Cristina Anselmi
Machine Translation Lead
Electronic Arts
Cristina Anselmi is machine translation lead at Electronic Arts (EA). She takes care of everything related to machine translation (MT) implementation and maintenance within EA localization, leads a team of MT specialists, and coordinates several developments around MT. Cristina has been in the video game localization industry since 2012, managing all kinds of multilingual projects, from small mobile games to big MMORPGs, and several AAA titles. Her focus for the past four years has been implementing MT and AI technologies to automate workflows within EA localization. Cristina’s goal is to pave the way for this to be welcome in daily life and to be seen as a help rather than an enemy, a powerful tool that can enhance productivity, without jeopardizing quality and creativity.
Miguel Bernal-Merino believes passionately in great quality game localization and has been working nonstop to raise awareness of issues within the game and localization industries as well as academia and translation studies. He is convinced that research into these topics will improve quality, player satisfaction, turnover and return on investment. Miguel holds a doctorate in the localization of video games and is currently lecturing at the University of Roehampton in London. He is a sought-after speaker and prolific author on audiovisual translation and game localization. Miguel was instrumental in the creation of the Localization Summit within the Game Developers Conference and is one of the advisors. He is also a member of the International Game Developers Association and co-founder of the Game Localization Special Interest Group.
Daniel Finck
Independent Consultant & Solutions Architect for F2P and Web Content Localization
Loquatics Consulting
Daniel Finck
Independent Consultant & Solutions Architect for F2P and Web Content LocalizationLoquatics Consulting
Daniel Finck is an independent consultant who learned his trade setting up and managing localization
processes and teams for free-to-play/mobile games and massively multiplayer online role-playing games on
the publisher side. This made him develop a particular interest in seeking and trying out new language
technology and service provider models that allow for economic and quality continuous translation
workflows. Connecting the dots between the needs of product owners with the strengths of service
providers, he now supports businesses in selecting and implementing the right processes, tools and
partners for their products.
Bjorn Holste
Localization QA Manager
SQUARE ENIX
Björn Holste is localization QA manager at Square Enix, overseeing, shaping and improving the LQA for many titles and franchises including Tomb Raider, Just Cause and Life is Strange. He has worked in LQA and QA for over a decade and during this time has worked in various roles on many different titles. After a brief stint in Software/Web QA, he joined the great team at Square Enix about 2 years ago.
Patricia Jurado
Head of Content and Insights
King
Patricia is the current Head of Content and Insights, managing a team of content strategists and insights analysts at King Player Support. Previously, she worked at eDreams Odigeo as Head of Content and Localization, managing a team of UX writers, Content Specialists and translations providers responsible for the group websites and apps content in 20 languages. Between 2008 and 2014, Patricia worked at Google as a Language Manager driving quality product localization for Spain and Portugal. Patricia started her professional career in SDL as a translator and project manager. She holds a Master in Internet Business from ISDI and has completed Scrum Master official training. Patricia is the former manager of the Catalan Chapter of Women in Localization.
Your Job Title: Head of Content and Insights
Alex Kang
Chief Operating Officer
Bridge Translations
Alex Kang
Chief Operating OfficerBridge Translations
Alex Kisok Kang is the cofounder and chief operating officer of Bridge Translations in Seoul, Korea. He has been in the translation industry for over 15 years, working in various capacities including freelance translator, lecturer and language service provider executive. He has transformed Bridge Translations from a conventional translation company into a dedicated mobile game localization company. Alex previously oversaw all aspects of day-to-day management but with the growth of business, he now focuses on QA and client relations.
Vladimir Konoplitsky
CEO
RIOTLOC
Vladimir Konoplitsky
CEORIOTLOC
Vladimir is a team lead and head of the localization studio Riotloc. He started as a games translator and editor in 2007 and worked on everything from casual indie games to AAA titles. Vladimir is a specialist in QA and translation tools and is an old fan of the Total War series, but has an affection for RPGs. He is a strong believer in handcrafting the approach and team-like relations between developers and localizers. Apart from inventing new ways of working in his team, he occasionally speaks at game conferences, organizes localization workshops and gamedav events. He failed university exams once because of Fallout 3.
Sílvio Macedo
Senior Localization Director
Bluelab
Sílvio Macedo
Senior Localization DirectorBluelab
Sílvio Macedo has 15 years of experience in game localization and has managed dozens of AAA titles, as well as a vast variety of mobile and online games of all genres for multi-platforms. Sílvio has managed/overseen every step of the localization process, from translation to audio recording and post-production. His hands-on approach gives him a thorough knowledge of the complex localization process involved in each game title. He’s currently the senior localization director at BlueLab, where he’s been working since 2004.
Takako Maeda
Globalization Project Manager
King
Takako Maeda is a globalization project manager at King, inspired by the Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement, Kaizen. She joined King in 2014 and recently has taken on the challenge of internationalization, working closely with game engine developers to ensure high quality in King games. She loves coming up with creative solutions to problems and working with colleagues from across the organization. She lives in Barcelona and in her free time enjoys making Japanese ceramics.
Robert Masella
Senior Gameplay Engineer
Rare(Microsoft)
Robert Masella
Senior Gameplay EngineerRare(Microsoft)
Robert Masella is a Senior Software Engineer at Rare with over 14 years of experience working of game development. He has worked on a wide variety of games including Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, the Kinect Sports series, and Sea of Thieves. He’s worked on a variety of feature areas, but mostly spends time developing AI, physics and animation code. During production of Sea of Thieves, he has been heavily involved in the automated testing of gameplay code, in order to maintain the build integrity required for a service game.
Anneta Mitsopoulo
Localization Manager
Electronic Arts
Anneta Mitsopoulou has been with Electronic Arts (EA) since 2008. She holds a diploma in translation and is based in Cologne, Germany. Anneta’s current focus lies on workflow optimization and automation. She is also involved in machine translation research at EA and is passionate about technology and automating workflows.
Loreto Sanz Fueyo
Senior Director of Localization
PTW
Loreto Sanz Fueyo, senior director of localization at PTW, graduated from King’s College in London, England, where she received her master’s degree in computational linguistics and formal grammar. She began her professional career as a games tester and translator, developing her localization knowledge and skills for over 13 years before becoming PTW’s director of translation in 2019. Loreto’s passion for communication and clear messaging has made her an invaluable part of PTW’s staff, where she provides guidance to all levels of the organization. Her latest obsession is building a house in Spain and when she’s not busy localizing, she can be found pouring over floor plans and interior design magazines!
António Saraiva
Managing Partner
Gojira
António Saraiva
Managing PartnerGojira
António Saraiva is founder and managing partner at Gojira, a media production company that develops video games, apps and conversational characters (intelligent avatars). He taught game design and video game related subjects at Universidade Lusófona, IPA and Restart (Lisbon). Before Gojira, he was producer and game designer at Biodroid Productions and also IP Hunter and licensing manager for Biodroid Entertainment. António has worked in a multitude of media formats ranging from press to television to multimedia off and online. Starting out as a television producer and director in the late 80’s, he founded his own company, Latina-Europa, and authored many children’s, pop music and youth culture TV series. In Portugal he was a pioneer in writing on the internet’s social and creative issues, namely in Blitz, to which he still contributes.
Andrea Tabacchi
VP Customer Success
Memsource
Andrea Tabacchi
VP Customer SuccessMemsource
Andrea Tabacchi is the vice president of customer success at Memsource where he utilizes his extensive experience in building customer-centric language technology solutions for multinational corporations and global translation companies. He and his team work with clients to develop solutions to address their translation technology needs, including innovative ways to optimize the Memsource platform, and liaise between clients and internal teams to suggest tool improvements. Prior to Memsource, Andrea spent over ten years on the language service provider side where he served in several roles in language technology, from localization engineering to technology director.
LinkedIn: andreatabacchi
Jeferson Valadares
CEO
Doppio Games
Jeferson Valadares
CEODoppio Games
Jeferson Valadares is CEO and cofounder of Doppio Games, a voice-first game studio based in Lisbon, Portugal. He was also the lead designer on the studio’s debut title The Vortex, available for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. He is also a member of the board of directors at Rovio. In past lives he was VP/GM of Mobile at Bandai Namco; Studio GM at Electronic Arts and Executive Producer at BioWare in San Francisco; Studio Director at Playfish and Creative Director at EA Mobile in London; and Game Development Director at Digital Chocolate’s Sumea studio in Helsinki.
Matt Wilson
Global Head of Format QA
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Matt Wilson is a leader in the software and hardware industry with over 20 years of specialist quality assurance (QA) and testing experience. He is currently the global head of format QA within Sony Interactive Entertainment which handles all compliance for PlayStation globally. Matt has experience leading and building a large (250+) co-located team that deals with 30,000+ products globally annually, each with very short service-level agreements. He recently transitioned four separate regional QA teams to a single co-located global QA team. Matt lives in Liverpool, United Kingdom.