Summit on Game Business, Law Will Discuss Economy’s Dive

An upcoming summit Game::Business::Law at Southern Methodist University, home to The Guildhall graduate game development school and the Dedman School of Law, will focus on business and legal issues related to the game industry, including a panel discussion on the present economic conditions in the U.S. The economic panel, “The Impact of Today’s Economy on Game Development,” is being billed as one that will discuss whether the video game industry is “truly recession-proof.” In recent months, economic discussions, often touting the resiliency of entertainment industries in times of recession, have become commonplace, but the panelists on this board are primarily from the finance side, not the game side; it will be interesting to hear their assessment of the situation. Leading the discussion will be Patrick Pugh, a partner at Price Waterhouse Coopers, as well these speakers: J. Holt Foster, III, partner at Thompson & Knight LLP; Colin A. Sebastian, senior vice president of equity research at Lazard Capital Markets; and representing the game side more directly, Rob Seaver, founder and CEO of Vivox, a company that provides voice chat features and other advanced audio support in games. The conference will also welcome two keynote speakers: Mitch Lasky, general partner at Benchmark Capital, who was previously in the mobile games sector, and David L. McCombs, partner at Haynes and Boone, LLP, who specializes in patent law. Two co-chairs oversee the conference: Dr. Peter Raad, executive director of The Guildhall, and Richard Garriott of NCsoft. Garriott made headlines in late 2008 when he joined the very short list of space tourists, following somewhat in the footsteps of his father, NASA astronaut Owen K. Garriott. An advisory board for the event comprises Dr. Amit Basu of SMU's Cox School of Business; Steve Nix of Id Software; Joseph Olin of Academy of Interactive Arts and Science; Patrick Pugh of Price Waterhouse Coopers, and David Riley of NPD Group. The Game::Business::Law summit will take place January 14 and 15 at the SMU campus in Dallas. The summit is put on by The Guildhall, the SMU Dedman School of Law and The Center for American and International Law.