The Leisure Software program Affiliation (ESA) introduced the launch of the Interactive Innovation Convention (iicon), a brand new occasion designed to attach visionaries, thought leaders and innovators from throughout industries to harness the facility of interactive leisure.
Happening April 27 to April 30, 2026 on the Fontainebleau Resort in Las Vegas, attendees will acquire unique entry to visionary keynotes, partaking discussions and workshops, and elite networking alternatives with executives shaping the way forward for leisure, enterprise and expertise.
The iicon occasion guarantees to carry collectively a broad spectrum of sectors that converge with interactive leisure, together with movie, tv and music, in addition to sports activities, healthcare, schooling, finance and extra, mentioned Stanley Pierre-Louis, CEO of the ESA, in an interview with GamesBeat.
The occasion is the primary model new industry-focused occasion that the ESA has scheduled because the demise of E3 in 2023 — exterior of its charity-focused Nite to Unite annual dinners on the Sport Builders Convention.
“For decades, video games have been at the forefront of technological and cultural innovation,” mentioned Pierre-Louis. “With iicon, we are creating a space for visionaries across industries to come together, connect and reimagine what’s possible through interactive entertainment.”
Stanley Pierre-Louis, CEO of the ESA.
“The Entertainment Software Association and its member companies are among the innovators and leaders shaping the future of culture, business and human connection. It’s a natural role for ESA to host and support an event that fosters an open exchange of new ideas with our peer industry leaders,” mentioned Doug Bowser, chairman of the ESA, in an announcement.
Bowser added, “iicon is bringing together change makers from across industries to envision how the strengths of the interactive entertainment industry can break entirely new ground.”
Attendees will study from and have interaction with {industry} icons, together with leaders from Amazon Video games, Disney, Digital Arts, Epic Video games, Microsoft, Nintendo of America, Sony Interactive Leisure, Sq. Enix, Take-Two Interactive, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Video games.
“We’re really excited about iicon, the Interactive Innovation Conference, because there’s never been an opportunity to bring so many different change makers together to talk about the transformative force of interactive entertainment,” Pierre-Louis mentioned. “So many of the conversations we have within the video game industry are to ourselves and so many of the conversations that other industries have are to their industries. Every once in a while you see an opportunity to collaborate with another industry but it’s very limited and we saw an opportunity to grow that using interactive entertainment as convening force.”
The purpose is to have conversations about the right way to propel progress and viewers engagement and viewers constructing at a worldwide scale, he mentioned.
“It’s really the first-of-its-kind summit designed to connect visionaries, thought leaders, and innovators from across industries to harness the power of interactive entertainment,” Pierre-Louis mentioned. We see this as a chance for various leaders and executives to attach and collaborate, to trade details about how they see progress occurring, to grasp a few of the advertising and marketing outreach success that our {industry} has seen.”
The member corporations mentioned they wish to host different industries and speak concerning the impression video video games can have on them. He famous video games are having impression in medication, the place medical doctors use digital actuality and augmented actuality video games to coach for surgical procedure. Video games for well being have been developed to deal with well being situations like ADHD and Alzheimer’s. Within the schooling sector, 75% of academics have used digital-based video games for his or her classes. Astronauts use it to be ready earlier than going to the Worldwide Area Station.
“So video games are part of so many different functions in different industries and yet we’re not having that conversation about what else video games can be doing to bring audiences together,” he mentioned.
Help from 11 massive recreation corporations
The foyer of the Fountainbleau Lodge in Las Vegas.
As the worldwide online game {industry} is ready to surpass $300 billion in projected income by 2027, iicon would be the premier summit for locating new alternatives powered by the {industry} and its expertise.
Govt leaders from a few of the online game {industry}’s greatest corporations expressed enthusiasm for iicon as a key alternative to drive innovation and foster collaboration throughout sectors.
“The games industry is constantly evolving, and the intersection with other disciplines is more pronounced than ever before,” mentioned Christoph Hartmann, vp of Amazon Video games, in an announcement. “iicon will bring together some of the brightest minds from the games industry to navigate present challenges and harness the opportunities ahead. Amazon Games is proud to support this new endeavor.”
“Video games have been a major contributor to our global culture by blending entertainment, creating communities and pushing new technologies,” mentioned John Heinecke, Chief Publishing Officer, Sq. Enix. “iicon will be an incredible forum where business leaders and innovators can join forces to celebrate our industry’s achievements and to build the future of entertainment together.”
“Take-Two Interactive is a long-standing member and proud supporter of ESA,” mentioned Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two Interactive. “iicon represents the ongoing evolution of the interactive entertainment industry and its irrefutable ascendance as the most beloved art form and cultural influence in the world today. We look forward to participating in this event and convening with a broad array of stakeholders to further what we believe to be one of the strongest periods in our industry’s history.”
“Video games push the boundaries of technology and creativity, extending far beyond entertainment,” mentioned Laurent Detoc, chief direct-to-player officer at Ubisoft. “We look forward to iicon bringing together visionary leaders from the industry and beyond to shape the future impact of games.”
“At Xbox, our mission is to bring the joy of gaming to players anywhere they want, while creating opportunities for the amazing creators behind them,” mentioned Sarah Bond, president of Xbox, in an announcement. “We appreciate the ESA establishing iicon as a platform to deepen connections among executives and thought leaders from within gaming, and from a wide range of partner industries. Together, we will collaborate, invent and create – and together we will all grow.”
Video games on the middle of the dialog
Extra of the Fountainbleau in Las Vegas.
Requested if this was meant to discover how video video games are influencing different industries, Pierre-Louis agreed. He mentioned very often individuals neglect to notice the mass market applied sciences like 3D animation that begins with gaming and migrates into different fields.
“We’re really proud of what we do and how we’ve shaped society, how we’ve helped influence business. And this is a forum to discuss it and for people to think about how else they can advance what we’ve already started,” he mentioned.
I requested if the tech platform corporations could be there too. It could be one thing to see Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner converse alongside Epic Video games CEO Tim Sweeney, however I’m pretty skeptical that might ever occur.
“The great thing about this opportunity is it really invites everyone. So we are looking at other companies within the video game space who might want to participate. We’re looking at platforms because they play a pivotal role, but they don’t only use those platforms for video games. They use them for a variety of other tools and for every other business opportunities. And so we’ll be looking to them as potential participants. And we’re also looking beyond the platforms. We’re looking at finance. We’re looking at education. We’re looking at health care. We’re looking at sports,” he mentioned.
To date the dialog has been inside, however now it will likely be opened as much as others. He famous member corporations have missed E3 in relation to enabling leaders to come back collectively and have conversations. This occasion goes to be extra like a thought-leadership discussion board.
Requested how this would slot in with different occasions like our personal GamesBeat Summit and Geoff Keighley’s Summer time Sport Fest, (which now has a coming business-to-business occasion headed by Christopher Dring), Pierre-Louis mentioned, “We really looked at this as an opportunity to reach a broader audience. If you think about all of the game industry events that occur over the course of the year, they’re really targeting different sectors of the video game community, whether it’s players, executives, … developers. What we’re trying to do is really bring a cross-section of business leaders to an audience of business leaders.”
He mentioned all of the conferences even have a target market inside the online game area. However the ESA is trying to broaden that dialog concerning the impression of video video games.
“Ultimately, that helps our industry in creating and shining a light on the broad impact it has,” he mentioned. “So many times when we talk to people about the impact of our industry, they’re surprised and excited to learn about things that we do. It’s in all walks of life. When we speak about it within our industry, people all understand the impact of the industry. But really highlighting that to a broader audience will help lift up the audience. It helps us certainly with our advocacy, but more importantly, it brings together business leaders from different sectors and showcases what’s possible through collaboration.”
Having political impression
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Pierre-Louis famous this was taking place the identical week the place the ESA needed to difficulty an announcement concerning the “significant harm” that might occur to recreation corporations if tariffs went into impact.
Requested if politicians could be invited to take part, Pierre-Louis answered, “There’s certainly an opportunity to have policymakers and government officials participate in some way because how they view our industry really impacts how they govern. And so we will want to think about the best approach. Right now, our focus is on ensuring that we have the right audience and the right participants to be a part of this conversation because that’s what’s going to drive the the impactful discussions.”
In flip, that may impression how coverage makers lead and convey collectively the leaders of various industries.
“We’re very excited about bringing together something that we have not seen before, which is placing interactive entertainment at the center of a conversation and bringing others in to talk about the impact that interactive entertainment has had in their industries and how it might help grow what they’re doing in ways that benefit audiences on a global basis in a variety of sectors.”
A alternative for E3? No.
The E3 present flooring in 2019.
“We’re very excited about the initial support we received from these iconic leaders who are our members. And we’re excited about reaching out to leaders in film, television, and music, but also in sports, healthcare, education, finance, and more,” Pierre-Louis mentioned. “We have 11 companies already excited about participating at iicon, and we look forward to bringing more in.”
The ESA hasn’t but determined who will stage the occasion. Earlier than E3 collapsed, the ESA tried to faucet Reedpop, the creator of the PAX reveals, to revive the sagging occasion. The group needs it to be an expert occasion with excessive requirements, however there’s no additional description to it but.
Pierre-Louis didn’t say how many individuals could be invited to the occasion — whether or not it was within the lots of or hundreds. However he did say it was a “summit” and is extra of a enterprise convention, relatively than an expo or showcase of video games.
Pierre-Louis mentioned he couldn’t hint the origins of the occasion. But it surely was based mostly on what would come subsequent after the ESA determined to “sunset” E3.
“There were opportunities for our members and for other companies to make announcements through digital means, through online means, and to reach the audience that they wanted to reach,” he mentioned. “But there was no opportunity for leadership to convene, for our companies to convene and to think about the scope of our industry.”
By noticing the vacuum created by E3’s absence, the ESA moved to create this new occasion the place totally different industries might come collectively round video games and recreation expertise.
“It’s about being in the DNA and being able to take that out into the world in a new way that really excites (not only) fans when they see it, but audiences of all kinds. And so we’d love to figure that out as well, partly to have these industries collaborate on what that means to benefit one another,” Pierre-Louis mentioned.
Occasion Particulars and extra
Stanley Pierre-Louis is CEO of the ESA.
Dates: April 27-30, 2026Location: Fontainebleau Resort Las VegasAudience: By invitation solely. iicon is tailor-made for visionaries, thought leaders and innovators throughout industries that intersect with interactive leisure. attendees and sponsors can pre-register and join updates at iicon.com.
The session consists of ESA Senior Vice President Aubrey Quinn, an accessibility guide; speaker and journalist Paul Amadeus Lane; and accessibility leaders from 5 tech and online game corporations — Digital Arts, Google, Microsoft, Nintendo of America and Ubisoft.
The complete particulars of this initiative can be revealed through the GDC Important Stage presentation. The ESA can be holding its Nite to Unite charity public sale and dinner on the night of March 18 through the GDC.
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