Nicole Lazzaro

Nicole Lazzaro, President and Founder of XEODesign, is the leading authority on emotion and player experience and designed the first true iPhone game. With a Stanford degree in psychology Lazzaro is the first to use facial expressions to measure player emotions. A leading designer, developer, and researcher Lazzaro applies her expertise to design award-winning XR experiences for games as well as enterprise. One of the top 20 women working in video games, millions of leading developers worldwide use Lazzaro’s emotion framework The 4 Keys to Fun, including Assassins Creed, WOW, and Battlefield. Since 1992 her clients include Disney, EA, Facebook, Oculus, Survios, BOSEAR, Double Eye Studios, TRIPP, Samantha Bee, and the Obama White House; on titles such as The Sims, Myst, Star Wars and Horizon Worlds. She is widely cited by global news media such as Wired, Rolling Stone, Fast Company, CNN, CNET, Wall Street Journal, and TED. Lazzaro is currently developing Follow the White Rabbit a mind-bending XR adventure about a magician whose magic one day suddenly works. (playwhiterabbit.com)

Metaverse, Cryptocurrency, Meets the Creator Economy
The Metaverse and Cryptocurrency tech fuels aggressive changes in the games competitive landscape, valuations and business models. Set in context of the Creator Economy, the rise of the Metaverse and Cryptocurrencies carves out new opportunities. Blockbuster concerts in Fortnite and Roblox’s creator-fueled valuation are simply the first salvo. What’s next, like F2P and IAP of the past, distributed tech will transform the future of game creation, distribution, and monetization. Player created ‘verses such as SnapChat, Clubhouse, and Twitch bring new creator driven retention mechanics. Beyond NFT let’s discuss winning strategies for open standards, walled gardens, roll-your-own blockchain, pay to play, cross-game avatars and items, and more. Join us for a deep dive down the rabbit hole and see how far the Metaverse goes.