You Don't Buy Attention Here. You Earn It.

Moonrock President John Gaudiosi is speaking on two gaming panels at the inaugural iicon Conference at the Fontainebleau Resort in Las Vegas on April 28-29. The invitation-only conference from the Entertainment Software Association brings together some of the biggest names in video game publishing (Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Capcom, Take-Two, Roblox, Epic Games, Nintendo, Xbox, PlayStation) alongside the convergence of games across Hollywood (Lionsgate, Skybound, Netflix, Warner Bros) and sports (MLB, WWE, adidas). On April 29, John moderates "8-Bit to 24 Frames: Building Franchises for the Screen" on the Main Stage at 2pm with Story Kitchen co-founders Dmitri M. Johnson and Michael Lawrence Goldberg, executive producer Dallas Dickinson, and Tomb Raider showrunner Tasha Huo. The panel digs into how game IP gets packaged, adapted, and sustained across television, film, and beyond without losing what made it resonate in the first place. At 4:05pm, John joins "Participation, Not Placement: The Future of Brand Integration is Activating Players" with Jessica Murrey of Wicked Saints Studios and Lisa Willett of Roblox. The conversation focuses on how brands move past sponsorship logos into co-created experiences and community-driven activations that players actually embrace.

We're partnering with SPJA to host the official Gaming Lounge at Anime Expo 2026, July 2-5 in Los Angeles. Gaming Lounge @ Anime Expo is where gaming meets North America's largest celebration of Japanese pop culture. Hands-on play, tournaments, creator moments, and brand activations built for fans who show up with both wallets and word of mouth. Sponsor inventory is open now. If you're a publisher, platform, or brand looking to connect with anime-native gaming audiences, there's room at the table.

We're dropping back into our recently launched custom map, built with our partners at Sawhorse Productions for the UK Department for Education's recruitment drive, Get Into Teaching! Breaking out of the school environment and integrating a brand new fantasy forest area within, Mr Pickle 2: Student Run is a unique opportunity to show players the creativity and problem solving that are core skills for the leaders of tomorrow.

It's live! Mr. Pickle 2: Student Run is now playable; our custom Fortnite experience built in partnership with Get Into Teaching, the government recruitment campaign for the UK's Department for Education. DfE asked us: What does a game that invites young people into the experience of teaching actually look like? The answer is a Fall Guys-style run, bursting out from school into a new forest environment full of puzzles, lost NPCs to guide, and a Capability Meter that rewards players for thinking like a teacher.