development Studio based in England, UK. Fiona is a hugely experienced leader of game teams, with over 25 years at the top level. Having joined Criterion Software in 1997 from an early career in Book Publishing, she took the helm of its failing games division in 2000 and relaunched it as Criterion Games with a focus on console and original IP. This turnaround was spearheaded by the much loved Burnout series, a series she was fundamental in nurturing from its inception, right through 5 highly successful iterations.

When Criterion was acquired by Electronic Arts in 2004 she joined their Executive team, taking over the running of all EA's development in the UK. However she missed frontline development and stepped away from a Corporate role and returned to the helm of Criterion Games to oversee the launch of Burnout Paradise and to take a very hands-on role in the design, production and marketing of Criterion's renowned revival of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit.

In 2013 she left Criterion Games alongside fellow Criterion leader, Alex Ward and together they launched Three Fields Entertainment with the aim of finding a better way to make games.

This better way has at its core a focus on technology, utilizing techniques such as Big Data, Genetic Algorithms, Machine Learning and Procedural Generation to accelerate the development process. This approach has enabled Three Fields to launch 5 games in 5 years from a standing start, each one building on the last to deliver an exceptional technology platform that will enable Three Fields to deliver world class games in the future.

David Reeves, Keywords

David has held some of the most senior positions in the games industry through his 40 year career. Having started out in FMCG David became MD of SONY PlayStation in Germany then CEO and President of SONY PlayStation EMEA during the company's rise to global leader in the games industry. This included working in Russia and with local partners. He then spent time as COO of Capcom Europe, in his own independent consultancy whilst also being a Trustee on 4 major Charity Boards.

He is currently coaching a raft of SME's and startups in 8 countries and also Chairman of Keywords International. David is widely traveled and beloved for his tireless support of the games industry on a global scale.