Posted in: Conventions, Events, Games, PAX West, Video Games | Tagged: Matt Booty, PAX West, penny arcade, pokemon, xbox

Pokémon Joins PAX West, Xbox's Matt Booty Will Give Keynote

Published Tue, 09 Aug 2022 13:13:11 -0500

by Gavin Sheehan

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Penny Arcade and ReedPop revealed that Pokémon will be joining this year's PAX West, along with announcing the keynote speaker. First off, Matt Booty, the current Head of Xbox Game Studios, will be this year's keynote speaker and will open up the convention with his presentation on the first morning of the event. Second, we got confirmation today that The Pokémon Company will be live at the event, as the team also revealed several more companies who will be taking part on the convention floor. We have more details from today's announcement below, along with a quote from Penny Arcade on the continued rebuilding of the event in a post-pandemic world.

Pokémon Joins PAX West, Xbox's Matt Booty Will Give Keynote — Credit: Penny Arcade

Keynote speaker Matt Booty welcomes the global gaming community home to PAX West on Friday, September 2 at 10:30 am PT in the Main Theater. Matt's storied career kicked off in the '90s with engineering work on legendary Midway Games titles like Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, NFL Blitz, and Cruis'n USA. He joined Microsoft in 2010 to help lead internal game development teams and played a pivotal role in the acquisition of Minecraft and its expansion to other platforms, including Nintendo Switch, VR, and educational spaces. Matt is currently corporate vice president of Xbox Game Studios, the organization responsible for developing and publishing Microsoft games for console, PC, and mobile platforms.

The Pokémon Company hits PAX West inviting Trainers to experience the latest and greatest from the storied monster-catching franchise. ESL Gaming brings esports tournaments to the expo floor alongside other fan-favorite exhibitors, AAA and indie alike, including Nintendo, Sega, Finji, Bandai Namco, PLAION (formerly Koch Media), tinyBuild, Devolver Digital, Apogee Entertainment, Ysbryd Games, Raw Fury, Yacht Club Games, and so many more, including tech giants Intel, AMD, and ASUS.

"Every day leading up to the show, the PAX West experience is enrichened – and now we're proud to announce industry powerhouse Matt Booty to kick off the show," said Jerry Holkins, co-founder of Penny Arcade and PAX. "Now, I gotta go. I have a whole lotta Warhammer minis to paint before the show."