The video games industry has always been multidisciplinary. What has changed is the degree of interdependence between its key domains.

In 2026, decisions around financing, strategy, live performance, and production technology are no longer isolated:

• M&A outcomes depend on LiveOps performance;
• Market strategy is shaped by AI-driven production realities;
• Growth and retention strategies influence valuations and investment appetite.

To reflect how professionals actually work today, WN Abu Dhabi is structured around Four Faculties — each representing a distinct, yet interconnected, area of expertise that shapes business outcomes across the industry.

Expected formats include: peer roundtables, clinics, postmortems, workshops, and curated networking formats.

Feel free to move between Faculties to enhance practical exchange between experienced professionals — founders, executives, producers, investors, and operators

This Faculty is dedicated to the forces that reshape the industry at scale: acquisitions, strategic investments, valuations, and exit strategies.
Here, founders prepare for deals, investors assess risk and opportunity, and executives exchange hard-earned lessons from the negotiation table.

Who it’s for:
Founders, CEOs, CFOs, investors, BD leads, corporate development teams

Notable Faculty Members:

Markets shift. Platforms evolve. Models rise and fall.
This Faculty focuses on strategic clarity — helping studios and publishers make informed decisions in an increasingly volatile global landscape.
Expect fewer predictions, more frameworks — and honest discussions about what actually works.

Who it’s for:
Studio leadership, product strategists, publishers, analysts, senior producers.

Notable Faculty Members:

This is where games live — or die.
The Faculty of Growth & Live Operations is dedicated to sustained performance: retention, monetization, user acquisition, content cadence, and live economies.
It is unapologetically practical, data-informed, and experience-driven.

Who it’s for:
Product managers, LiveOps leads, monetization designers, UA managers, analysts.

Notable Faculty Members:

This Faculty is focused on real-world implementation — how artificial intelligence is reshaping production pipelines, LiveOps, business operations, and studio structures.
The emphasis is on workflows, ROI, governance, and integration — not hype.

Who it’s for:
CTOs, producers, tech directors, operations leads, founders.

Notable Faculty Members: