MCV @ Gamescom 2018 Day 1

NEWS | INTERVIEWS | MAPS | EXHIBITOR LISTINGS

01 Day1 Cover_V1.indd 1

DAY ONE

14/08/2018 11:26

CONTENT Editor: Seth Barton seth.barton@futurenet.com, +44 (0)203 871 7388

Europe is the heart of gaming Welcome to gamescom!

After months of planning we’re all back in Cologne once again and what a great time it is to be doing business!

The games industry is in rude health, there’s simply never been a better era to launch a game. We have three strong home console platforms for the first time in many, many years, and a booming PC software market. Then there’s easier cross-play and cross-platform development. Not to mention numerous opportunities in developing markets.

While I’m as guilty as anyone in thinking of Gamescom as ‘the European games show’, it can be much more than that, and it should be, taking centre stage in our globalised industry, where

Today @gamescom 05 News and interviews

the biggest titles and deals transcend cultural barriers.

For many across the globe, Europe is more accessible and welcoming than the west coast of the US – a location that’s perfect for the console hegemony of US and Japanese, but which does not suit many, many others.

Gamescom combines both trade show and consumer show in a deft manner that E3 will likely never achieve.

As a physical show it’s superior to its American rival in many respects. Most notably that I don’t have to contend with eight hours of jetlag.

So enjoy the show, make those deals and keep this industry pushing forward.

Seth Barton, editor of MCV

Senior Staff Writer: Marie Dealessandri marie.dealessandri@futurenet.com, +44 (0)203 889 4910 Content Director: James McKeown james.mckeown@futurenet.com, +44 (0)207 354 6015 Designer: Sam Richwood sam.richwood@futurenet.com Digital Director: Diane Oliver dianne.oliver@futurenet.com, +44 (0)207 354 6019 Production Executive: James Marinos james.marinos@futurenet.com, +44 (0)203 889 4907

ADVERTISING SALES Sales Manager: Sophia Jaques sophia.jaques@futurenet.com, +44 207 354 6025

SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE To subscribe, change your address, or check on your current account status, go to www.mcvuk.com or subs@mcvuk.com ARCHIVES Digital editions of the magazine are available to view on ISSUU.com Recent back issues of the printed edition may be available please contact lucy.wilkie@futurenet.com for more information.

INTERNATIONAL MCV and its content are available for licensing and syndication re-use. Contact the International department to discuss partnership opportunities and permissions International Licensing Director Matt Ellis, matt.ellis@futurenet.com

MCV has an exclusive media partnership with Famitsu – Japan’s leading video games analyst and news source

The biggest stories at gamescom

12 Shuhei Yoshida

His triple-A career with PlayStation

14 ID@Xbox

Making developers’ lives easier

24 Phoenix Point

Julian Gollop’s Balkan strategy

32 Exhibitor listings Plus trade hall plans

50 Gamescom voices

A bumper crop of industry opinion

The Emerson Building, 4th Floor 4-8 Emerson Street. London, SE1 9DU

All contents © 2018 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this publication. Apps and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for their contents or any other changes or updates to them. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein.

If you submit material to us, you warrant that you own the material and/or have the necessary rights/permissions to supply the material and you automatically grant Future and its licensees a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in any/all issues and/or editions of publications, in any format published worldwide and on associated websites, social media channels and associated products. Any material you submit is sent at your own risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents, subcontractors or licensees shall be liable for loss or damage. We assume all unsolicited material is for publication unless otherwise stated, and reserve the right to edit, amend, adapt all submissions.

Printed by Pensord Press Ltd, NP12 2YA

54 The final boss

Mike Bithell on indie development Future plc is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FUTR) www.futureplc.com

03 Day1 Contents_Leader_V5.indd 1

Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne Non-executive chairman Peter Allen Chief financial officer Penny Ladkin-Brand

| 00

Tel +44 (0)1225 442 244

20/08/2018 11:18

Click_A4_AD_Gamescom_2016.pdf

1

14/08/2018

20:30

C

M

Y

CM

MERCHANDISE

MY

CY

CMY

K

Visit our stand during the show, Hall 2.1, B-050 21st–23rd August 2018

+44 203 750 5250

sales@click-entertainment.com

Konami president: ‘We want to create products that can be played and accessed anywhere, anytime’ Seth Barton speaks to Konami’s president Masami Saso about the company’s plans at gamescom and its future strategy KONAMI’S digital entertainment division has been adapting its approach to make the most of the mobile market since the 2015 announcement of its ‘mobile first’ strategy. “‘Mobile first’ back in 2015 didn’t mean ‘mobile only’,” Konami president Masami Saso told MCV. “We still strongly believe in the appeal of console games and the quality of the games that we can and do create.”

And Saso believes there’s proof of that on Konami’s gamescom booth: “New playable demos of PES 2019, Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner - Mars, and Hyper Sports R are all featured at our main booth – games that all have dedicated fanbases and which we’re excited to show more.”

In addition, Yu-Gi-Oh! has its own booth with new products, covering the card game and the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links mobile game.

The latter has seen “huge success” Saso told us, and “the market is only getting bigger and better.” Though he added: “There are still hurdles to overcome including getting the balance right with in-app purchases and

‘gacha’ elements, this is something that we’re always listening to our community about.”

With Fortnite now dominant across both mobile and console charts, the barrier between the two seems to be fast breaking down, and Saso was keen to talk about Konami’s own cross-platform successes: “We want to create products for our customers that can be played and accessed anywhere, anytime. A number of our brands including PES and Yu-Gi-Oh! have already translated over to mobile very well. We are always discussing and exploring options for our mobile and console business.”

And there’s plenty of options, including a wealth of home-grown IP, “built and nurtured at Konami,” he told us. For instance, Hyper Sports R is playable for the first time here. It’s an IP spun off the original Track and Field – a classic, highly familiar to western audiences.

Konami tries to strike a balance between titles for its home audience and those intended for global consumption: “Having success on both a domestic and global level is important

to us,” Saso said. “We have a variety of products that are released only domestically.

On the global IP level though, we have many successful brands that resonate with a much wider audience, such as Castlevania, Metal Gear and PES. In fact, if you look at PES for example, you’ll see that we’re firing on all platform cylinders, launching and supporting products on mobile, console and PC, signing partnerships with top-flight football clubs, securing exclusive league licenses and investing hugely in our global esports competition, PES League.”

It sounds like the strategy of a thoroughlymodern global publisher, though some will still hark back to the days of Kojima and the highlights of the Metal Gear series, the future of which Saso won’t be drawn on, replying that the company is focused on its announced lineup and that he can’t share what it has in store beyond that. He concluded: “However what I can tell you is that the future is looking bright and fans will have even more to be excited about in the coming months.”

| 05

05 Day1 News Konami_V4 FINAL.indd 1

20/08/2018 09:46

Green Man Gaming invests in publishing arm: ‘2019 will see us become more aggressive in the market’ New MD of publishing David Clark tells Seth Barton how the retailer is ready to step up its publishing game and embrace console platforms DIGITAL retailer Green Man Gaming has been involved in games publishing for four years now, but David Clark, the new MD of Green Man Gaming Publishing, has told MCV that “now is the time to push forward.”

“2019 will see us become increasingly bolder with the partnerships we enter into and the platforms we publish on – including console,” he revealed. “We will have a strong focus on investing further in the publishing arm of the business which will see us become more aggressive in the market – so watch this space.

“The period since launch has been focused on getting a good operational understanding of the market dynamics and how best to integrate publishing with our retail operation,” said Clark, adding that “each year, we have endeavoured to move up the quality threshold ladder.”

Green Man Gaming’s unique selling point is literally that it sells products. “What truly makes us unique in the market is our ability to offer industry expertise and insight by leveraging Green Man Gaming’s store and community data as well as marketing and trading experience,” explained Clark. “GMG Publishing can draw on eight years of retail data – we know what has sold, how many copies have sold, what price it has sold for and where in the world it has sold.”

That means the company is in no hurry to pigeon-hole itself into a certain style or genre of games as many indie publishers have. “A publisher needs to have an identity, even if that evolves over time,” Clark continued.

“The definition of an identity varies significantly – GMG Publishing currently sees itself as a publisher of mid-core indie

games. With our background as a retailer, we see ourselves as uniquely positioned to truly exploit the commercial opportunity each of our games provides. We are a commerciallyfocused business and this is reflected in how we are set up and what we deliver.”

The company’s most compelling title to date is Stormworks: Build and Rescue,

published in February this year, which lets players design and pilot their own sea-rescue vehicles, in a dramatic physics playground.

With Clark joining five months ago, and developer relations manager Jonny Merritt soon after, the new team is ready to expand the businesses reach, Clark told us: “Merritt joined GMG Publishing in spring of this year and has brought with him a wealth of producer experience. This has allowed us to move towards our goal of publishing on other DRM platforms instead of just Steam.”

With retail data, consumer community data and marketing and PR expertise, the publishing business certainly has a good platform to build from. “GMG can deliver a totally unique package to our development partners,” stated Clark. “We would encourage developers of all persuasions to contact GMG Publishing to present their game and to learn more about how we operate and could possibly work together.”

You can find GMG at the Ukie stand.

06 |

06 Day1 News GMG_V4 FINAL.indd 1

20/08/2018 09:32

Sumo: ‘The Chinese Room is the right team for us to grow our presence’ UK work-for-hire giant Sumo Group has acquired indie darling The Chinese Room.

Seth Barton talks to both about what looks like an unlikely pairing FOR 15 years Sumo has worked on some of the biggest console franchises around, in the very top tier of work-for-hire studios. So it came as something of a surprise last week to find that the company had acquired indie developer The Chinese Room (TCR).

The Brighton-based studio came to prominence with Dear Esther and solidified its reputation with the critically-acclaimed Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. Dan Pinchbeck (pictured below, centre), co-creator of TCR alongside Jessica Curry, will remain as creative director.

“TCR has built a fantastic reputation in creating innovative, original IP which will complement our core business, adding another string to our bow,” Paul Porter (pictured below), managing director of Sumo Digital told MCV. “That, combined with our existing infrastructure and experience of building studios means we’re in a strong position to support Dan’s vision.”

Porter was keen to point out the focus of the business remains the same: “It’s more of

an expansion and extension of what we do.

Third-party development will remain our primary focus but now is the right time, and TCR is the right team, for us to grow our presence in the south of England.”

From a UK perspective, the new studio radically shifts the company’s centre of gravity south, adding Brighton to its current roster of northerly locations in Sheffield, Nottingham, Newcastle.

Carl Cavers (pictured below, right), CEO of Sumo Group commented that “being in Brighton and the south of England allows us to tap into a new pool of talent in an area with a growing tech hub, offering opportunities to people who have put down roots in this part of the country.” And this isn’t a one-off either, adding that “making good quality acquisitions” is a key part of the company’s ongoing strategy.

We asked Pinchbeck why the time was right, but he told us timing wasn’t the main factor: “It was probably less about the right time than the right partner. Sumo is a perfect

fit for us, for what I want to do next, and to join such a great company was the perfect opportunity.“ Pinchbeck told us he had “definitely been looking to grow the studio, take on more ambitious projects, take the jump up to the next level.” Though he added “you have to be smart about that, respect the challenges and the experience needed to take on bigger games. That’s a huge part of what this gives us, it brings us into a family with a huge amount of experience and means we can make that move in a way that’s properly structured and supported.” And he revealed that bigger, better things are now in the pipeline: “We’re carrying forwards concepts we already had in development, as well as working on some new, larger scale, more ambitious games.

“We’re joining a family where amazing things are already happening, so it’s more about the opportunity to work alongside developers I have a huge amount of time and respect for. On a personal level, that’s really exciting.”

| 07

07 Day1 News Sumo_V3 FINAL.indd 1

20/08/2018 09:33

Broken Sword creator: ‘Now is the ideal time to bring an adventure to Nintendo Switch’ Broken Sword creator Charles Cecil talks to Seth Barton about the upcoming Switch version of Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse, which is being demoed at gamescom THERE’S already point-and-click adventure titles on Switch, with Thimbleweed Park and Violett being the most notable.

But the recent announcement of Revolution Games’ Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse will be a huge boon for fans of both the series and the genre, with the game coming to both eShop and retail on September 21st.

Ahead of that, the press will be getting their hands on the title at gamescom starting today, while creator Charles Cecil is doing interviews too.

“The fans quite rightly pointed out that it’s an ideal platform for an adventure,” Cecil told us. And with Switch booming too, it made perfect sense to bring the much-loved franchise to the platform.

“The Switch has gone beyond the hardcore Nintendo fans to a mainstream audience, we feel that now is the ideal time to bring an adventure to the platform – as we did for Broken Sword: Director’s Cut on Wii and DS,” he continued.

Then there’s the hardware’s touchscreen, allowing for PC-style, point-and-click inputs.

“When we focus-tested, some people preferred touchscreen, others Joy-Con – and some both. So we decided to offer the player both options,” Cecil said. “The user interface allows play to seamlessly switch between JoyCon and touchscreen,” he added.

The game has also been updated since its initial 2013 release, he told us: “This is the most complete version of the game – as well as an innovative UI, we have included neverseen-before behind the scenes movies which unlock throughout the game.”

These let fans see the development process that goes into these lovinglycrafted adventures.

The Switch has, in part, attracted developers because consumers are willing to pay higher prices for games on the platform.

But setting those prices has also drawn some controversy. Cecil said: “We have opted for £24.99/€29.99, which is similar to the other digital stores, and feels like a fair price. While we are self-publishing the digital version, we are delighted to be working with Koch Media again [through its Ravenscourt label], who is publishing the physical game in Europe.”

If initial press interest at gamescom is anything to go by then we may soon see a lot more point-and-click adventures on the platform.

As for Revolution Games’ future, Cecil finished by telling us: “We are working on a new title – benefitting enormously from the creative freedom that modern middleware offers, and the commercial freedoms that have emerged with the ubiquity of digital distribution.”

“The Switch has gone beyond the hardcore Nintendo fans to a mainstream audience.”

08 |

08 Day1 News Broken Sword_V4 FINAL.indd 1

20/08/2018 09:33

Ad Template.indd 1

13/08/2018 09:25

GAME opens 20th gaming arena: ‘We’re now looking for far bigger units’ CEO of GAME Martyn Gibbs talks to Seth Barton about the progress of its exciting new gaming-retail hybrid Belong UK and Spanish games retailer GAME last week celebrated the opening of its 20th Belong arena in the UK. The Belong concept has been rolling out since 2016, providing consumers with gaming arenas equipped with dual PC-console setups, all neatly integrated alongside the company’s traditional retail offering.

We visited the new store at launch, which is a prime position within London’s Westfield Stratford City shopping centre, right beside the Olympic Park. There, CEO Martyn Gibbs (pictured right) explained to MCV that the two aspects of the store have to work in tandem.

“We chose the site because it was perfect for Belong and also perfect for GAME. We don’t see it as a GAME with a Belong in it. In fact the footprint of Belong is actually a little bit bigger than it is of GAME,” he explained.

Space is the key to creating these experiential stores, Gibbs said: “We’re closing the current store [in Westfield] because its not big enough.

The store and arena we’re opening today is the largest footprint arena that we have.”

The retail component sits downstairs, providing easy access from the centre’s main street, while the Belong arena is upstairs with 36 gaming stations, and the potential to rise to

48. Previous arenas have been victims of their own success. Gibbs told us that the company has recently redesigned the capacity of its Soho Waldorf Street location to provide more capacity for Belong: “We’ve really focused in on the Belong core, being PC and console gaming, and so given a lot more space to that within Waldorf Street, not by reducing retail but by increasing the space we had downstairs for Belong.”

The company’s roll out of such ‘dual site’ stores is pegged to its ability to find suitable premises when the current retail-only stores reach the end of their current lease periods.

Gibbs wants to put a dual site “in all the major cities” and has said before that “there’s an opportunity for 100+ Belong arenas in the UK.” However, he is being cautious, ensuring that new sites are totally suitable: “We’re making the right decisions. If we had run at the rollout plan we would have been in a place where we were opening units that were too small. What we’ve learnt from the likes of Waldorf Street is we don’t have the opportunity to make that any bigger than we currently have, so we are now looking for far bigger units, as we have here in Stratford.”

And the synergy between the two areas is key, boosting the retail business: “If you look at the component parts of both the GAME and Belong business, GAME continues to thrive where we have a Belong. The importance of GAME is massive, plus we’re constantly looking at the product proposition. As you can see here, we’ve got a lot more esports merchandise.

“This is our 20th, and we’ve got another [launch] in just three week’s time, we’re really pleased with the progress of the Belong and GAME units we’ve opened to date,” Gibbs enthused. And a move to the continent is still a possibility: “We have the opportunity to put this concept into the Spanish market and we’re investigating that at the moment.”

10 |

10 Day1 News GAME_V6 FINAL.indd 1

20/08/2018 09:46

MCV Toys Template.indd 1

13/08/2018 13:42:49

Shuhei Yoshida:

Triple-A titles ‘feel too big to fail’ Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida received the Develop Legend Award at our own Develop Awards this July. MCV asks him about the state of triple-A development and his studios’ incredible critical success in recent years

I

t’s been ten years since MCV first interviewed Shuhei Yoshida in his then new role as president of PlayStation’s Worldwide Studios.

A decade on and he’s cemented his position as a true industry legend, enabling and guiding the teams that have created some of the most memorable games of that period.

We were delighted when Yoshida agreed to fly over and receive the Develop Legend Award at this year’s Develop Awards in Brighton this summer. Where he also delivered the opening keynote at the Develop:Brighton conference. We took time to talk to him about his role in Sony’s incredible first-party hit factory.

What have been your career highlights?

There are so many memorable moments in my career working with enormously talented devs, but receiving Game of the Year awards for our titles and sharing the moment with dev teams as they accept awards at industry events has always been special. Among those moments, two occasions come to my mind as most significant personally.

The first was receiving the Game of the Year Award for God of War at the 2006 D.I.C.E. Awards; the first Game of the Year Award ever for Sony Interactive Entertainment first-party titles at a major industry event. I was sitting with Allan Becker – then the studio head of Santa Monica Studio that he had founded – and we hugged each other when the announcement was made.

Another occasion was when Journey received the Game of the Year Award at the 2013 D.I.C.E. Awards, sweeping most award categories it was nominated in – an amazing accomplishment for the small, young indie team of ten or so at Thatgamecompany to be able to compete and beat other triple-A titles nominated.

What drives you in your work? Do you have an ultimate goal?

I joined Sony in 1986, right after I graduated from university. At that time, one of my career goals was to join a video game business at Sony, which did not exist but somehow I believed Sony would make its own video game systems in the future. Sony then was making some PC products, so I imagined a video game system as an extension.

I was a Sony fan and a big video game fan. So by some miracle when I joined Ken Kutaragi’s original PlayStation team in 1993, it had become my goal to help make PlayStation successful so I could continue to work in the video game business at Sony. After 25 years, I could say it still is my career goal!

How did you feel about receiving the Develop Legend Award in Brighton?

I’m super honoured. I have been a fan of Develop:Brighton for many years; I like the small, intimate feel of the event, especially with many talented indie developers attending. I always try to schedule my regular summer visit to our UK-based studios in the week of Develop:Brighton.

Attending the Develop Awards show is always a fun part of the week, as I’m able to share the moment when our titles get awards and our devs go up to the podium to accept them. It’s a moment to celebrate the success of our titles and a chance to reflect on the time it took to develop those titles receiving awards.

It had never occurred to me that ‘I’ could be receiving an award; I should always be there to celebrate our teams receiving awards. So when I received an email by the organiser with the news, it came as a total surprise. I highly appreciate the consideration by the MCV team and all the warm congratulations that I have received from people in the industry and game fans since it was announced. It makes me feel very, very warm and happy.

What are your feelings about the state of the industry right now from a development perspective?

On one hand, in the triple-A space, the scale and the tech of game development has grown so much that I feel like we are making a huge bet every time we start a new project. The end results are, when successfully executed, an amazing fusion of art and tech, providing hours and hours of highly engaging interactive entertainment in a big, often open, world to explore with lifelike characters and imaginative creatures.

Because of the size of the investment, each title feels too big to fail.

It creates an enormous pressure to manage these triple-A projects.

12 |

12 13 Day1 Feature Shuhei_V4 FINAL.indd 1

13/08/2018 11:54

These games are the drivers of the industry to become more and more mainstream entertainment. We need to keep pushing the art of making triple-A games.

On the other hand, it is a golden age of indie developers; tools like Unity and Unreal Engine offer talented individuals and small teams from around the world the opportunity to create great games that can be published to a global audience. With the number of triple-A titles becoming smaller and the type of these triple-A games becoming somewhat similar to avoid taking risks, there’s a vast, open field of types of games for the indie devs to explore and succeed. I’m a huge fan of indie games as I always enjoy fresh game experiences and artistic expressions. Indie titles drive innovation and experimentation in the industry and it’s important for the gaming landscape that we continue to support this flourishing market.

The industry seems to be very clearly delineated between incredibly strong narrative single-player experiences and ongoing live multiplayer games. What are your thoughts on this dichotomy?

It is extremely challenging to create a successful single player game or a successful live multiplayer game these days. The art of making each type of game has progressed so much that devs tend to pick and choose where their strength lies and where they should put their focus. It does not help to attach a half-baked online mode to a single player game, or vice versa. I think it is a result of rational thinking on the side of devs and publishers.

Sony’s E3 showing and recent releases have demonstrated a growth in maturity, minority representation and diversity. How important are these things to you personally when it comes to games as a medium?

I think it is extremely important as the games become more and more mass-market entertainment; we need to cater to all kinds of people, whatever the age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity or belief. As we provide an experience to game players to become a hero or heroine to do amazing things in our games, it is good to try to create protagonists that people of different backgrounds could associate with.

It feels like the quality of PlayStation first-party games has steadily increased over recent years. What are your reactions to the critical success and why do you suppose that is?

It is great to hear comments like this, thank you very much. I think what we are seeing today are the results of many years of our belief and our teams’ efforts to create the highest quality titles possible. I’m super appreciative of SIE’s management team for understanding the importance of quality and their support for the needs of our studios to achieve the level of polish that each title needs especially towards the end of development.

Additional reporting by Jem Alexander

| 13

12 13 Day1 Feature Shuhei_V4 FINAL.indd 2

13/08/2018 11:54

FINDING SUCCESS WITH

As ID@Xbox celebrates another successful year, Jem Alexander speaks to European regional lead Agostino Simonetta about making developers’ lives easier and how to find your own success

14 |

14 15 16 17 Day1 Feature IDXBOX_V3 FINAL.indd 1

14/08/2018 15:32

| 15

14 15 16 17 Day1 Feature IDXBOX_V3 FINAL.indd 2

14/08/2018 15:32

T

he ID@Xbox self-publishing platform continues to go from strength to strength.

More games, more developers and, perhaps most importantly, more success for everyone involved. At a presentation in central London earlier this year, the European regional lead for the platform, Agostino Simonetta, walked through a lot of big numbers which continue to increase at an exponential rate.

If numbers aren’t your bag, don’t fret. Simonetta also had plenty to say about the role of independent developers, alongside some advice for those looking to get the most out of the platform.

“This has been another year of growth for ID@Xbox,” Simonetta says. “We’ve talked about the nearly 800 games launching from 477 partners in the program today. Last year at Gamescom we were talking about 600 games, so there’s been a growth of titles. And also in terms of customer engagement, I just revealed that 450,000 years have been spent playing games on Xbox by players.

At Gamescom 2017, we announced that we broke $500m (£358m) of revenue lifetime to date. At GDC we announced $1bn of revenue.

That’s been an exponential growth for the program and, most importantly, for our partners.”

Delving deeper into the numbers, it’s clear that this success isn’t just for the top one per cent. Partners across the board are experiencing better sales and income than last year.

“When we compare the performance of the titles of the Top 20 this financial year to the same period in the previous year there is a massive growth,” Simonetta explains. “All the titles from No. 1 to No. 20 have been outperforming the titles that where there last year. We’re comparing apples and pears in the sense that the titles are not the same, but we’re still comparing the Top 20 best performing titles.

“When we analyse data we have packets of performances. So we look at how many titles have generated half a million in a single financial year, how many titles have done one million and how many titles have done one to five million, and so on. In some of those categories, we have seen an over 300 per cent increase in the number of games. What it means is that there are more titles making substantial amounts of money year-on-year. More and more, we are learning that there is a very, very long tail. So even if your title

doesn’t launch in the Top 20 there is a big opportunity to keep the game selling through discounts, platform initiatives and DLC releases for a long time.”

MAKING LIFE EASIER The success of ID@Xbox titles comes not just from the strength of the games themselves, but the way Xbox can make development smoother, both when it comes to promoting the games but also assisting during the development process.

“In general our focus is always ‘how can we make developers’ lives easier’,” Simonetta says. “That’s one of our pillars. How we can help our partners promote their games?

“We always say to everybody ‘You are the publisher, ultimately you will do your marketing, you’ll do your PR, but what can we do as Xbox to help you guys?’ So now there are various things that we can do.”

“We run monthly promotions, highlighting ID@Xbox content on the store. It’s also events. At GDC we had 50 games. We were at PAX. We are doing this event here today. In Europe we’re going to do about seven or eight of these events, PR events, to showcase to ID@ Xbox products between now and Gamescom. We are also actively working on E3, where a large ID@Xbox presence can be expected.

“We run things in a very democratic way. Before the big events we email everybody that is an ID partner and say ‘Are you interested in being part of these events with us?’. And this goes to everybody. Then we ask them to send a video, we make a shortlist and then we get demos in and we select the final demos. We want to make sure that we give everybody an opportunity to take part.

“We get hundreds of applications, we can’t have hundreds of titles on the show floor but we try to support as many partners as we can. When you look at the European events there is always a local slant. So in the UK you might see a few more local developers.

When we go to Italy we are going to bring some of the titles that we know the press or influencers want to play.

There are headline titles but we always want to support the local development community.

“We host the events and they just need to show up.

Effectively we leverage our resources to help them, and our gamers get very, very excited because they have all these games that are coming out. Being a platform,

“When you’re doing your PR and you want to go to events, first try to spend somebody else’s money.”

16 |

14 15 16 17 Day1 Feature IDXBOX_V3 FINAL.indd 3

14/08/2018 15:32

“Indie as a term was very useful at a specific time and place.

‘Independent developers’ gives a better picture of what those guys are. They come from leftfield. They don’t respond to shareholders. They’re not afraid to innovate.”

having a bit more financial resource, we can make those resources available to the developers. They pay their travel and accommodations, but we make all the rest of it.

“I always say ‘When you’re doing your PR and you want to go to events, first try to spend somebody else’s money’.”

THE DEATH OF ‘INDIE’ When asked about the role of ‘indie’ games in the industry today, Simonetta recoils slightly.

“We like to call them independent games. ‘Indie’ as a term was very useful at a specific time and place, but I think now it also has some negative connotations sometimes? ‘Independent developers’ gives a better picture of what those guys are. I think the role they play, call them what you like, is the same role they always play. They come from leftfield. They don’t respond to shareholders. They’re not afraid to innovate. So a lot of the breakthrough changes in the industry, in games or the monetisation models come from independent developers.

“They have been in the forefront of the free-to-play model. Xbox Game Preview, or Early Access on Steam: independent developers have opened the door and sometimes the bigger players, or what used to be called bigger players, learn and adapt some of the learning into a triple-A or retail model.”

For aspiring independent developers, or those looking to get involved with ID@Xbox, Simonetta has some valuable words of advice about what ‘success’ looks like.

“You need to define what your success is,” he says.

“Success could be commercial. If your title needs to be

a massive seller, that’s fine. But your success might be actually one man making a salary working in a shop, but wanting to make games. Or your success could be completely personal success: ‘I always wanted to create this experience.’ And then it could be critical success.

That’s very very important because that will dictate the way you approach your development, the funding, the publishing model, the platform you approach... That is the first thing developers need to decide.

“If you need to be commercially successful because you’re investing a lot of money and you really believe in your project, then you need to think seriously about your PR and marketing and finding investors.

“If your success is critical success, maybe you don’t care, maybe you’re doing it in your spare time. For some people it might be absolutely fine to do a thousand downloads if they always wanted to create that experience.

“Look at how many people write music or books, their success is actually printing copies of their books for their family. We are creative animals.

“The moment that the barriers for digital distribution, creation of content – Unity and GameMaker and Unreal – became very accessible and free, as creative animals, we wanted to create interactive experiences.

Same as we write music or write poems or books. That’s the way we live now. People can write a book or they can create a game.

“And as a lot of people are happy writing a book that only the family will read, maybe some developers will be happy to just do that.”

| 17

14 15 16 17 Day1 Feature IDXBOX_V3 FINAL.indd 4

14/08/2018 15:32

Xsolla: ‘We work to democratise game development’ CEO Aleksandr Agapitov tells MCV@gamescom that he sees Xsolla as an extension of the companies he works with, giving developers and publishers access to all the tools they need for a succesful launch Can you tell us a bit more about your company for those who don’t know you?

I started Xsolla 13 years ago in Russia with a focus on helping underserved gamers make digital payments in regions where access was limited. Over time, we brought more and more payment methods into our platform, partnered with a great many developers to help them monetise their titles, and expanded our services further and further until we built the global reach that we have today. But this is only half of the story.

Every time we brought in more payment methods, we took the opportunity to share the good news with our developer partners and check in to see how things were going.

And we started to hear similar stories, with the same issues and pressure points felt across

the board. Not just about the challenges of offering payment methods, but about analytics, taxation, currency exchanges, fraud, influencer programs and so on.

We quickly realised there was an opportunity to bring unique, focused value-adds to the platform that would provide infrastructural support to help our partners stay focused on creating engaging content. The goal has shifted from simply helping our partners monetise their games to providing an overall support solution that effectively lowers the barrier to success in our industry. And the release of our new product suite – Xsolla Partner Network, Xsolla Site Builder, Xsolla Store, Xsolla Login, and Xsolla Launcher – is the result of years of development effort on our part to provide exactly that.

What kind of businesses are you looking to work with?

First of all, we work exclusively in the gaming space and we’re all gamers ourselves. We understand the gaming experience from all angles, including development, marketing, gameplay and sharing within the gamer community. All of our clients – game developers and publishing partners, typically – can benefit from our deep expertise in how gamers think, feel and act. Most importantly, because of our knowledge in the space and dedication to developers, everything we do is to try and make their product journeys as easy and successful as possible.

Within the gaming space, our ideal partner is… everyone. We work to democratise game development, making it possible for the smallest of independents to larger enterprise companies. We see ourselves as a flexible extension of any company’s team, with customisable compatibility to meet their infrastructural needs at any level, doing what we can to help them to launch, sell and grow.

What projects do you currently have in the works?

Our biggest focus right now is to refine our new product suite as it continues to perform for our partners in the field. By design, these products can be used individually or as a set, with complementary cross-product integration – meaning that every new product that you integrate works seamlessly with those you have already integrated with, and provides additional functionality and options for a more complete ecosystem.

What are you going to show at gamescom this year?

The main focus of our presence at gamescom is to meet as many of our current and potential partners in person as we can accommodate, walk them through our new product suite if they’re not already familiar and gather feedback from partners who are already using our tools and services.

It’s always helpful to hear from our client community directly, and it’s a privilege to speak face-to-face with potential new partners on the road. The depth of talent and enthusiasm in our industry – whether it comes from newer or veteran developers – is endlessly inspiring.

18 |

18 Day 1 Feature Xsolla Advertorial_V4 FINAL.indd 1

13/08/2018 11:55

O

R

A

S

D

O E TF

L

OUT NOVEMBER ON PS4 TM

H

THE PARTY WORD GAME FOR PLAYLINK!

U

2018 thumbfood Ltd. “PlayStation” and “PS4” are registered trademarks of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.

Ad Wordhunters_Double_Page_Spread.indd Template DPS.indd 1 1

13/08/2018 09:25

Y D

O

E

Y

W

15 fun party word games suitable for the whole family

F A

Use your mobile as a controller with free iOS & Android Apps!

U

I T A F V O F L A DAS WELTENBUMMLER-PARTY-WORTSPIEL FÜR PLAYLINK!

• Verwende dein Handy mit kostenloser iOS- oder Android-App als Controller!

• 15 Party-Wortspiele, geeignet für die ganze Familie!

• 20 Reiseziele weltweit, von Berlin bis Sydney

20 global destinations from London to Tokyo

LE JEU DE LETTRES FESTIF DES GLOBETTROTTERS AVEC PLAYLINK !

• Utilisez votre mobile comme manette via des applis iOS et Android gratuites !

• 15 jeux de lettres festifs accessibles à toute la famille !

• 20 destinations mondiales de Paris à Pékin

U

P

D

¡EL JUEGO DE PALABRAS MULTIJUGADOR CON PLAYLINK PARA VIAJEROS EMPEDERNIDOS!

E

• ¡Usa un móvil como mando gracias a aplicaciones gratuitas para iOS y Android!

• ¡15 juegos de palabras en grupo ideales para toda la familia!

• 20 destinos de todo el mundo, desde Madrid hasta Rio

A F

GIRA IL MONDO IN QUESTO GIOCO DI GRUPPO BASATO SULLE PAROLE PER PLAYLINK! • Usa il tuo dispositivo mobile come controller con le app gratuite di iOS e Android!

• 15 giochi di gruppo basati sulle parole per tutta la famiglia!

• 20 destinazioni in tutto il mondo, da Firenze a San Francisco

2-6 PLAYERS • SPIELER • JOUEURS • GIOCATORI • JUGADORES FULLY LOCALISED FOR:

Ad Template DPS.indd 2

07/08/2018 09:26 13/08/2018 16:43

Pictured above, left to right, top to bottom: Truck Driver, Monstrum, Soedesco’s Hans van Brakel, 8-Bit Armies and Dollhouse 22 |

22 23 Day1 Feature Soedesco_V2 FINAL.indd 1

13/08/2018 11:56

Keeping it simple Soedesco has plenty of new titles to show at Gamescom. Seth Barton talks to executive manager Hans van Brakel about the line-up and the thinking behind it

N

etherlands-based publisher Soedesco has a straightforward tagline: ‘Keep it simple’. That said, the company, based in Rotterdam, continues to expand its digital and physical offering across a range of genres and formats.

With procedurally-generated horror title Monstrum coming to PS4 and Xbox One, alongside film noir horror Dollhouse, Truck Driver arrives to keep Real Farm company in the simulation space, plus there’s a limited edition of Owlboy in the works and 8-Bit Armies is finally approaching a full release.

We catch up with executive manager Hans van Brakel to talk about the new releases.

Monstrum looks terrifying – what attracted you to the game?

It’s just like you said: Monstrum is terrifying, which is exactly what we want from our horror games. Besides that, Among the Sleep was one of our first success stories. With that game we gathered a lot of horror fans and we want to deliver more quality horror games to them.

Truck Driver follows on from Real Farm – what did yourselve and Triangle learn from Real Farm’s release?

We learnt that we need to take more time with our games. Therefore, Truck Driver has a longer development cycle than Real Farm did.

We are using this extra time to get the community involved with the development. We’re planning multiple moments where the community will have the option to playtest the game and give their feedback. Last but not least, the experience Triangle got from working on Real Farm will also help a lot with the development of Truck Driver.

Owlboy was a huge success and now there’s the Limited Edition coming. What’s the thinking behind that, will fans buy the game again?

We are constantly developing new programs within Soedesco to support our games in new ways. We think it’s important to keep

looking further than just the traditional ways of selling our games.

Owlboy is the first game in our limited edition program and it sold out within a couple of days. The limited edition program is not necessarily focused on selling Owlboy for the second or third time to the same customers. It is focused on a new target audience: the collectors. That is why it was very important that we created something really special, and that’s exactly what we did. Now we’ve added the limited edition program to the internal structure of our company and started the development of a new program as well.

You’ve deepened your relationship with Creazn – can you tell us about Dollhouse and how you’re working with the developer now?

Dollhouse is a frightening film noir horror story, in which you venture deep into the mind of detective Marie. An experience like this one has never been created before. That’s why we have been involved with this game since 2014 and recently decided to take on the digital publishing as well, so that the developer could focus solely on game development.

8-Bit Armies still looks great, but it’s been a couple of years since the initial launch. How much has it changed, and how do you approach marketing for a title like this?

There aren’t any voxel-style real-time strategy games available on console. 8-Bit Armies is unique, so we are taking our time to do the console version right. Another unique feature for console is that 8-Bit Armies offers the possibility of cross-title multiplayer between 8-Bit Armies, 8-Bit Hordes and 8-Bit Invaders. This has never been done before on console and we are very proud to be the first to make it happen.

The 8-Bit RTS series is created by Petroglyph, which was founded by veterans from the legendary studio Westwood. That fact, in combination with the colorful voxel art style which appeals to many, makes this the perfect RTS to enjoy at every moment in time.

| 23

22 23 Day1 Feature Soedesco_V2 FINAL.indd 2

13/08/2018 11:56

24 |

24 25 26 Day1 Feature Gollop_V2 FINAL.indd 1

13/08/2018 11:56

The Balkan strategy Brexit is of less concern for one veteran UK developer, as Julian Gollop has long-since moved his work to Bulgaria. Seth Barton talks to the legend of turn-based strategy about making Phoenix Point in Eastern Europe and how Facebook is keeping the cash rolling in

J

ulian Gollop, the creator of the original X-COM franchise, is returning to the genre he created with Phoenix Point.

Even having lived in England my whole life, you rarely meet people more quintessentially English than Gollop; he’s polite, self-effacing and well-spoken. But despite remaining the epitome of British culture, he’s actually been living and working in Sofia, Bulgaria, for the last 12 years, the opposite side of the EU from his hometown of Harlow, Essex.

And he couldn’t have made Phoenix Point for this much money in the UK, he admits: “Frankly no. Bulgaria is the poorest country in the European Union and has the lowest living costs.” He says that those low costs is what attracted him to set up a studio there, adding that “it did seem the logical thing to do.”

He continues: “There’s also some very good local talent, which helps!”

Sofia, in fact, already has something of a standing in the world of strategy titles, as it’s the home of Haemimont Games, creators of Surviving Mars and the Tropico series over the last few years.

And then there’s Ubisoft Sofia as well, where Gollop first worked in Bulgaria – on Nintendo 3DS strategy mouthful Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars.

Gollop now has 35 developers at his Snapshot Games studio, though even that modest number has taken time to find: “So far we’ve been able to hire all the talent we need locally. We knew we would struggle somewhat, it’s a slow process, it takes time and effort to build a studio. We started quite small. Chaos Reborn, which was our first title, was a far more modest project with a team size around eight or nine. Although we did use a number of freelancers, some of whom later joined the studio.”

That’s not a big team, given that Phoenix Point is looking to match or exceed the quality of recent XCOM titles from Firaxis, so are there freelancers and outsourcing too? “It’s a combination, we’re focusing on building a studio at this stage,” Gollop says. “We’re nearly at full capacity, we do and will use freelancers and other outsourcing options as well.”

LOOK-A-LIKES With no publisher involved, at first glance the budget for the game looks to be based entirely on last year’s Fig crowdfunding campaign.

“It was very successful, raising $765,000 through both traditional crowdfunding backers and investors,” Gollop says.

However that’s actually not a hard cap on what he has to spend on development.

“We’re actually still raising funds through our preorder website,” he tells us. “And we have been doing increasingly well with that, so we’re now exceedingly $100,000 revenue through pre-orders a month,” he reveals. Those new consumers find the game “largely due to Facebook advertising,” he continues. “Based on our original audience, our backers, we can create target audiences.

Facebook calls them ‘look-a-like audiences’, they use existing emails to try and match Facebook profiles and their interests in order to target their advertising. We have some configuration over this, but it’s basically a good starting point.”

For such marketing, Gollop relies on David Kaye, president and co-founder of Snapshot, who is based in LA. “He’s very much focused on producing the adverts for this, making sure people are aware of the game, getting the website set up. And it’s all proven highly effective.”

And while the exact details of the deal are secret, Phoenix Point has also committed to releasing day-and-date on Xbox Game Pass,

| 25

24 25 26 Day1 Feature Gollop_V2 FINAL.indd 2

13/08/2018 11:56

Pictured above, from top: David Kaye, president of Snapshot, and veteran UK developer Julian Gollop

another possible route of funding without bringing in an external investor. Gollop passes us onto Kaye to find out the thinking behind the deal.

“One of the biggest challenges you face launching a new IP is building an audience – it usually takes a lot of time and money,” Kaye tells us. “We’ve been really fortunate with Phoenix Point’s reception so far, but we have ambitious plans. As our conversations with Microsoft progressed, it became clear that working with Game Pass could help us progress much more quickly and introduce the game to a huge number of new players. That’s extremely valuable and very exciting.”

Having more money coming in, for a game that isn’t yet finished and without having to promise further stretch goals to achieve this, sounds like a dream for most developers. That said, and with the game recently delayed to mid-2019 from a late-2018 release date, resisting feature creep is key.

“It’s very tempting to start packing new features in,” Gollop admits. “But no, our approach is we are going to improve the quality of the experience as far as we can.

There’s quite a high bar set by Firaxis with XCOM, the whole presentation of the game, and we’re really striving to meet that. So there’s a lot that’s going into every area in the game: sound design, music, animation, level environments, texture and so on. This is a major investment.”

The game isn’t in Early Access, but Gollop is looking to utilise his “demanding audience” of X-COM devotees to help make the game better still. “Players who have backed the game at our luxury digital edition are entitled to get some development updates, backer builds, and there will be a new build once every two months until the release of the game. Which gives them the chance to play the game and give us feedback.”

HIDDEN MOVEMENT Crowdfunding has certainly lost some of its sheen of late, with publishers making something of a comeback after the initial fervour of fan-funded titles. Gollop of course has something of a reputation amongst hardcore strategy

“Our platform is Unity, so it does make cross-platform easier, but it is challenging to do a console version with such a densely graphical PC game.”

fans and a great track record across his career. The wellreceived (and also crowdfunded) Chaos Reborn in 2015 also helps his cause. Given that the XCOM brand is being used by Firaxis we wonder if Gollop was tempted to put his name on the game, quite literally, in the way Sid Meier’s name appears on Civilization. But he isn’t keen on the idea.

“I honestly don’t think that Julian Gollop as a brand is anywhere near X-COM unfortunately,” he says. That’s true, but the name does have cachet with many people.

YOUR TURN, MY TURN On the surface, Phoenix Point is very similar to the current XCOM titles from Firaxis, especially during the turn-based firefights, but Gollop is happy to explain where his design differs.

“The key difference in the underlying game design principle, it’s a bit more of a simulation and systemsdriven game, especially at the geoscape level. There you have lots of interactions between different factions, with their own agendas and technologies. There’s a lot more scope for the player to try different approaches and also different amounts of random setup to the game, different factions you come across first.

“On the geoscape level there are two main influences: one is Stellaris and the other would be X-COM Apocalypse, with the different corporations in that environment.

Phoenix Point is developed from that very strongly.”

The game is being developed only for PC, Mac and Linux at present. Speaking on a possible console version, Gollop tells us that “it’s really a consideration of resources and time, we do get a lot of requests for a console version, it seems to be almost every other question we get.

“Our [development] platform is Unity, so it does make cross-platform easier, so in theory doing a console port would be relatively straightforward, but you have to remember that consoles have a lot of restrictions and require a different optimisation approach to PC, so it is challenging to do a console version with such a densely graphical PC game. It’s by no means straightforward, even when you’re using a cross-platform engine,” adding that he “would like to, resources permitting.”

And those resources are still fairly tight. While Gollop has personal reasons for being in Bulgaria, his wife being from there, it still seems somewhat odd that a game with such a strong UK connection isn’t being made in the UK. But games are high-risk ventures and having low costs does a lot to mitigate that. Whether Phoenix Point goes on to sell a million copies – and it should, based on the work to date – or simply satisfies its current backers, it’s the talent available in Bulgaria that has made one English developer’s comeback possible.

26 |

24 25 26 Day1 Feature Gollop_V2 FINAL.indd 3

13/08/2018 11:56

THIRD-PARTY LIVE GAME PUBLISHING

From the home of the $1bn living game franchise:

THE LIVE GAME PUBLISHING EXPERTISE AND SERVICES BEHIND

RUNESCAPE THE $1BN LIVING GAMES FRANCHISE

EVOLVING LIVE GAMES TO LIVING GAMES Analytics & Data Science

Monetisation Design

Digital Marketing & UA

Marketing Strategy

jagex.com/partners | partners@jagex.com

From the home of the $1bn living game franchise:

MEET US AT GAMESCOM UKIE UK PAVILLION Hall 4.1 Stand B030G/D049G

THIRD-PARTY LIVE GAME PUBLISHING jagex.com/partners | partners@jagex.com © 1999 – 2018 Jagex Ltd. 220 Science Park, Cambridge, CB4 0WA. UK.

G2A Marketplace is stepping up its game Konrad Kapeluch, chief revenue officer at G2A.COM, tells MCV@gamescom about the true revolution coming to the marketplace and how the firm intends to become a platform where gamers and geeks can find the best deals on everything they want

IT’S a classic rags to riches story: what began as an unassuming start-up soon became a major marketplace for digital products and a worldwide success. The numbers on our platform speak for themselves – as of August 2018, there are 19 million customers, more than 400,000 sellers and over 75,000 digital products, ranging from game keys to subscriptions. G2A.COM has boasted low prices and the largest catalog of its kind for years now, but this was merely our warm-up before launching a massive expansion of the marketplace.

One of the latest additions to our offer is software, including licensed Microsoft products, such as Windows and the Office suite. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise that our customers are hungry for knowledge and new skills, not just games and computer tools. Over 1,000 online courses covering various topics (including IT, business management and languages) made their way to G2A.COM to cater to all selfdevelopment needs.

An important question we asked ourselves was: what do customers who like good deals on digital products need? The answer was simple – great offers on electronics. This is why we introduced something special for all tech aficionados: G2A Electronics, gaming peripherals and hardware with low price tags.

Gamers love new gadgets, but these don’t have to cost them a fortune. Introducing physical products to a digital marketplace is surely a logistical challenge, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Our partners were crucial in us reaching our goals and we are always looking forward

to exciting new joint ventures. Enter G2A Plus, a subscription-based shopping club with even better deals. Our aim is to make Plus both an amazing place for gamers on the prowl for the best prices and a fruitful source of business opportunities, giving our merchants yet another outlet to promote their products on. Of course, Plus is just one of the ways G2A has been upping its game for sellers in the past months. We also launched Seller Supreme, a seller-focused loyalty program, and introduced an integration API, allowing sellers to export thousands of products from G2A.COM straight to their stores in a matter of minutes.

We were always relentless in expanding G2A Marketplace and making the shopping experience there better, safer and even more convenient, but now it’s time for us to pull out the big guns. New product categories, a major dip into the world of physical goods and a fresh wave of deals – it’s easy to know what gamers and geeks want if you’re one of them, like us.

| 31

31 Day1 Feature G2A Advertorial_V4 FINAL (1).indd 1

13/08/2018 14:16

Exhibitor guide 2018 Vorläufiger VorläufigerHallenplan Hallenplan• Preliminary • Preliminaryhall hallplan plan

Your complete guide to who’s where at this year’s gamescom

Vorläufiger Hallenplan • Preliminary hall plan

entertainment area · entertainment area fanshop arena family & friends business area · business area Freigelände/Eventgelände · outdoor area/event area

entertainment area · entertainment area entertainment area · entertainment area fanshop arena fanshop arena family && friends family friends business area · business area business area · business area Freigelände/Eventgelände · outdoor area/event area Freigelände/Eventgelände · outdoor area/event area

entertainment area · entertainment area fanshop arena

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

COMPANY

family & friends

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

business area · business area

Freigelände/Eventgelände · outdoor area/event area

HALL 1 EA Swiss SARL

1

1

A001

HALL 2 5Ca International B.v.

Abysse Corp Acronis Germany Gmbh Ad2games Gmbh Adia Entertainment Ltd. Advgame / Adtech One Ltd. Ak Tronic Software & Services Gmbh All Esport Ltd. Ams Neue Medien Gmbh Appbi Technology Co.,Ltd. Appcpi

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

D038 D049 C013 A014 E029 D020 A059 D058 D015 C020 C013 A014 C013 A014 C050 C056

Astragon Entertainment Gmbh Astro Gaming Avanquest Deutschland Gmbh Basco Inc. Be Haviour Interactive Inc. Beta Service Gmbh Bhaptics Inc. Bigben Interactive S.a.

Bigpoint Gmbh Cardpay Psp Ltd Cdp Sp. Z O. O. / Klabater CI Games S.a.

Click Entertainment Ltd Combo Strike/ Nevaly Gmbh Creative Distribution Ltd. Reef Entertainment Ltd.

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

B069 A060 C013 A014 C040 E049 C013 A014 D051 D040 C013 A014 C030 B051 D053 C013 A014 C051 B050 E029 D020 E014

32 |

32 33 34 35 36 38 39 41 42 43 44 45 46 Day1 Exhibitors FINAL.indd 1

13/08/2018 16:20

ITALIANS THAT MAKE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD

GAMESCOM KOELNMESSE AUGUST 21-23, 2018 HALL 4.1 - STAND A010/B019

Ad Template.indd 1

13/08/2018 09:26

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

E-Concept Sas Eset Deutschland Gmbh Ethoscorp Dwc Llc Exquisite Gaming Limited Ez Games/ Ez Cards Distribution, In Flaregames Gmbh G Data Software Ag G2a.com Spolka Z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnoscia

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

D010 C013 A014 E043 C013 A014 A051 E048 C013 A014 C011

G2A HALL 2 LEVEL 1 BOOTH NO. C011 19 million customers, 400,000 sellers and over 75,000 digital products, ranging from game keys to subscriptions: this is G2A.COM. With the digital retailer having recently added software like Microsoft products, gaming peripherals and hardware, it’s the place to go to for amazing deals on all things in gaming.

G2A.COM is looking to establish new long-term partnerships at gamescom 2018.

Gaijin Network Ltd. Gameforge 4D Gmbh Gamera Interactive S.r.l.

Gl Entertainment Distributions Limited Gl Events Exhibitions Fuarcilik A.s Half Moon Bay Ltd. Hash Rush Sia Helpshift, Inc Hori (U.k.) Ltd Imagination S.c. Lukasz Kubiak, Bartosz Moskala Indie Garden / Events For Games Ironsource Mobile Ltd Jinx, Inc. Jöllenbeck Gmbh Speedlink Kalypso Media Group Gmbh Keywords Studios Logitech Deutschland Gmbh Marketpoint Gmbh Msm.digital Nbg Edv Handels- Und Verlags Gmbh Nero Ag Nordic Game Supply Gmbh Ogury Ltd Omnyex E Commerce Dmcc Perfect World Europe B.v.

Plantronics B.v.

Pt Megaxus Infotech Qiwi Bank (Jsc) Ram Rom Games, S.l.

Rubber Road Ltd. Saber Interactive Sharefun Network Limited Sky City Y2k Limited Smatrade Gmbh Snakebyte Distribution Gmbh Splash Damage Symantec Deutschland Gmbh Teejay Games Limited Tencent Wegame Total Disc Repair Ltd, T/A Elm Europe Trust Deutschland Gmbh Turtle Beach Uk Unity Technologies Aps Unityads Upltv Co., Ltd. Vh Solutions Oü World International Trading, Llc Xtreme Spa Yoozoo Games Zingfront Technology Co.,Ltd.

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

E015 D014 D069 C052 C046 D059 D051a C013 A014 D038 C059 A050 E010 C058 C013 A014 E015 D014 D013 C010 C054 C013 A014 C013 A014 C013 A014 C013 A014 C013 A014 C013 A014 D031 C041 B040 E046 C013 A014 E045 D057 E053 D050 A011 C013 A014 E041 D042 C013 A014 C013 A014 B068 C069 C013 A014 E049 D041 D046 C013 A014 C013 A014 B059 A058 B059 A058 E039 D048 C046 C043 C030 E041

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

1C Publishing Eu S.r.o.

360 Games Acapture Aci Worldwide Adcowa Gmbh Adspree Media Gmbh Adyen N.v.

Amazon Amd International Sales & Service Ltd. Aoc International Europe B.v App Radar Software Gmbh Appcoins Arozzi Europe Ab Asmodee Digital Behle & Partner Gmbh & Co. Kg Bethesda Softworks Zenimax Germany Gmbh Bezant Capcom Entertainment Germany Gmbh Cld Distribution Computec Media Gmbh Cooler Master Europe B.v.

Cosmocover Sarl Cosmocover Sarl Cowana Gmbh Cse Gmbh Cyberlink Europe B.v.

Dcmn Gmbh Denuvo By Irdeto Difuzed Digamore Entertainment Gmbh Dmarket Limited Dotemu Sas Dxracer Distribution Europe Enarxis Dynamic Media Ltd. Epay (Transact Elektronische Zahlungssysteme Gmbh) Epic Games International S.a.r.l.

Factory-C Gmbh Factory-C Gmbh Factory-C Gmbh Factory-C Gmbh Forever Entertainment S.a.

Freaks 4U Gaming Gmbh Frontier Developments Plc Frostkeep Studios Funcom Oslo As G2 Esports Gamei Distribution Co., Limited Gbg Global Brands Group Giants Software Entertainment Gmbh Globaldots Services And Support Gmbh Happy Worker I3d.net B.v.

Ifsa Experts Corp.

Iiyama Deutschland Gmbh Intel Corporation Uk Ltd. Jujubee S.a.

Kingston Technology Europe Co Llp Lagardére Sports Germany Gmbh Latindv, Lda Leogaming Level Up! Interactive Ltda Libredia Entertainment Gmbh Lifexpress/ Medion Ag Lightbulb Crew Sas Making Games, Key Players Medialounge Gmbh Mediarex Enterprises Limited Mmd Monitors & Displays B.v.

Modecom S.a.

Netmarble Us, Inc.

2 2 D029 C028 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 C056 2 2 D041 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 A036 2 2 B029 A020 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 D014 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 D022 2 2 D060 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 C029 B020 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 B057 2 2 D048 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 D028 2 2 D039 C030 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 C068 2 2 D057 2 2 C058a 2 2 D051a 2 2 A021 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 A043 2 2 C046 2 2 C060 D061 2 2 D010 2 2 D040 2 2 A040 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 C060 D061 2 2 C068 2 2 D060 2 2 D043 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 C060 D061 2 2 D059 2 2 C068 2 2 C052 2 2 B049 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 D049 2 2 A045 2 2 A042 2 2 D053 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 C068 2 2 D055 2 2 D060 2 2 C060 D061 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 D012 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 D060 2 2 A058 2 2 C068 2 2 D048 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 C058 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 D041a 2 2 B069 A060

34 |

32 33 34 35 36 38 39 41 42 43 44 45 46 Day1 Exhibitors FINAL.indd 2

13/08/2018 16:20

HALL 1

| 35

32 33 34 35 36 38 39 41 42 43 44 45 46 Day1 Exhibitors FINAL.indd 3

13/08/2018 16:20

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

Nvidia Gmbh Overwolf, Ltd Paymentwall, Inc. Paysafe Holdings Uk Limited Pqube Limited Pyramid Posters T/A Pyramid International Qloc S.a.

Rad Game Tools Inc. Raw Fury Ab Razer (Europe) Gmbh Reto-Moto Aps Robot Gentleman Sp. Z O.o.

Scalarr Inc. Serienjunkies.de Gmbh & Co. Kg Sevenone Media Gmbh Shikenso Gmbh Soedesco B.v.

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

C039 B030 C068 B011 A030 D060 B031 D029 C028 C044 C068 B069 A060 C039 B030 C060 D061 D045 C039 B030 C039 B030 C054 C060 D061

SOEDESCO HALL 2 LEVEL 2 BOOTH NO. C060 D061 Rotterdam-based publisher Soedesco continues to expand its digital and physical offering across a range of genres and formats, with procedurally-generated horror title Monstrum, film noir horror Dollhouse, Truck Driver to keep Real Farm company in the simulation space, a limited edition of Owlboy in the works and 8-Bit Armies approaching a full release. Meet the team at gamescom!

Stackpath Stillfront Group Ab Ströer Media Brands Gmbh Taurus Europe Gmbh Techland Sp Z O.o.

Tegway Company Limited Tilting Point Media Llc Trion Worlds, Inc. Uol Boacompra Utomik Development Bv Vigamus Media S.r.l Wargaming Europe S.a.s Web Media Publishing Ag Werkmeister & Company Gmbh Whyttest Srl (Limited) Wirecard Technologies Gmbh Wlompos Investments Ltd / Appness Xsolla (Usa) Inc.

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

C060 D061 C060 D061 C039 B030 D041a D020 D047 A056 A041 C040 B069 A060 D060 D025 C020 C039 B030 C039 B030 D051 B059 C042 A049

XSOLLA HALL 2 LEVEL 2 BOOTH NO. B051 A050 Xsolla gives the rights tools to developers and publishers to create, monetise, market and publish their game. The team aims at democratising game development, working hand-in-hand with its partners to provide an overall support solution that effectively lowers the barrier to success in our industry. Xsolla will be in Hall 2.2 to meet current and potential partners.

Xsolla (Usa) Inc. Zotac Technology Ltd.

2 2

2 2

B051 A050 B069 A060

HALL 3 4-Real Intermedia Gmbh Adish Co., Ltd. Advergamekorea Seoul Digitech Highschool Aerosoft Gmbh Akpublish Pty Ltd Altagram Gmbh Amata K.k.

3 3 3 3 3 3 3

2 2 2 2 2 2 2

A010 D019 A031a B062 D067 A010 D019 A070 C030 D039 A031b

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

Amber Studio Srl 3 2 D050 3 2 A031c Ambition Co., Ltd. Amc Romania 3 2 D050 Animation Media Cluster Region Stut 3 2 C020 Apits Lab 3 2 C024 App Annie Europe Limited 3 2 C030 D039 Application Systems Heidelberg Software Gmbh 3 2 C020 Aptitude X - Vehicle Art Studio 3 2 A050 B059 Aquiris Game Studio S.a.

3 2 D071 Arcolabs 3 2 D071 Ares Tech Gmbh 3 2 D029 Argentina Gaming Pavilion 3 2 C071 Artik Games 3 2 C071 Assemble Entertainment Gmbh 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 A070 Australia - Gdaa Ltd Back To The Game 3 2 A050 B059 3 2 C071 Bacus Studios Bail Enemy Jet 3 2 A070 Bcon - Caplab Gmbh 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 A010 D019 Beiten Burkhardt Rechtsanwaltgesellschaft Mbh Below The Game (Btg) 3 2 B073 3 2 A070 Big Ant Studios Pty Ltd Bitpioneers Gmbh 3 2 C024 Blazingsoft 3 2 B073 Blockwise 3 2 B073 Bluestone Soft, Inc. 3 2 B062 D067 Boss Battle Records 3 2 A070 Br Games 3 2 B062 D067 Brazil Games 3 2 D071 Breaking Walls 3 2 A050 B059 C2 Game Studio 3 2 B073 Canvas Games 3 2 D071 Ceim - Canada 3 2 B040 Chengdu Future Tech Co.,Ltd. 3 2 C040 D049 Chengdu Tianheyi Information Technology Co.,Ltd. 3 2 C040 D049 Chile Pavilion 3 2 B071 Coldtower Studio 3 2 C071 Comercial Bekho Team Game Development Y Compañía Limitada 3 2 B071 Comercial Leo Del Sol Sw Limitada 3 2 B071 Compile Heart Co.,Ltd 3 2 A031d Crackproof 3 2 A031e Creative Europe Desk Nrw C/O Film- Und Medienstiftung Nrw 3 2 B030 C039 Creative Victoria 3 2 A070 Cri Middleware 3 2 A031f Dacs Laboratories Gmbh 3 2 A010 D019 Deck13 Interactive Gmbh 3 2 A010 D019 Department Of Commerce Of Hainan Province 3 2 C040 D049 Devdragon 3 2 B062 D067 Devdragon 3 2 B062 D067 Dico Co., Ltd. 3 2 A031h Diseño Web Y Multimedia Limitada 3 2 B071 Dong Guan City Vilsun Electronics Co, Ltd 3 2 C040 D049 Emoji Games Gmbh 3 2 B062 D067 Engage.nrw C/O Mülheim&Business Gmbh 3 2 B030 C039 Epopeia Games 3 2 D071 Epsilon Games 3 2 A050 B059 Error 404 Game Studios S.a.

3 2 C071 European Game Composers 3 2 A010 D019 European Games Group Ag 3 2 A010 D019 Eurovideo Medien Gmbh 3 2 A010 D019 F+F Distribution Gmbh 3 2 A020 B021 Fdg Entertainment Gmbh & Co Kg 3 2 A020 B021 Fellow Traveller Games 3 2 A070 Film- Und Medienstiftung Nrw Gmbh 3 2 B030 C039 Film Victoria 3 2 A070 Funster 3 2 C030 D039 Gads Game Art & Design Studios Colombia Sas 3 2 B073 Game - Verband Der Deutschen Games-Branche E.v.

3 2 A010 D019 Gameaddik Network Inc 3 2 A050 B059 Gamecity: Hamburg / Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft Mbh 3 2 A030 B039

36 |

32 33 34 35 36 38 39 41 42 43 44 45 46 Day1 Exhibitors FINAL.indd 4

13/08/2018 16:20

Neamedia creates,

produces

& delivers all over the world

• E-commerce • Events

• Collector’s Editions • Pre-order Bonus • Licensed Publishing

in collaboration with your creative and marketing teams Find out more about us on www.neamedia.fr / info@neamedia.fr /+33142087016

HALL 2

LEVEL 1

38 |

32 33 34 35 36 38 39 41 42 43 44 45 46 Day1 Exhibitors FINAL.indd 5

13/08/2018 16:20

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

Gamecity: Hamburg / Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft Mbh 3 2 B049 3 2 A010 D019 Gameloft Gmbh Gamelogic Spa 3 2 B071 Gameplan Consulting 3 2 D071 Games Capital Berlin 3 2 C030 D039 Games For Families (C/O Planetlan Gmbh) 3 2 A010 D019 Games From Quebec - Ministry Of Economy, Science & Innovation 3 2 A050 B059 Games.nrw E.v.

3 2 B030 C039 Games/Bavaria – Werk1. Bayern Gmbh 3 2 A020 B021 Gamesmarkt Gmbh 3 2 D025 Gamevil Com2us Europe Gmbh 3 2 C030 D039 Gamigo Advertising Gmbh 3 2 A030 B039 Gaming-Aid E.v.

3 2 A010 D019 Gaon 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 C024 Garlic Games Media Gmbh Gently Mad Studios Ug 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 A050 B059 Globalstep Technologies Montreal In Gnifrix 3 2 B062 D067 Gportal Ociris Gmbh 3 2 A020 B021 3 2 B062 D067 Gravity Co., Ltd. Grimbart Tales 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 D040 G-Star 2018 / Korea Association Of Game Industry Hangzhou Electronic Soul Network Technology Co. Ltd. 3 2 C040 D049 Hannoverimpuls Gmbh 3 2 C024 Harmonious Productions 3 2 A070 Headup Games Gmbh & Co Kg 3 2 A010 D019 Hipster Whale 3 2 A070 Hoplon Infotainment 3 2 D071 Humble Bundle Deutschland Gmbh 3 2 C030 D039 Igda Estonia Mtü 3 2 B050 Ingeniería, Diseño Y Tecnología Bitplay Spa 3 2 B071 Innogames Gmbh 3 2 A030 B039 International Game Developers Association (Igda) 3 2 C051 Ipeoples 3 2 B062 D067 Jamong Inc. 3 2 B062 D067 Jandisoft 3 2 B062 D067 Jetro (Japan Pavilion) 3 2 A031 Jiangsu Huanjun Traffic Technology Co.,Ltd. 3 2 C040 D049 Joysticket 3 2 D071 Jsc Games Co., Ltd. 3 2 B062 D067 Kirarito Inc. 3 2 A031i Kokku 3 2 D071 Koolhaus Games Inc. 3 2 B040 Korea Pavilion 3 2 B062 D067 Kotobuki Solution Co., Ltd. 3 2 A031j Kr3m. Media Gmbh 3 2 C020 Lavalabs Moving Images Gmbh & Co.kg 3 2 C020 Loomiarts 3 2 D071 Lucid Dreams 3 2 C071 Lumentech 3 2 D071 Magix Software Gmbh 3 2 C030 D039 Mammossix Co.,Ltd. 3 2 B062 D067 Manifesto Games 3 2 D071 Matchmade 3 2 C030 D039 Media:net Berlinbrandenburg E.v.

3 2 C030 D039 Media:net Berlinbrandenburg E.v.

3 2 D029 Mediengründerzentrum Nrw Mgz Gmbh 3 2 B030 C039 Mediennetzwerk.nrw 3 2 B030 C039 Mfg Medien- Und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg Mbh 3 2 C020 Mighty Kingdom 3 2 A070 Mind Games Studio 3 2 C040 D049 Mirum Studio 3 2 A050 B059 Mod.io 3 2 A070 Mothership Marketing Gmbh 3 2 C030 D039 Myoogame Ltd 3 2 C040 D049 Nano Biztools 3 2 D071 Ncsoft 3 2 B062 D067 Ngelgames Co., Ltd. 3 2 B062 D067 Nordmedia Film 3 2 C024 Octeto Studios Spa 3 2 B071

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

Oddonegames Corp.

On3d Studios Panda Arcade Pebblekick Co., Ltd. Per-Aspera Planetlan Gmbh Playa Games Gmbh Playmind Playpark Co., Ltd Playside Studios Prideful Sloth Pty Ltd Procolombia Quantic Beans Quantumfrog Gmbh R1 Consulting Group S.a.

Reality Magiq Inc. Remote Control Productions Gmbh Renxo S.a.

Rgda Romanian Game Developers Association Riot Games Services Gmbh S.a.d. Gmbh Scubalight Studios Serious Games Solutions Sheer Tianyi Technology Llc Shenzhen 7Road Technology Co.,Ltd. Shenzhen Blackstream Interactive Entertainment Co.ltd Shenzhen Blaz Information Technology Co.,Ltd Shenzhen Ipega Electronics Technology Co.,Ltd Shenzhen Ipm Biotechnology Co.,Ltd Shenzhen Mygt Co.,Ltd. Shenzhen Sunwin Intelligent Co.,Ltd Shenzhen Yunsu Information Technology Co.,Ltd Silicon Studio Corporation Sinergia Studios Sistemas Globales S.a.

Sisyfox Gmbh Six Foot Europe Gmbh Softdistribution Gmbh Soleseat (Yangzhou) . Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd Sqs Software Quality Systems Ag Studio Seufz Success Corporation Super Entertainment Tantalus Media Pty Ltd Tapps Games Taylor Wessing Partnerschaftsgesellschaft Mbb Teamspeak Systems Gmbh Terra Localizations The Fourthwave Inc. The Voxel Agents Pty Ltd Timba Games S.a.s.

Tivola Publishing Gmbh Travian Games Gmbh Tritone Ultimerse Unizsoft Co.,Ltd Upjers Gmbh Valve Gmbh Vanguard Co., Ltd. Virgo Game Studios Vrillar Co Ltd. Vrotein Inc. Webcore Games Wicked Witch Software Pty. Ltd. Winlight Co.,Ltd. Zenit Gmbh Zequn Cultural&Media Co., Ltd Zhejiang Wooduan Technology Co.,Ltd Zip-Lab Inc: Z-Software Gmbh

3 2 B062 D067 3 2 B073 3 2 A070 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 C071 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 B049 3 2 A050 B059 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 A070 3 2 A070 3 2 B073 3 2 D050 3 2 C024 3 2 C071 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 C071 3 2 D050 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 A020 B021 3 2 C071 3 2 C030 D039 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 A031k 3 2 D071 3 2 C071 3 2 C024 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 C020 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 A030 B039 3 2 C020 3 2 A031l 3 2 A070 3 2 A070 3 2 D071 3 2 A030 B039 3 2 A020 B021 3 2 C071 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 A070 3 2 B073 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 A020 B021 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 A070 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 B049 3 2 A031m 3 2 D071 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 D071 3 2 A070 3 2 A031n 3 2 B030 C039 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 A010 D019

| 39

32 33 34 35 36 38 39 41 42 43 44 45 46 Day1 Exhibitors FINAL.indd 6

13/08/2018 16:20

Game Makers and Game Changers‌ We have a number of opportunities with higher than average pay rates in a progressive, creative environment alongside amazing like minded people.

SENIOR ENGINE PROGRAMMERS Tools and Technology development to bring new games to life, and current games to new platforms SENIOR GAME PROGRAMMERS Mechanics and Systems development for our original IP projects, as well as new features for our co-development work Eindhoven is a modern, thriving, diverse international city and tech centre for The Netherlands.

It’s a cosmopolitan and progressive hub, large enough to house the technical university, a top-tier football team and the longest bar and restaurant street in the country, yet small enough to explore with ease on a bicycle.

Please feel free to send us your information jobs@abstractiongames.com

HALL 2

LEVEL 2

| 41

32 33 34 35 36 38 39 41 42 43 44 45 46 Day1 Exhibitors FINAL.indd 7

13/08/2018 16:20

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

HALL 4 11 bit studios S.A. 1UP-Conference 2ngaming 505 Games Ltd. 5am Games Activision Blizzard Deutschland GmbH Adshot AESVI Agens Amiqus Limited Anshar Studios S.A. Apocalypse Hunters SA AppTweak Arctic Game Lab ARP Games Artefacts Studio Artifex Mundi S.A. B2EXPAND Badland Games Publishing, S.L Bastion Bazookas NV Belgian Games Bifrost Entertainment Big Games Machine Billy Goat Entertainment Ltd (Northern Ireland area) BIP Media Black Cell OG Black Land Studio Blade Blade Representaciones SL Blindflug Studios AG BoomBit BoomDash Digital Bulwark Studios Business France Capsule Studio CD Projekt S.A. Centounopercento Srl Cherry Pop Games ChilliConnect Cinnoman Games City of Helsinki ClockStone Studio Connection Events Croatian Chamber of Economy Cronos Interactive Croteam (Abest d.o.o.)

Cubic Motion DAE Studio’s DaoPay GmbH Darewise Entertainment Dazzle Rocks Dead Good PR Deep Voodoo Gaming deltaDNA Ltd Derailed Digital Kingdom Sàrl Digital Tales Dissatisfied With Badgers Dodreams doorfortyfour OG Dovetail Games Dutch Games Association EBIM STUDIO Edge Case Games, Ltd. Elektraglide Ltd (T/A Polystream) Enter VR EUGEN SYSTEMS European Gaming League

4 1 D050 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 A002 F008 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 A010 B019 4 1 D060 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 D050 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 D010 E019 4 1 D050 4 1 E026 4 1 D050 4 1 F010 4 1 E010 F019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 D060 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 C017 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 A060 4 1 E010 F019 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 D050 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 C017 4 1 B012 4 1 C022 4 1 A040 B049 4 1 A010 B019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 D060 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 C019 4 1 E040 F045 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 E040 F045 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 E024 4 1 D060 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 A010 B019 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 D060 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 A020-B029, A019 4 1 C017 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 F015 4 1 B016 4 1 B030 D049

COMPANY EverdreamSoft Exordium Games d.o.o.

FGL Fire Falcom Firebrand Games Publishing Ltd. Fishing Cactus Focus Home Interactive Focus Multimedia Ltd (Fanatical) Forge Reply SRL Forge Studios Srl Fun Atomic Ltd Game City Vienna Game Habitat Southern Sweden AB Game Industry Conference Game Industry Network Gamepires (Pandora Studio d.o.o.)

GameSessions (Tangentix Ltd) Gaming Malta Foundation Gamious B.V. Gammera Nest SL GENBA Digital Ltd GG Insurance Services God As A Cucumber GOG Sp. z.o.o.

Graphine Software Green Man Gaming Ltd. HanaHana Headbang Club Heavyweight Rex Hi-Rez Studios LTD ICE

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

C010 D019 E040 F045 A020 B029 B050 D059 B030 D049 B050 D059 B020 C029 B030 D049 A010 B019 A010 B019 B030 D049 D030 E039 D010 E019 D050 B060 E040 F045 B030 D049 E030 F039 A020 B029 E010 F019 B030 D049 B030 D049 B050 D059 A040 B049 B050 D059 B030 D049 C010 D019 C017 D060 B030 D049 A010 B019

HI-REZ STUDIOS HALL 4 LEVEL 1 BOOTH NO. B030 D049 Hi-Rez Studios is an industry leading videogame publisher and developer at the forefront of the free-to-play, games-as-a-service industry. More than 70 million players worldwide have experienced Hi-Rez games across consoles, PC and mobile, with three games (Smite, Paladins, Realm Royale) regularly among the Top Ten free-to-play titles on Steam.

Iceberg Interactive BV ICO Partners Limited Improbable Worlds Limited Indie Games Poland Indiegala s.r.l.

Ink Kit Studio Invader Studios S.r.l. iQu Iron Ward j.d.o.o.

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

A019 B030 D049 B030 D049 D050 A010 B019 C010 D019 A010 B019 A020 B029 E040 F045

ICE/AESVI HALL 4 LEVEL 1 BOOTH NO. A010 B019 Italian Trade Agency ICE and AESVI, the Italian games trade body, have joined their forces to host an Italian Pavilion at gamescom 2018. The Italian Pavilion is showcasing more than 20 games from 14 different developers, bringing adventure, sports, strategy and horror titles all together under one roof. All formats are catered for including VR and toys-to-life games.

Italic Pig Limited Jagex LTD Koukoi Games Krillbite Studio AS La Poule Noire Lab42 Limited

4 4 4 4 4 4

1 1 1 1 1 1

B030 D049 B030 D049 D060 D060 C017 B030 D049

42 |

32 33 34 35 36 38 39 41 42 43 44 45 46 Day1 Exhibitors FINAL.indd 8

13/08/2018 16:20

HALL 3

LEVEL 2

| 43

32 33 34 35 36 38 39 41 42 43 44 45 46 Day1 Exhibitors FINAL.indd 9

13/08/2018 16:20

HALL 4

LEVEL 1

44 |

32 33 34 35 36 38 39 41 42 43 44 45 46 Day1 Exhibitors FINAL.indd 10

13/08/2018 16:20

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

JAGEX HALL 4 LEVEL 1 BOOTH NO. B030 D049 Jagex is introducing Jagex Partners as its third-party publishing initiative, exclusively for live games, here at gamescom. It will offer live game publishing and operational services, specifically access to Jagex’s living games publishing suite, including UA, digital marketing, analytic and audience insight systems, monetisation design, billing systems, customer support and community leadership. Interested? Come and say hi!

LEAF games & software Little Big PR Limited Little Chicken Game Company B.V. Little Green Men (Intercorona d.o.o.)

Local Heroes Worldwide B.V. LocalizeDirect AB Localsoft S.L. LUCA- School Of Arts Lugus Studios BVBA LuLuLu Entertainment Lunar Great Wall Studios Marvelous Europe Limited MeetToMatch Meizi Games Oy MenaPay MICROIDS Milestone Srl Million Victories MixedBag Srl Moonify My.com B.V. Nanobit d.o.o.

Native Prime nDreams Ltd. Network N Ltd NHTV (Breda University) Nifty Productions c/o Simon Fueglister Northern Ireland Screen Northern Softworks Novaquark Novobox France Okomotive GmbH OPM Response Ltd ORCARI Games GmbH Outsider Games Ltd own3d media GmbH OZWE Games Phageborn (Games Revolted j.d.o.o.)

Piñata Punch Pixel Toys Ltd Plastic SCM Codice Software SL Play Finland PlayFab, Inc Playstack Ltd Playstark Games S.L. Plug In Digital Pole To Win International Polnisches Institut Düsseldorf PreviewLabs bvba Qualitas Global Quantum Shake Quantum Soup Studios Ltd (Wales Are Rablo Games RAGE Rain Games Rarebyte OG Reboot (Digitalna Avantura d.o.o.)

Red Koi Box srls

4 1 A010 B019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 A020 B029 4 1 E040 F045 4 1 A020 B029 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 E010 F019 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 A020 B029 4 1 D060 4 1 A062 4 1 D020 E029 4 1 A010 B019 4 1 F025 4 1 A010 B019 4 1 C020 4 1 A030 B039 4 1 E040 F045 4 1 C013 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 A020 B029 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 F012 4 1 D021 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 E040 F045 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 E010 F019 4 1 D060 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 E010 F019 4 1 C024 D029 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 D050 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 A020 B029 4 1 D060 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 A020 B029 4 1 D060 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 E040 F045 4 1 A010 B019

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

Renaissance PR 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 D060 Resistance Games Ripstone Ltd. 4 1 B030 D049 Rock Pocket Games 4 1 D060 Rocket Flair Studios Ltd 4 1 B030 D049 Royal Translations and Gameeleon 4 1 B050 D059 Rust0 Games Oy 4 1 D060 Sanuk Games SARL 4 1 B014 Shinypix 4 1 C017 Shiro Games 4 1 B018 Sila Games (Sila Software, S.L.) 4 1 E010 F019 Six to Start 4 1 B030 D049 Skillsearch Limited 4 1 B030 D049 Skinny Bandit AS 4 1 D060 4 1 B050 D059 Slidenjoy Small Island Games 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 Sociable Soccer (Tower Studios Ltd) Solarski Studio GmbH 4 1 C010 D019 Sold Out Sales and Marketing Limite 4 1 B030 D049 1 D010 E019 Southern Sweden Creatives (represented by Invest in Skane) 4 Spain Pavilion - Games from Spain 4 1 E010 F019 4 1 E020 F023 Spain Pavilion - Games from Spain Sphery AG 4 1 C010 D019 Stardust 4 1 C010 D019 Steel Media Ltd 4 1 B030 D049 Storm in a Teacup SRL 4 1 A010 B019 Stray Fawn Studio 4 1 C010 D019 Struckd AG 4 1 C010 D019 Studio Black Flag I Orphan Age 4 1 C017 Studio Waterzooi 4 1 B050 D059 Stupid Stupid Games 4 1 D060 Sunnyside Games SARL 4 1 C010 D019 Sweden Game Arena 4 1 D010 E019 SWISSGAMES 4 1 C010 D019 Tag Games Limited 4 1 B030 D049 Take Off 4 1 B030 D049 Takeoff Creative Agency 4 1 B010 Talespinners Studios Ltd 4 1 B030 D049 TaleWorlds Entertainment 4 1 E050 F059 Tate Multimedia S.A. 4 1 D050 Team Fugl 4 1 D060 Team Jolly Roger 4 1 D060 Team17 Digital Ltd 4 1 B030 D049 Teamto Games 4 1 F013 Teknopilot AS 4 1 D060 Testronic 4 1 D050 That Failed Bank Robbery 4 1 C010 D019

TESTRONIC HALL 4 LEVEL 1 BOOTH NO. D050 Your game’s global reach has never been more important. So meet with Testronic, one of the biggest names in QA and localisation across PC, console and mobile.

Following the opening of its South East Asia division, Testronic is heading towards 800 staff, based out of offices in the UK, Poland, the US and Bangkok – providing translation services into 37 languages.

The Farm 51 Group SA The TrailerFarm Therion Games Thud Media Toplitz Productions GmbH Tripwire Interactive UK INDUSTRY STAND - UKIE Untold Games srl Verein FH Technikum WIEN Virtual Frontiers Walkabout

4 1 D050 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 E010 F019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 A020 B029 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 A010 B019 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 D060 4 1 D050

| 45

32 33 34 35 36 38 39 41 42 43 44 45 46 Day1 Exhibitors FINAL.indd 11

13/08/2018 16:20

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

Warning Up Welsh Government (Wales Area) Whitepot Studios Limited Wired Productions Wirtschaftskammer Österreich Wuthrer Xplored XTR4L1F3 YIG Media S.L. - Playcom Yogscast Zarkonnen BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Germany GmbH Deep Silver a division of Koch Media GmbH Facebook Ireland Limited flashpoint AG Gaya Entertainment GmbH Google UK Ltd. London Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. Microsoft Xbox Microsoft Xbox Nintendo of Europe GmbH Square Enix GmbH THQ Nordic GmbH

HALL 4

LEVEL 2

4 1 F027 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 A010 B019 4 1 C011 4 1 E010 F019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 C010 D019 4 2 B059 A050 4 2 D021 B020 4 2 D011 C010 4 2 A028 B027 4 2 A019 4 2 A021 4 2 B049 A048 4 2 D030 4 2 D040 4 2 B040 4 2 D010 4 2 A041

CREATIVE ASSEMBLY HALL 9 LEVEL 1 BOOTH NO. B011 C010 This gamescom, Creative Assembly is giving European fans a first-play opportunity for its new major historical title, Total War: Three Kingdoms. Back in the UK headquarters, the team behind Alien: Isolation is busy working on a brand-new tactical FPS and is on the lookout for talented developers to join this project. Catch up with Creative Assembly at the Deep Silver stand in Hall 9.

ABSTRACTION HALL 10 LEVEL 2 BOOTH NO. C029 Abstraction Games is an adaptation and co-development studio which has worked on Angry Birds, Hotline Miami 1 & 2, Awesomenauts, Don’t Starve, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Danganronpa Reloaded, King of Fighters XIV, The Sexy Brutale and Ark: Survival Evolved. The studio recently started working on its own game and is on the hunt for talented engineers. You can meet the team in Hall 10.2.

MI5 COMMUNICATIONS Hygge. Lagom. Tur. Sisu.

We speak Nordic and can help you out!

Mi5 Communications is a full-service 360° public relations and marketing boutique agency. We offer local expertise PR, advertising, production, business intelligence, marketing campaigns and events.

We’re at gamescom – get in touch: hello@mi5communications.com // +46.708.257.876

46 |

32 33 34 35 36 38 39 41 42 43 44 45 46 Day1 Exhibitors FINAL.indd 12

13/08/2018 16:20

YOUR END-TO-END SOLUTION TO JUMP-START GROWTH Get growing today with the only product suite you need to launch and scale your gaming business, for no upfront spend: PAY STATION, PARTNER NETWORK, SITE BUILDER, LAUNCHER, LOGIN, STORE.

Book a meeting: business@xsolla.com West Entrance, Hall 2.2 Booth A-050 / B-051 Ad Template.indd 1

xsolla.com 13/08/2018 09:28

Jagex Partners brings $1bn of experience to third-party publishing New publishing initiative, launching at gamescom, will leverage Jagex’s huge experience from running Runescape. MCV@gamescom reports JAGEX is introducing Jagex Partners as its third-party publishing initiative, exclusively for live games, here at gamescom. Jagex’s diversification into third-party publishing comes as the company celebrates RuneScape becoming a $1bn lifetime revenue franchise after years of player and subscriber growth ($1.064bn as of end of H1 2018).

Jagex Partners will offer live game publishing and operational services, specifically access to Jagex’s living games publishing suite, including user acquisition, digital marketing, analytic and audience insight systems, monetisation design, billing systems, customer support and community leadership.

“With RuneScape becoming a $1 billion franchise, Jagex has proven its credentials as a best-in-class living games publisher, running robust live game services at scale, all while nurturing and growing player communities,” said CEO Phil Mansell. “Jagex is in a position

of strength and prosperity and we feel it’s the right time to share that expertise and support other developers in bringing their games to market, assisting them evolve their live games into living games.”

Jagex Partners will embrace PC, console and mobile titles and, in addition to Western markets, will provide access to China, via Jagex’s Shanghai-headquartered parent company Fu Kong Interactive.

“Jagex is uniquely placed to deliver publishing and operational services for studios developing live games. We want to partner with developers who see their game growing into a franchise, attracting millions of players and become a living game that can exist for 15-plus years,” said John Burns, SVP publishing. “Jagex Partners is so much more than a go-to market publishing service – we’re offering our expertise in services, retention and monetisation, our deep game analytics and player insight systems, our

marketing automation, in addition to our 24/7 customer support and award-winning community leadership.”

Jagex Partners is helmed by Jeff Pabst, VP of third-party publishing, and supported with a dedicated team including Simon Bull, head of third-party marketing, and Sarah Tilley, head of third-party product management.

Pabst said: “Publishing and successfully operating a live game is a complex and multidisciplined ask for any studio. Jagex’s strength is in operating live games as living games, supported by a full suite of live game services and systems and millions of players. Now we’re building on those strengths to make Jagex Partners a standalone offering in the third-party publishing market.”

Jagex is part of the UK Pavilion in Hall 4.1 on stand B030G/D049G. Studios wishing to discuss Jagex Partners can also view more at www.jagex.com/partners or contact the team at partners@jagex.com.

48 |

48 Day1 Feature Jagex Advertorial_V3 FINAL.indd 1

13/08/2018 11:57

Even after 20 years, we still love to win awards.

Thank you.

We’ve had a great time celebrating Testronic’s win at the Develop Awards in our 20th Anniversary year. We’d like to thank the Develop team and the industry judging panel, as well as our clients and partners for their commitment to quality. It’s our collaboration on your projects that has made this prestigious award possible. And of course, we’d like to acknowledge the hundreds of dedicated and talented Testronic employees worldwide.

Thank you for your efforts and passion!

QA & LOCALISATION

Quality Matters to us…it has for over 20 years. www.testroniclabs.com | talk@testroniclabs.com Functionality QA | Compliance | Compatibility | Localisation QA | Customer Support

Develop QA Award Advert 3.indd 1

07/08/2018 09:00

GAMESCOM VOICES MCV provides the industry with a regular platform for its own views in its own words. Please get in touch if you have something you share!

Welcome to Ukie’s Gamescom funfair Jo Twist Ukie

THE UK is home to over 2,200 games companies who trade world class products and services globally. Here at gamescom, Europe’s largest arena for the industry, companies from the UK and the rest of the world are meeting and brokering deals to help the games industry prosper. It gives UK games businesses the chance to show off their outstanding products and services to potential partners and investors from around the world, as well as flying the flag for UK creativity.

This year, Ukie’s UK industry stand is themed around the Great British Funfair and is hosting a record 85 developers, publishers and services. It’s an important opportunity to meet international partners and demo new titles representing the best of the UK’s games sector.

With the magnitude of UK games businesses at gamescom, there are serious deals to be made.

The fact that more than £30 million worth of deals were made last year on the UK stand is testament to just how important the expo is to the industry. This year we hope to smash that figure again.

The importance of reaching international markets remains critical to success. While the digital economy has opened up so many more avenues for global trade and export for UK games businesses, our relationship with our closest trading partner, the European Union, remains unclear. There has never been a more important time for our sector to broker new deals, forge new relationships and secure new investment. As an industry we are not just competing locally, but globally.

A key challenge that many businesses experience, especially smaller developers and publishers, is getting much needed exposure to attract finance and investment of all kinds.

Which is why the UK stand is flying the flag high for the UK games industry.

Although the UK exhibitors are here to do business, the very presence companies such as Team17, representing the confidence of the UK market with its recent IPO, to small but mighty studios such as Bossa, means there is no end to what the UK has to offer in terms of diverse talent and popularity.

And if we were not patriotic enough, particularly in light of recent events in a certain football tournament, the funfair theme on the stand means there is plenty of candyfloss, ice cream and a special Hook a Loot Box take on the classic funfair game Hook a Duck. Of course there will also be our drinks reception, sponsored by Jagex, which will take place tonight. And in partnership with Little Big PR, the UK Game of the Show Award is making a return this year. It will be a great chance to celebrate the UK’s creativity and innovation by rewarding the best unreleased UK-developed game at the expo.

Dr Jo Twist OBE is CEO of Ukie. With a background in commissioning and journalism, she is also deputy chair of the British Screen Advisory Council, London Tech Ambassador, chair of the BAFTA games committee, Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board ambassador and Creative Industries Council member.

50 |

50 51 52 53 Day1 Comment_V5.indd 1

20/08/2018 09:45

Forget press releases – for indies, quality is the best marketing skill Lewis Denby Game If You Are

AS the indie game market becomes more competitive, developers are desperate for ways to become more visible. And as thousands descend on Cologne in the hopes of expanding their network of contacts and showing off their latest creation, many will be searching for ways to stand out in people’s inboxes.

There are many resources online telling indie developers how to craft the perfect press kit, how to email journalists and how to present their games at events. It’s all great, and important, information. But increasingly, there seems to be a misconception among many indie studios – especially first-time commercial developers – that simply being indie is enough to give you a lift. That your rags-to-hopefully-riches story will be enough to steal those precious column inches and that your lovingly homemade launch trailer will charm the pants off anyone who sees it.

This may have been true in 2008, but fastforward a decade and things are very different.

The indie game scene is supremely oversaturated.

During a busy period, literally hundreds of indie games can be released in a single week. And although there are plenty of unremarkable games, many of them are very good: professional projects that scream quality at every turn. Simply having made an indie game isn’t impressive any more – in fact, it’s fast becoming old news.

And make no mistake: this is a discerning market. More than any other interest segment I’ve come across, gamers are astonishingly good at telling apart a great product from a merely okay one, even before they’ve picked up the controller. For games journalists, influencers and

other industry figures – whose livelihood depends on being experts – the task is easy. There’s no pretending a mediocre game is anything more.

That’s why the ability to produce consistently exceptional content is a vital skill for an indie developer to learn. This starts with the game itself: time and time again, I see simple, polished ideas grabbing people’s attention, while impressively ambitious projects – too ambitious for their tiny team to truly pull off – continue to fail.

But by no means does it stop there. That quality must exude from everything you show.

Your screenshots, your trailer, your website, your Steam page description – they all speak to the level of professionalism with which you’re approaching your project, and give pointers about how good your game is likely to be when it finally launches. It’s this belief in quality, the ability for people to see how professional and polished your work is, that so often leads to publicity and other commercial opportunities.

Journalists, influencers, publishers – they’re all essentially looking for the same thing. They want to find projects they believe in and that they feel confident putting in front of their audiences. A large component of your job, as a commerciallyfocused indie developer, is showing that you can be trusted to deliver that. After all, the indie scene is filled with people who can, so why would they settle for less?

Lewis Denby is the director of indie game PR consultancy Game If You Are. Having started his career as a journalist, he’s worked around indie games for more than a decade.

“There seems to be a misconception among many indie studios that simply being indie is enough to give you a lift. Things are very different. That’s why the ability to produce consistently exceptional content is a vital skill for an indie developer to learn.”

| 51

50 51 52 53 Day1 Comment_V5.indd 2

20/08/2018 09:45

Britain is greater thanks to Europe’s talent Richard Wilson TIGA

WHAT ultimately determines the value of a video games company? It is not principally the computers, software or technology. Value is derived from the skills of staff and the intellectual property they create. The video games industry needs the ability to recruit the best and brightest staff in order to add value and compete on a global level. Brexit – and the likely end of freedom of movement between the UK and EU – makes this a particularly important issue for the video games industry.

The UK video games industry is a success story. The industry contributes £1.5 billion every year to the UK economy and is export-focused.

The spread of mobile and tablet devices, the enduring appeal of console, the popularity of PC games and the advent of virtual and augmented reality means that investment in games is set to continue.

This success is made possible by our talented staff, a high proportion of who come from the EU. Currently, EU workers make up 15 per cent of the UK games industry, which is a significant proportion considering such workers make up 6.8 per cent of the UK workforce as a whole. It is these programmers, designers, engineers, artists, producers and community managers that create and support groundbreaking games and allow UK companies to compete globally.

Our games businesses owe a lot to our foreign workers, who will continue to help us grow and thrive in the future. While we welcome the Government’s commitment to protecting the rights of EU citizens currently in the UK, we want to see an appropriate migration regime for the 21st century put in place.

With freedom of movement, these workers can be easily recruited from the continent to fill jobs that cannot be done by UK workers.

A lack of red tape and expense is important for the video games industry, which is predominately made up of small or micro businesses. Given its importance to our industry, the UK Government could negotiate an arrangement with the EU whereby there are general reciprocal freedom of movement rights for workers with a job offer.

Alternatively, the Government could consider the following proposals: reciprocal freedom of movement rights for workers in the video games industry, the provision of approximately 1,500 work permits per annum for the UK video games industry, the addition of roles (e.g. games analyst and engine programmer) to the Shortage Occupation List where there is a specific skills shortage, so that employers can recruit the employees they need without undue delay, and the introduction of a fast track visa programme for roles on the list.

The framework governing migration into the UK must keep complexity and costs for business to a minimum.

These arrangements would benefit businesses in the UK and EU. Workers would be able to broaden their experiences and pick up new skills across the continent, which would help us all. TIGA will continue to campaign to ensure a sensible migration regime after Brexit.

Dr Richard Wilson OBE is CEO of TIGA, the award-winning trade association representing the UK video games industry.

“EU workers make up 6.8 per cent of the UK workforce as a whole.

It is these programmers, designers, engineers, artists, producers and community managers that create and support ground-breaking games and allow UK companies to compete globally.”

52 |

50 51 52 53 Day1 Comment_V5.indd 3

20/08/2018 09:45

“In tumultuous political climates there is no time to rest on laurels. Let’s stop dreaming about dystopian power fantasies and start dreaming about the world we want to see.”

Why do some people in the games industry still doubt their ability to affect change?

Rosa Carbo-Mascarell, co-founder, Games for the Many

ART has historically had an impact on political and social movements.

The Situationists, in the lead up to the 1968 French student uprising, were using play in the streets and subversive art to try to take down capitalism. Muralismo Mexicano made politics accessible to everyone through the medium of a paintbrush. The Futurists, Dada, Surrealists: the examples are countless.

So why do some people in the games industry still doubt their ability to affect change?

Games for the Many is a project of Digital Liberties. We are a games studio made up of political activists and game developers using play for positive political and social impact.

You might know us because of CorbynRun, a campaign game developed and released during 2017’s general election.

It was a short mobile game commissioned by the Labour Party to teach people about its manifesto. The game went viral and was downloaded 150,000 times in one week.

We are now designing a board game for Nesta, the innovation foundation, about innovation policy and an as of yet unannounced video game around social integration. Underpinning all our projects is an understanding that culture defines politics.

In 2017, Brightrock Games joined Digital for Good, an initiative by the games industry charity GamesAid. The studio released a comedy skin, The Cynical Imp, as DLC alongside some previously exclusive Kickstarter themes for their game, War For The Overworld, with all proceeds going to the charity. It has made £34,000 for disadvantaged and disabled children across the UK to date.

Initiatives like this, alongside the £446,000 raised by Special Effect’s One Special Day and the countless millions raised by Humble Bundle, are a shining example of our industry taking on social responsibility.

Games today can provide perhaps the most elaborate and advanced forms of escapism ever created. But to reduce them solely to that escapism is to deny their historic power and place as art.Charlie Chaplin understood the profound potential of his medium. Even in the middle of World War II he shot and released The Great Dictator, a satirical film condemning fascism and antisemitism. It drew in millions to the cinema despite wartime.

We need to stop doubting our power. The games industry is larger than film, TV, and music combined – it is the most predominant of all the creative industries.

2.6 billion people around the globe play games, from teenage boys to middleaged women. Our games carry incredible cultural weight.

In tumultuous political climates there is no time to rest on laurels. Let’s stop dreaming about dystopian power fantasies and start dreaming about the world we want to see. Let’s challenge ourselves and challenge our players to imagine a better future.

We, the games industry, have far-reaching influence. Let’s use this power for good.

Rosa Carbo-Mascarell is co-founder of Games for the Many (a game studio which addresses political issues) and recent winner of our Games Campaigner of the Year prize at the Women in Games Awards.

| 53

50 51 52 53 Day1 Comment_V5.indd 4

20/08/2018 09:45

When did you realise Thomas Was Alone had done well enough that you were going to be able to leave Bossa?

I’d set myself the target of a year’s salary. I promised myself that if Thomas was Alone hit that level I’d quit. I spent the whole of the Christmas break watching that number nudge up on Steam. I was sat on a bus home on New Year’s Eve when it ticked over, and I realised I could go do my own thing. The next day, a TotalBiscuit video of the game went up and by the end of that week I had two years in the bank. It was life changing. I took my boss into a meeting room on my first day back, and gave my notice. He said he was surprised I’d taken that long to go for it.

How do you decide on which game you want to work on next?

Ideas tend to bounce around my head. Nowadays, those ideas also come from the team, and folks pitch in often. We tend to take ideas and prove them with prototypes, make sure they translate to play in the way we’d like.

In the case of Subsurface Circular, because we only spent a few months on it, we basically polished the prototype and released it.

With longer projects, we throw out the prototype and start from scratch once we know what we’re making.

What was the thinking behind Bithell Shorts, and what has the reaction been like?

We had about six months of dead time, thanks to publisher shenanigans. I liked the idea of using that time on R&D, playing with non-linear storytelling, and possibly releasing the result if it wasn’t terrible. As it turned out, Subsurface Circular was good, but brief... and that scared me. Players can get really frustrated by games that ‘underdeliver’ on runtime. We also had a really polished looking game, and I worried that folks might think it was bigger than it was, and get hyped.

The solution, as it usually is for us, was to be straightforward. By calling the game a ‘Bithell Short’, by mentioning the briefness of the game in every interview, and on the store page, we framed people’s expectations. I think it worked well, prevented disappointment and let the game be taken on its own terms.

The Final Boss Mike Bithell - Bithell Games

“I’d set myself the target of a year’s salary. I promised myself that if Thomas was Alone hit that level, I’d quit. I spent the whole of the Christmas break watching that number nudge up on Steam.”

What advice would you give those developing their own games in 2018?

I’d suggest that the short approach might work well for more people. If we assume (based on the evidence) that the games industry is very hit driven, then there’s an argument that achieving a higher frequency of games increases the chances of something clicking with the audience. Putting all your eggs in one basket can absolutely go wrong, and if you’re self funding, that’s dangerous.

There’s going to be a megahit with a big indie game at least once a year, but I think a more careful, smaller level of success, might be a good approach for other devs, too.

You attend a lot of shows around the world, do you think these in-person events are key for those in the games industry?

I don’t think these events are key, per se, but they can be useful.

I certainly didn’t go to them until I could afford them, or was flown over by the organisers.

The key is to go to an event with an objective, and be honest in thinking about how successful you were to decide whether you want to return. I go to business events to talk to publishers and platform holders and catch up with friends and colleagues on the triple-A side of the industry. I go to dev events to learn about production. I go to indie and educational events to hopefully teach and provide help to newer devs. I absolutely appraise each event after I’ve been there to decide if I’ll return.

But no, if you’re broke and starting out, I don’t think there’s any event worth spending your last £1k to get to.

54 |

54 Day1 Final Boss Mike Bithell_V2 FINAL.indd 1

20/08/2018 09:35