GDC Austin 2009

SAN FRANCISCO – August 24, 2009 –

Sebastien de Halleux, chief operating officer and co-founder, of Playfish – one of the world’s largest and fastest growing social games companies – is slated to deliver the keynote address at the 2009 Game Developers Conference® Austin (GDC Austin). The keynote will take place the morning of September 18, 2009, at the Austin Convention Center.

By examining the inherent strengths of the community on social networks, Sebastien de Halleux’s keynote will provide insight on how these platforms can be used to create engaging games and why developers should be looking at social networks as a burgeoning area of videogame design and business development. Playfish has succeeded by expanded its reach beyond traditional gamers and putting an emphasis on interaction between friends.

Playfish has a verified base of more than 100 million game installations across nine titles, reached only 18 months after the company’s launch in late 2007. Playfish’s games include the popular hits Pet Society, Restaurant City, Who Has The Biggest Brain? and Crazy Planets.. Players access the games via their web browsers through social networking sites including Facebook, Bebo and MySpace. The unprecedented success of Playfish’s games prove that social networking game development has the potential to create unique user experiences and bring millions of new players into the gaming community.

GDC Austin is committed to bringing a world-class conference that focuses on connected game developers looking to understand the traditions, current landscape and future of MMOs, virtual worlds and social networking gameplay. To register for GDC Austin, learn more about sponsorship opportunities or view the complete listing of keynotes and sessions, please visit www.GDCAustin.com.