The "Gaming Industry" conference held in St. Petersburg brought together over 600 participants. Here are the results
On July 10 in Saint Petersburg, a conference for developers, publishers, and marketers of video games was held — "Game Industry". Here's a brief overview of participants' thoughts, what was featured, and of course, some metrics from the event.
Feedback
Let's start with the feedback. The conference, whose platinum sponsor was the game company BlackHub Games, received many positive reviews from both industry veterans and young teams just starting their journey in game development. Here are some of them.
Came back from the St. Petersburg conference with an extremely positive vibe! I couldn't shake the feeling that I was among my peers. An indescribable thrill! I feel like I've grown as a professional from this trip, made connections, and spoke with people I've only seen on YouTube before. Immersed myself in networking.
Producer at HeroCraft
(The conference had) many showcases, many interesting and useful lectures, and plenty of networking opportunities!
Co-founder and General Producer at Geeky House
At the start of the day, my sketchbook was blank. By nightfall, it was filled with notes, recommendations, contacts, and conclusions. (By the end of the conference) there wasn't enough space in my head or on paper.
Founder and CEO of Cat in Hat
The party was fantastic: unusually, the alcohol lasted until closing, and (at the conference itself) there were unexpectedly many requests for feedback.
CEO at Lipsar Studio
Showcase
The feedback requests mentioned by Durnovo came from the developer exhibition participants. This time, 103 games were submitted for participation. As always, most were playable, and attendees could chat with their developers.
For example, Ouroboros Studio showcased an impressive Race of the Nine Worlds—a sort of mix between Star Wars Episode I: Racer and Ratchet & Clank. The project looks high-end and plays smoothly.
Race of the Nine Worlds
Equally exciting was Red Recon 1944, a modern take on the Commandos series set on the Eastern Front by the creators of “Partisans 1941”.
Red Recon 1944
By the way, the majority of the showcased projects—40%—are being primarily developed for PC. Mobile significantly lags in popularity, being similar to web-level popularity.
Indie Pitch
For the second time, the "Game Industry" conference included a public review of independent developers' games by market experts—Indie Pitch.
It went successfully: Daniil Kolesnikov, business development manager at HeroCraft, the supporter of the event, publicly stated at the closing ceremony that it was one of the best indie pitches in terms of project quality he had ever attended.
Among the participants of Indie Pitch, the classic RTS The Scouring, developed by Pavel Zagrebenny, one of the creators of the cult Mudrunner and Snowrunner, stood out.
The Scouring
As for the winner, it was the charming simulation game of a shop with animals and zeppelins, My little flying shop by Mad Forge Games.
My little flying shop
In total, the jury, which included representatives from "4game", IRI, and VK Play, reviewed 10 projects.
Program
Finally, a few words about the program. As is tradition for the "Game Industry," the lectures were divided into three tracks. There were over 30 presentations on a wide range of topics—from development case studies to advice on early access releases and crisis management.
The speakers included representatives from:
- notable indie studios — Door 407, Ninsar.Games, Perelesoq;
- domestic publishers — HeroCraft, Astrum Entertainment, Mirra Games;
- gaming platforms: "4game", VK Play, RuStore;
- and many others.
The next conference will take place in the fall in Moscow—on October 16. Below are a few more photos from the past event (all photos available here).
