Friday, May 16, 2025
Home Blog Page 24

Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle 2022

The leading mobile gaming industry conference, Pocket Gamer Connects, returns to the region in May 2022.

Over 750 games industry professionals will gather in town on May 9-10 to network, discover, pitch and learn from 150 of the world’s leading authorities.

Mobile, PC and console, blockchain, VR/AR and more will be covered, across 15 unmissable conference tracks. Our speakers and panellists will share their expert insight into design and development, monetisation and growth, new technologies, company culture and loads more.

The full conference schedule has been revealed, so you can look ahead and plan your time effectively. https://www.pgconnects.com/seattle/schedule/

The event is called Connects because that’s what we help you do; connect with the whole gaming industry, from students and indie studios to the media, international investors and publishers. We offer our MeetToMatch meeting platform free and unlimited to all delegates, so you can find that perfect contact and arrange to meet them in person.

We’ll be running a whole host of side activities and curated matchmaking events to cater to everyone’s networking needs.

  • Investor Connector
  • MoneyMaker
  • Publisher SpeedMatch
  • The Very Big Indie Pitch (Mobile Edition)
  • The Very Big Indie Pitch (PC + Console Edition)
  • The Big Indie Zone

Can’t make it to Seattle? We’ve made digital-only tickets available for remote viewing, so you can connect with the games industry from your own office if you’re unable to join us in the US.

Book your tickets now and join us for the return of Pocket Gamer Connects Seattle!

AffPapa iGaming Awards 2022

The AffPapa iGaming Awards will celebrate affiliates and operators – highlighting the strongest industry performers from across the world.

AffPapa is pleased to announce the launch of its first-ever iGaming Awards, which will recognize affiliates and operators that have helped shape and define the industry over the previous year.

Who can participate?

The Awards has 20 nomination categories prepared where both iGaming affiliates and operators have an exclusive opportunity to compete with the best names of the industry. The event will gather members from every corner, creating a real-life melting pot that reflects the incredible evolution of the iGaming industry over the years.

The Awards ceremony

The AffPapa iGaming Awards will be held exclusively online, from registration to the announcement of results. The awards, however, will be handed out in-person early July in Amsterdam, Netherlands during the iCatchUp event organized by AffPapa (more details about it will be available soon).

Everyone in the industry will have a chance to vote and have their say in who takes the title home – bringing a broad set of in-depth experience to the table.

The event will be promoted across all AffPapa channels, including newsletters and social media. As the leading iGaming directory connecting affiliates and operators, AffPapa is well-known for developing connections and bringing exposure to those who prove to be excellent partners.              

Yeva Avagyan, Head of Commercial at AffPapa, commented on the launch:

“In the past year, we’ve truly set a record for ourselves, and it was only natural to start thinking of something big – something that would further unite industry members while also bringing a little fun to the game! We’re excited to announce the launch of our first iGaming Awards and look forward to seeing the industry come together and celebrate one another. Given the response we’ve received so far, I am confident that this Awards will generate a lot of excitement and pave the way for other major events in the future!”

Please visit our website for registration, media sponsorships, and any other enquiries you may have.

DreamHack Dallas and A-Kon Partner for June 2022 Festivals — DreamHack and A-Kon to Offer Bundle Passes for Fans to Enjoy Both Events

0

STOCKHOLM / DALLASDreamHack, an ESL Gaming brand, and A-Kon, North America’s longest-running anime and Japanese Pop Culture Convention, will both take place in Dallas June 3-5, 2022.  DreamHack Dallas will take place at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center; A-Kon will take place at the Irving Convention Center. To bring both experiences to fans, the two events have joined together to offer a bundle pass. Spanning more than a million square feet of combined gaming, pop culture, anime, concerts and more, the bundle pass will include everything outlined in the DreamHack Festival three-day pass as well as the A-Kon four-day event pass. The bundle pass is $175 for the weekend, and is now available HERE.

“These last two years of the pandemic have been so hard for so many, but gaming has always brought communities together both online and in person. To partner with A-Kon this year will help us deliver the ultimate weekend to gaming and anime fans in Dallas,” said DreamHack VP Strategy & Growth Shahin Zarrabi. “The DreamHack experience truly has no equal — coming together and playing together brings a tremendous opportunity to our Dallas community.”

“As the longest running anime centric event in North America, we’re excited to be back from the two year break caused by the pandemic. Our core mission has always been creating memorable, immersive experiences for our fans,” said A-Kon Executive Chairman Chris Terrell.  “Partnering with Dreamhack this year allows the both of us to provide an unparalleled and unrivaled fan experience to the anime community.”

The three-day, immersive, gaming lifestyle festival will return to Dallas for the ultimate weekend experience with the first full-scale DreamHack festival in nearly 2.5 years. DreamHack creates an arena where the community can come to connect, explore, win, play a part, and be yourself through the gaming lifestyle experience. Whether festival-goers are admiring cosplay costumes, participating in tournaments, watching pros compete, learning to stream, testing technology at the Expo, or attending a panel, DreamHack offers an unforgettable experience..

A-Kon features hundreds of interactive panels and workshops held by prominent talent, voice actors, influencers, and leading creative minds in the anime and fandom industries, diverse fan-driven programming, a robust Dealers Room and Artist Alley, autographs, cosplay contests for all skill levels, fashion shows featuring the hottest brands from Japan, live music events by both international and domestic artists, industry premiers, gaming tournaments, dances, a masquerade ball, specialty banquets, shadow casts of your favorite flicks, and tons of exclusive content all wrapped into a single weekend package — there is something at A-Kon for everyone.

TICKETS

  • Purchase DreamHack tickets with the A-Kon Joint Pass through DreamHack HERE
  • Purchase A-Kon tickets with the Dreamhack Joint Pass through A-Kon HERE

DreamHack and Wizards of the Coast Announce Partnership to Advance Popular Magic: The Gathering Tabletop Game at all U.S. DreamHack Festivals

COLOGNE / STOCKHOLM / NEW YORK — DreamHack, an ESL Gaming brand, and Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro, Inc. subsidiary, just announced a new agreement that brings together the immensely popular card game, Magic: The Gathering, and global gaming lifestyle festival, DreamHackWith this partnership, DreamHack will become the Official Partner of all Magic: The GatheringRegional Championship Qualifiers and Regional Championships in the United States — which will lead up to the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour and the Magic: The Gathering World Championship.

“We feel our lifestyle approach to gaming experiences will allow us to build a strong foundation on which the ‘Magic: The Gathering’ community will successfully grow and expand,” said Aaron Linde, Tabletop Product Manager at ESL Gaming. “Whether you are gaming in the Bring-Your-Own-Computer Lan Party at DreamHack, or competing in the festival’s cosplay championship, this partnership will help bring Magic to a larger audience by creating a safe, inclusive environment where everyone has a chance to be great.”

As part of the new partnership, Wizards Play Network stores all across the U.S. will have an exclusive opportunity to get back to the roots of the game by participating in an extensive, nationwide program built to entice players back to stores and events — in-store qualifiers. These qualifying events will lead into the DreamHack Magic: The Gathering Showdown Regional Championship, featuring a prize pool of up to $150,000. From there, the top 48 players at the Regional Championships will earn an invitation to the Magic Pro Tour, with the top two  players also earning automatic invitations to the Magic World Championship. The DreamHack Magic: The Gathering Showdowns are taking place at DreamHack’s U.S. festivals alongside everything gaming under one roof.

“Developing the tabletop gaming ecosystem is very important to us,” said Ian Atkinson, SVP Publisher Relations at ESL Gaming. “We are building a strong Magic community through DreamHack and by working with local retailers and businesses, we are now able to extend players’ experience and engagement to stores all over the country. This ecosystem will enrich the community and level-up the competitive experience for those players to compete at DreamHack festivals.”

EVENTS

  • JUNE 3-5: DreamHack Dallas
    • Experience Magic: The Gathering ahead of the first season while attending DreamHack Dallas, the first full-scale DreamHack festival in nearly 2.5 years.
  • JULY 2–SEP 24: In-Store Qualifiers
    • Stores all across the U.S. will host in-store qualifiers, which will lead into the DreamHack Magic: The Gathering Showdown Regional Championship in November.
  • NOV 18-20: DreamHack Atlanta
    • The first DreamHack Magic Showdown Regional Championship will take place at DreamHack Atlanta with a prize pool totaling $150K USD.
    • This Championship leads up to the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour and the Magic: The Gathering World Championship.


Additional DreamHack dates and locations for future Magic: The Gathering events will be announced.

“DreamHack has been an excellent partner and leader in creating memorable Magic events for players around the world,” said William Jensen, Director of Play Programs for Magic: The Gathering at Wizards of the Coast. “We’re excited for players in the United States to see what experiences DreamHack has planned in and around the Regional Championships.”

In 2021 Wizards of the Coast generated $1.3 billion as a company for Hasbro Games. In addition, Wizards has demonstrated a proven the strongest track record for consistency, quality and competitive play out of all Hasbro’s business units.

“Magic: The Gathering Pro Shop and Ultra PRO are both excited to be involved with DreamHack’s efforts to bring organized play back! We look forward to sharing more details as we go forward,” said Elizabeth Peotter, Global Marketing Director at Ultra PRO.

AWE Announces First Speakers and Initial Agenda, Free Exhibit Space and Job Postings to Ukrainian XR Companies and Devs

NEW YORK, March 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — AWE, the foremost XR (Extended Reality) community complemented with premier worldwide events focused on the business of Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and the Metaverse, today announced the event has just published its first round of speakers participating in AWE USA 2022, as well as all 12 tracks of its agenda at https://www.awexr.com/usa-2022/agenda-tracks. Speakers include key executives from companies such as Decentraland®, Epic Games®, HP®, HTC®, Intel®, Lenovo®, Magic Leap®, Meta®, Microsoft®, NVIDIA®, Qualcomm®, Roblox®, Sony®, Unity®, Verizon®, and Walmart®, as well as many others from Fortune 1000® companies blazing new trails in XR.

These industry luminaries join previously-announced Keynote speaker Unity CEO and Chairman John Riccitiello, with the currently-participating list of speakers to be found at https://www.awexr.com/usa-2022/speakers. John is President & Chief Executive Officer at Unity Technologies, one of the world’s leading platforms for creating and operating real-time 3D content for mobile phones, tablets, PCs, consoles, and AR/VR devices. Mr. Riccitiello will kick off this year’s June 1-3 in-person event in Santa Clara, CA. 

With 250 exhibitors and hundreds of speakers comprised of visionary leaders as well as up-and-coming startups from across the XR industry expected, now is the time to apply to become an exhibitor, attendee, speaker or sponsor by reaching out to AWE staff via https://www.awexr.com. In an industry-first, AWE is allowing any company headquartered in Ukraine or founded by a Ukrainian to not only have a free exhibit space at AWE 2022, but to also allow Ukrainians to post job listings at no charge online.

Every year at AWE, sponsors and exhibitors make some of the tech industry’s most compelling and important XR-related announcements. With this year’s conference focusing on ‘Where XR Business Thrives’, AWE 2022 will once again be held as a face-to-face, physical event featuring a wide range of hands-on demos available for the expected 5,000+ attendees. As in last year’s event, health and safety related to COVID-19 remains a paramount action item to maximize the safety of exhibitors and attendees alike, even as the pandemic begins to wind-down globally.

Accredited media and analysts may sign up for a free exhibition pass at https://www.awexr.com/usa-2022/apply_for_press_pass.

“AWE is very excited to be publishing the first tranche of our speakers list today, as well as our comprehensive 12-track agenda to provide the best information and leadership when it comes to the XR industry,” said Ori Inbar, AWE CEO and co-founder. “AWE is very proud to provide Ukrainian XR companies with free exhibit space as well as free online job postings for Ukrainian developers displaced or affected by the war. We remain grateful to all our sponsors and exhibitors for making this event possible as well as our loyal attendees for their ongoing participation as well.”

DreamHack Returns June 3–5 — DreamHack Dallas to offer the Ultimate Weekend Experience with First Full-Scale Gaming Lifestyle Festival in Nearly 2.5 Years

COLOGNE / STOCKHOLM / NEW YORK — DreamHack is back! The three-day, immersive, gaming lifestyle festival will return to Dallas for the ultimate weekend experience with the first full-scale DreamHack festival in nearly 2.5 years. DreamHack Dallas will take place June 3–5, 2022, at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, offering everything gaming under one roof. Tickets start at $39 for a one-day pass, and $94 for a three-day experience. More details are available at dreamhack.com/dallas/tickets.

DreamHack creates an arena where the community can come to connect, explore, win, play a part, and be yourself through the gaming lifestyle experience. Whether festival-goers are admiring cosplay costumes, participating in tournaments, watching pros compete, learning to stream, testing technology at the Expo, or attending a panel, DreamHack offers an unforgettable experience.

“We’re thrilled to bring DreamHack back to the great city of Dallas,” said Shahin Zarrabi, VP Strategy & Growth at DreamHack. “These last two years of the pandemic have been so hard for so many, but gaming has always brought communities together both online and in person. So it is especially meaningful to bring this electrifying event weekend to Dallas as we mark our return to in-person festivals all around the world. The DreamHack experience truly has no equal — we can’t wait to once again share it with the people of Dallas.”

The two pinnacle esports tournaments at DreamHack Dallas will both feature Counter-Strike:Global Offensive (CS:GO):

  • Intel® Extreme Masters (IEM), the longest-running global pro gaming tour in the world, will be the first IEM event to take place in North America since 2019. IEM is widely considered one of the most prestigious esports events in the world, and a total of 16 teams will compete for a piece of the $250,000 prize pool.
  • ESL Impact will bring the inaugural all-women CS:GO League Season 1 global finals to Dallas where a total of eight teams from five regions will compete for a share of the $150,000 prize pool.

“The CS:GO fans have some fantastic action to look forward to as we bring Intel® Extreme Masters and ESL Impact to DreamHack Dallas,” Zarrabi continued. “IEM has always been a stand-out moment for esports players and fans around the globe — and now we’re taking a solid step towards providing new opportunities and improving the representation for all women CS:GO players with the Season 1 Global Finals of ESL Impact.”

Among an array of professional, amateur and collegiate gaming tournaments will also be Fighting Game Tournaments (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Guilty Gear -Strive- and King of Fighter XV), the beloved and famous Bring-Your-Own-Computer (BYOC) three-day LAN party ; Cosplay Championship; Live Music concerts; Panels; Tabletop Gaming; Indie Games; Expo;and more to be announced.

DreamHack had its last in-person festival prior to the pandemic — February 2020 at DreamHack Anaheim. The next scheduled in-person U.S. event will be DreamHack Atlanta, November 18-20, 2022, part of DreamHack’s global tour including 10 festivals in seven countries.

Game Developers Conference 2022 Concludes and Return to San Francisco Announced for March 20, 2023

SAN FRANCISCO – March 28, 2022 – The 2022 Game Developers Conference (GDC), the world’s largest and longest-running event serving professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games, concluded its 36th edition today, after a week of networking, learning and inspiration. The conference was the largest in San Francisco in the past two years, with a total of 12,000 industry professionals attending at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center from March 21-25 and a further 5,000 joining on the virtual platform of the conference, which was available to increase attendee accessibility, for a total of 17,000 attendees. The conference prioritized health and safety for all attendees and required proof of vaccination and face masks to be worn indoors. GDC will be returning to the Moscone Convention Center Monday, March 20 to Friday, March 24, 2023. The call for submissions for GDC 2023 will open in the summer.

GDC 2022 featured over 1,000 speakers across over 600 lectures, workshops and roundtable discussions and networking events, physically reuniting the game development community. More than 200 exhibitors showcased their newest technologies, software and services on the GDC Expo Floor, including industry leaders such as Amazon, AMD, ARM, Google, Nintendo, Unity, Wemade and more. The Expo Floor also provided attendees with the opportunity to play some of the most exciting and boundary-pushing independent games, meet the developers at the Independent Games Festival (IGF) Pavilion and to experience the uniquely experimental games of the alt.ctrl.GDC exhibit that is home to games that use alternative controllers.

The conference featured sessions full of insights from some of the biggest names in electronic entertainment. Josh Wardle, creator of the international phenomenon Wordle, gave a talk on how he created, grew and sold the ubiquitous word game, with a focus on all the mistakes made along the way to its status as a huge hit. Top voices spoke on learnings from the creation of hit games including, Baldur’s Gate 3, Clash of Clans, Horizon Forbidden West, Life is Strange: True Colors, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Psychonauts 2, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Sable, the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser experience at Disney World, classics such as Wolfenstein 3D and Q-bert and much more.

A centerpiece of GDC was the multi-part presentation “GDC Main Stage: The Developer’s Renaissance,” which focused on the future of game development and the evolving workplace with esteemed speakers from Eidos-Montréal, PlayStation Studios and Devolver Digital/DeepWell DTx. The speakers discussed finding the right balance in a remote/hybrid work environment, taking a stronger approach to addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace and empowering developers to “kill it with kindness.”

GDC 2022 celebrated the top developers of the past year with the 24th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards and the 22nd annual Game Developers Choice Awards. Daniel Mullins Games’ genre-bending, deckbuilding roguelike game, Inscryption, made history by being the first game ever to win both the Seumas McNally Grand Prize in the IGF Awards and the Game of the Year Award in the Game Developers Choice Awards in the same night. An archive of the IGF and GDCA ceremonies can be viewed at http://twitch.tv/gdc.

“It’s been an honor to reunite the exceptional video game development community at GDC 2022 and to share in the love for games and each other that has brought so many people to San Francisco this week,” said Katie Stern, who oversees the GDC as VP of Entertainment Media at Informa Tech. “The learnings, accomplishments and people that have made up GDC 2022, have made it clear that the video game industry community is stronger than ever and we’re already so excited for what is to come in GDC 2023.”

For more details on the Game Developers Conference visit www.gdconf.com. The GDC Vault website – www.gdcvault.com – will offer access to a wide variety of GDC lectures and sessions in the coming weeks. GDC All Access Pass holders and individual Vault subscribers will get access to hundreds of video sessions from GDC 2022 and previous GDC shows. Official photos of the conference are available via the GDC Flickr account: www.flickr.com/photos/officialgdc/.


Inscryption Wins Game of the Year at the 22nd Annual Game Developers Choice Awards

SAN FRANCISCO – March 23, 2022 Inscryption, the genre-bending, deckbuilding roguelike game that consistently surprises the player, developed by Daniel Mullins Games, transcends expectations once again to win the Game of the Year Award at tonight’s 22nd annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) ceremony, as well as the Seumas McNally Grand Prize during tonight’s Independent Games Festival Awards (IGF Awards), making it the first game to ever do so. The IGF Awards is the sister awards show which was held immediately before the GDCAs on the same stage. The ceremony was part of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2022, which returned in-person to the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

Inscryption by Daniel Mullins Games was one of the big winners of the night at the GDCA and IGF Awards (image: Steam storefront)

Inscryption’s unique blend of deck-building roguelike, escape-room style puzzles and psychological horror is the first game to ever be honored with the top prize at both the Game Developers Choice Awards and the Independent Games Festival Awards. Inscryption uniquely took top honors during the awards ceremony, leading an impressive lineup of some of the very best games of the year. Winners were selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), which is an invitation-only organization, composed of leading game creators from all parts of the industry.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, the dimension-hopping latest adventure of the famous duo in the long-running series developed by Insomniac Games, won the Best Visual Art and Best Technology awards. The zen puzzle game about the familiar experience of pulling possessions out of boxes and fitting them into a new home, Unpacking by Witch Beam, received both the award for Best Audio and the Innovation Award. Iron Gate Studio won Best Debut for its work on Valheim, an exploration and survival game set in a mysterious procedurally generated world inspired by Norse mythology. Valheim also won the Audience Award, which was selected through a public vote.

The other big winners of the night include the quirky and cerebral platform game Psychonauts 2 developed by Double Fine Productions, which won the Best Narrative award. Hazelight Studios’ It Takes Two, the heartfelt cooperative action-adventure about a couple going through a divorce forced to work together, won the Best Design award. The Social Impact Award, which recognizes a game that advances equality, justice, intersectionality, and/or sustainability, and works to positively impact lives in a meaningful way, went to the dungeon crawler-dating sim, Boyfriend Dungeon by Kitfox Games.

In addition to the best games of the last year, the GDCAs also honor the dedicated individuals who have helped further the art, science and craft of video games with special awards. The Ambassador Award, which is presented to someone who has helped video games advance to a better place through advocacy and action, was given to Steven Spohn. Spohn is a driving force for accessibility in games and Senior Director of Development of the AbleGamers charity. The Lifetime Achievement Award recipient was Yuji Horii, the creator of the legendary Dragon Quest series. Horii’s groundbreaking work has influenced and inspired role-playing game design since the release of Dragon Quest in 1986.

“It’s always wonderful to be able to honor these individuals, who have created some of the most innovative and entertaining games from the past year, but it’s been extra special to be able hold the awards ceremony in person again tonight,” said Katie Stern, who oversees the GDC as VP of Entertainment Media at Informa Tech. “The return of the Game Developers Choice Awards and GDC to the Moscone made this a memorable evening that we were delighted to share with such talented people.”

The Game Developers Choice Awards winners are:

Best Debut

Iron Gate Studio for Valheim

Best Visual Art

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Best Audio

Unpacking (Witch Beam / Humble Games)

Best Narrative

Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine Productions / Xbox Game Studios)

Social Impact Award

Boyfriend Dungeon (Kitfox Games)

Innovation Award

Unpacking (Witch Beam / Humble Games)

Best Technology

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Best Design

It Takes Two (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Audience Award 

Valheim (Iron Gate Studio / Coffee Stain Publishing)

Game of the Year

Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games / Devolver Digital)

Ambassador Award

Steven Spohn

Lifetime Achievement Award

Yuji Horii

The awards were livestreamed on the official Twitch channel for the Game Developers Conference (GDC) at Twitch.tv/GDC and are archived both on Twitch and on the official GDC YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/c/gdconf.

For more information about the 22nd annual Game Developers Choice Awards, visit: http://www.gamechoiceawards.com. For more details on the Game Developers Conference, please visit the GDC’s official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS. Official photos are available via the Official GDC Flickr account: www.flickr.com/photos/officialgdc.

Inscryption Wins the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 24th Annual Independent Games Festival Awards

SAN FRANCISCO – March 23, 2022 – Daniel Mullins Games’ Inscryption won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 24th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards tonight. The ceremony, which honored some of the most innovative and excellent independent games of the past year, took place as part of the 2022 Game Developers Conference (GDC) at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. 

In addition to the Grand Prize, Inscryption took home the awards for Excellence in Design, Excellence in Audio and Excellence in Narrative. Inscryption is a genre-bending love letter to video games that blends deckbuilding, roguelike escape-room style puzzles and psychological horror into a surprising mix. 

Inscryption by Daniel Mullins Games was one of the big winners of the night at the IGF Awards (image: Steam storefront)

The full slate of 2022 IGF Award winners features many notable independent titles. Papetura by Petums, a handcrafted puzzle adventure game with a unique world handmade entirely out of paper, and beautiful fragile music won the Excellence in Visual Art award. The Nuovo Award, which honors the title that makes jurors ‘think differently about games as a medium,’ went to developer Lily Zone for Memory Card, a collection of development builds, small creations, pictures, works in progress, and worlds in the process of coming together, captured as-is by their developer and laid out for the player to experience.

The Best Student Game winner, Live Adventure by the Live Adventure Team, is a second-person adventure game that follows the expedition of two young explorers in search of their parents. Mini Motorways by Dinosaur Polo Club won the community-driven Audience Award, which is chosen by fans through a public voting process.

All IGF titles, including both finalists and winners, are playable for any GDC pass holder at the IGF Pavilion located on the GDC Expo Floor in San Francisco’s Moscone Center through Friday, March 25th. 

The winners of the 24th annual IGF Awards are:

Best Student Game ($2,000)

Live Adventure (Live Adventure Team)

Excellence in Design ($2,000)

Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games)

Excellence in Visual Art ($2,000) 

Papetura (Petums)

Excellence in Audio ($2,000)

Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games)

Nuovo Award ($2,000)

Memory Card (Lily Zone)

Excellence in Narrative ($2,000)

Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games)

Audience Award ($2,000) 

Mini Motorways (Dinosaur Polo Club)

Seumas McNally Grand Prize ($10,000)

Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games)

The awards were livestreamed on the official Twitch channel for the Game Developers Conference (GDC) at Twitch.tv/GDC and are archived both on Twitch and on the official GDC YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/c/gdconf.

The IGF was established in 1998 to recognize the best independent game developers and encourage creativity and excellence in independent games. For more information on the Independent Games Festival, please visit the official IGF website at www.igf.com. For more details on the Game Developers Conference, please visit the GDC’s official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS. 

April 2022 Game Industry Events Calendar

To help you discover upcoming game industry events calendar that includes conferences, conventions, festivals and many other types of events, we post a consolidated list here on Events for Gamers each month.

April may mean the passing of GDC and other spring starter events, but it also comes with a big ramp up in events per month through the rest of the spring and summer! Events continue to become either hybrid or are online, but we did see a large uptick in onsite events going back to the normal way of things this month. We’re also seeing more events coming up that extend into industries like bitcoin, NFTs, and others that previously had little or nothing to do with games.

Just like last month, online events (both virtual/online and hybrid) are not going away, and in fact are also seeing continued growth. Just like with the working from home crowd, the event industry shift has been a monumental and permanent one.

View this month’s event list below. You can also click here for the main calendar view that includes events into 2022 and beyond.

APR 1-10: London Games Festival (Hybrid)
2-10: Gaming By Sea
2: Indie Showcase
6-7: Global Games Pitch (Online)
7-8: XP Game Developer Summit
7-9: WASD
8-10: Now Play This
9: Horizons (Online)
11: GAconf Europe (Online)
15-19: Insomnia Gaming Festival
19: East Coast Game Conference
21-22: Games Education Summit
21-24: PAX East
22-24: Games-Based Learning Virtual Conference
23-24: Gamedev & Creative Careers Expo
23-24: Tokyo Sandbox
25-26: Games-Based Learning Virtual Conference (Hybrid)
25-29: DiGRA
25-May 1: NZ Games Festival (Online)
26-28: GamesBeat Summit (Hybrid)
27-29: Games Job Fair Spring (Online)

And don’t forget to check out our GDC 2022 Party List!

Which events are you attending this month? Let us know by commenting on this article here or on Twitter and Facebook!

GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE 2022 BEGINS TODAY AT SAN FRANCISCO’S MOSCONE CONVENTION CENTER

World’s Longest-Running Professional Game Industry Event

Returns In-Person For a Week of Education, Inspiration and Networking

SAN FRANCISCO – March 21, 2022 – The 2022 Game Developers Conference (GDC), the world’s longest-running event for professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games, begins its 36th edition today, in-person at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. The week-long conference, which also includes a virtual component, will feature more than 200 exhibitors, over 1,000 speakers and more than 600 lectures, tutorials, roundtable discussions and networking events. Safety is a priority for the conference, with proof of vaccination required at the event and face masks worn indoors in compliance with California and local requirements.

The GDC kicks off with two days of Summits, March 21 and 22, each of which offers in-depth insight on a wide range of game development disciplines, including: advanced graphics, AI, animation, art direction, community management, fair play, free-to-play games, game career, game narrative, game storytelling, independent games, level design, machine learning, math in game development, game educators, online game technology, open source game development, programming, production essentials, technical artistry, tools, visual effects, UX and VR/AR.

Following the GDC Summits, the main GDC conference will kick off on Wednesday, March 23 with the multi-part presentation “GDC Main Stage: The Developer’s Renaissance,” which this year will focus on the future of game development and the evolving workplace. Esteemed speakers from Eidos-Montréal, PlayStation Studios and Devolver Digital will talk on topics including finding the right balance in a remote/hybrid work environment, taking a stronger approach to addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace and empowering developers to “kill it with kindness.” 

The main conference also features sessions full of insights from some of the biggest names in electronic entertainment. Top designers will lead sessions on Baldur’s Gate 3, Clash of Clans, Horizon Forbidden West, Life is Strange: True Colors, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Psychonauts 2, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Sable, the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser experience at Disney World, Wolfenstein 3D, Q-bert and much more. Even Josh Wardle, creator of the international phenomenon Wordle will be in attendance to lead a talk on how he created, grew and sold the ubiquitous word game.

The 24th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards, which honor the most promising developers and projects from the world of independent video games, and the 22nd annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCAs), which recognizes and celebrates the creativity, artistry and technical ingenuity of the finest developers and games of the last year, will both take place back-to-back on Wednesday, March 23, starting at 6:30pm PT. Both the IGF and GDCA ceremonies are available to attend for all GDC 2022 pass holders and will be livestreamed on the GDC’s official Twitch channel.

“We are incredibly excited for this week and what it signals: the video game industry is able to join together again to share their learnings, celebrate their successes and breathe a collective sigh of relief,” said Katie Stern, who oversees the GDC as VP of Entertainment Media at Informa Tech. “This is the first GDC of many to come that will again be a space for game industry to meet and where professionals can learn and grow.”

GDC 2022 features an expo floor where top game industry companies exhibit their latest and meet with attendees, as well as special spaces such as the alt.ctrl.GDC and the IGF Pavilion. Returning for its eighth year, the alt.ctrl.GDC is an acclaimed exhibit where visitors can play games using alternative controllers and meet the developers behind these uniquely interesting projects. The IGF Pavilion hosts the finalists of the IGF Awards, providing attendees with a chance to play some of the most exciting and boundary-pushing independent games.

For more details on the Game Developers Conference, please visit the GDC’s official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS. Official photos are available via the Official GDC Flickr account: www.flickr.com/photos/officialgdc/.

About GDC

The Game Developers Conference® (GDC) is the world’s largest professional game industry event with market-defining content for programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision makers, and others involved in the development of interactive games and immersive experiences. GDC brings together the global game development community year-round through events and digital media, including the GDC Masterclass, GDC Vault, gamedeveloper.com, Game Career Guide, Independent Games Festival and Summit, and the Game Developers Choice Awards.

GDC is organized by Informa PLC, a leading B2B information services group and the largest B2B Events organizer in the world. To learn more and for the latest news and information visit www.informa.com.

World’s Top Cyber Athletes Compete in Global Cyber Games–March 19, 2022

ASHBURN, Va. , March 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — PlayCyber by Katzcy teams with SimSpace to bring the world’s top cyber athletes from around the globe together on March 19, 2022 to compete in the Global Cyber Games competition [https://www.playcyber.com/global-cyber-games]. Ten teams of cyber athletes from the International Cybersecurity Challenge (ICC) community (representing 64 countries) will compete in an attack and defend style game utilizing the SimSpace Cyber Range platform.

“For centuries, sports have served to foster global relationships through cooperation on common challenges. Today, cybersecurity as an esport is doing exactly that for our global workforce skills shortage,” says Jessica Gulick, CEO of Katzcy | PlayCyber. “We are excited and thankful to SimSpace for the opportunity to scrimmage before the June International Cyber Challenge in Greece.”

The game, provided by SimSpace, is designed to equally test the cyber-attack and defensive skills for each team. In this “Castle versus Castle” challenge, each participating country will be provided a network (their castle), composed of predominantly Windows and Unix boxes and VyOS routers in their DMZ, and a standard set of defensive tools. The 15 person teams will then need to protect their castle from both other team attacks, and APT-based simulated attacks. Scoring will be based on thorough reporting of successful attacks, defensive measures and steps taken to strengthen against persistent threats.

“We’re proud to power these Global Cyber Games with the SimSpace cyber range environment, upon which the next generation of cyber professionals can train, hone their skills, and defend against a wide variety of current and future cyberattacks,” said Shaun Walsh, Vice President of Marketing, SimSpace. “During the games, we’re excited to bring together the world’s elite cyber teams in the spirit of cooperation and competition, in order to both showcase their unique talents and to challenge one another to see which team rises to the top.”

Katzcy & PlayCyber have a shared vision for bringing the best of competitive cyber security to the esports style of viewership. To that end, we’ve partnered with one of the leading cybersecurity YouTube channels, Cyber Insecurity, to broadcast the competition. Cyber Insecurity’s Neal Bridges, in addition to other industry experts, speakers, and shout casters, will be LIVE commentating on the players actions, both offensively and defensively, throughout the competition. Throughout the stream, viewers will get updates on recent plays with inside viewing of the attack and defenses, in addition to great discussions with cyber experts, and commentary on the leaderboard standings!

Partners of the event include PlayCyberSimSpace CorporationCyber InsecurityCyCognito, and the International Cybersecurity Challenge (ICC). Sponsorships are available at https://www.playcyber.com/global-cyber-games.

News Topics