How WN Media Group turned events into a global business
Organising events in the gaming industry can contribute to significant business growth, including for the organisers themselves. In an exclusive interview with SiGMA News, WN Media Group founder and CEO Pavel Ryaykkonen and Business Development Director Marina Lopatina discussed their transition from the video game industry to iGaming (both pictured). It was organising events for gaming industry professionals that provided them with the opportunity to establish an international group of companies.
One event is not enough
WN Media Group brings together WN Events, WN Academy, WN Hub, WN Talents, and Game World Observer. Share the story of how the group came to be, why you decided to work together, and how you have developed.
Pavel: WN Media Group grew out of a key event – the White Nights Conference, now WN Events, which we launched more than 12 years ago. At that time, the main task was to bring gaming industry professionals together in one place and allow them to share their experiences, find partners, and scale their businesses.
Over time, it became clear that one event was not enough. We saw the needs of the market and began to develop an ecosystem that included educational projects for the industry (WN Academy). A service for recruiting professionals (WN Talents), media resources (App2Top and Game World Observer), and a platform for interaction (WN Hub).
Combining these areas into a single group allowed us to cover all the primary needs of the gaming industry and make our offering more complete and convenient for customers.
The WN event map covers most of the world. Tell us about the most interesting areas of development for iGaming, with some examples.
Pavel: The geography of our events is vast, and we really try to choose the most interesting and promising locations. For example, China remains a vast and closed market with great opportunities, despite licensing difficulties. We recently successfully held an event in Xiamen, which showed the enormous potential of the region.
The MENA region, especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia, is also actively developing, where game development and iGaming receive active government support and investment. Latin America is also an interesting and promising market, especially Brazil and Mexico. These regions, with their huge young audience and growing demand for games, open up vast opportunities for developers and publishers.
Which of your projects has the group allocated the most resources to this year?
Pavel: This year, we are focusing on the development of WN Hub, a SaaS platform that can be described as a SuperApp for the gaming industry. It brings together everything we have created in recent years: events, recruiting, education, media, and other services.
Our goal is to allow industry professionals and companies to solve all their professional tasks on a single platform, from finding partners and employees to participating in events, training, and publishing news. This approach allows us not only to improve existing products but also to build a digital infrastructure for the B2B segment of the gaming industry. One that is global, integrated, and convenient for all market participants.
From video games to iGaming and vice versa
The company has extensive experience in the field of video games, and now you are planning to grow in iGaming. Describe how these areas overlap and how they differ.
Pavel: The gaming industry and iGaming are parallel worlds. However, both areas are one industry in the broadest sense. These areas use different technologies, user acquisition channels, approaches to game design and engagement mechanics, as well as entirely different legal and financial regulations.
The traditional gaming industry is more focused on entertainment, user experience, and long-term player retention. In contrast, in iGaming, the speed of monetisation and the ability to quickly engage the user, providing them with a gambling and financial incentive, are more critical.
Experience in video games will help transfer best practices and technologies to iGaming. In turn, solutions and approaches from the iGaming sphere will provide additional opportunities for monetisation in traditional games.
Marina, you head the WN Talents department, which provides HR solutions for the video game, iGaming, FinTech, and AdTech industries. In your five years in this role, what changes have you seen in labour market trends?
Marina: The gaming industry job market has changed significantly in recent years. During the pandemic, we saw a real boom – people stuck at home, and interest in games grew exponentially. Companies began to expand rapidly: there weren’t enough people to keep up with the demand for content. Small studios turned into large corporations, and we actively helped them along the way.
We assembled teams, filled difficult vacancies, and saw our clients grow alongside us. We even had cases where non-specialised companies came to us, and we built a team for them from scratch, as they wanted to invest in games, understanding that it was a good source of investment.
As for the international market, we studied Asia; I lived there for a while for this purpose, and Europe. I still travel to different countries and research labour markets, prospects, and demands. I can say that there are some interesting life hacks that I learned through such research. For example, some countries are promising for establishing headquarters and jurisdictions, while others are an excellent source of personnel.
For example, if a company needs to assemble a creative department while staying within budget quickly, it can assemble a team from Vietnam. That will ensure good quality and low costs. We also know how to find C-level candidates from the US or European markets with experience and strong networks. We’re constantly researching the market and expanding our network, increasing our database of companies and candidates through events around the world.
We have also noticed a significant upturn in FinTech and AdTech, especially in the Russian-speaking sector. Digitalisation has accelerated, and companies have begun to actively seek out specialists who can quickly adapt to new technologies and market dynamics.
In conclusion
According to WN Media Group executives, it was the organisation of events for gambling industry professionals that became the starting point for the creation of an international group of companies. Thanks to a deep understanding of market needs and the ability to build dialogue between participants, the team managed to expand its scope of activity and go beyond traditional event management. Today, it is a full-fledged ecosystem that combines recruiting, education, and media business within the global gaming community.
This article was first published in Russian on 23 October 2025.
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