Koen focuses on delivering unique and personalized presentations and workshops with the goal of informing, inspiring and activating his audience. His goal is not to just share some random words about the industry he loves, but to create a lasting change in feeling, thinking and behaving by speaking in an open, accessible, and down to earth style.
Koen Schobbers became a professional gamer at the age of 15, but the relationship with his mother was very difficult as a result. He later used this experience to found Parents of Play to help parents with the relationship with their gaming children and train professionals on how to deal with gaming children. The concept is based around his specific models and guidelines which are now used globally. Koen is also the author of a book titled ‘My Gaming Child’ in which he answers the 50 most common questions he has been asked by parents. He spoke at TED in 2019 about how to (re)connect with gaming children.
Koen Schobbers is a leading global expert and entrepreneur in the gaming and esports industry and is an outstanding, engaging and down-to-earth keynote speaker looking to educate, activate and inspire his audience.
Koen is a board member and vice chair of the Athletes, Players & Community Commission of the Global Esports Federation (GEF). The Global Esports Federation has over 140 partnerships including UNESCO, the WHO, Microsoft and over 125 member federations. Koen also founded Koenz, a company helping businesses to implement the gaming and esports industry in their strategies and campaigns. Some organizations Koenz has worked with include Vodafone, Spinnin’ Records, Populous, KIA and Acer.Koen is highly revered and he has been covered in over 300 media outlets since 2014. Between 2016 and 2020, he was also the anchorman of an esports show broadcasted on ESPN.
He was the Dutch Champion in Trackmania between 2011 and 2016 and was 3rd at the World Championships in 2013.
In 2017, Koen was the first esports athlete to receive a professional sports status from his university, allowing him to combine his master’s degree in medicine at the Amsterdam Medical Center with his esports career. Due to the enormous growth in his esports career, Koen decided to put his studies aside in 2018 and follow his dream in the gaming & esports industry.
