On October 15-16, the conference for game developers, publishers, and marketers—"Game Industry"—took place in the capital of Russia. Here's a brief recap of how it went, who attended, and of course, we share the final figures.
The event kicked off on Tuesday evening with "Day Zero," a party where conference attendees could meet and chat in a relaxed setting.
The next morning, on October 16, the official opening of the "Game Industry" took place. The organizing team announced that particular attention had been paid to a strong program and an impressive showcase.
Program
The program consisted of three streams. A total of 48 experts presented within the conference day.
The program featured presentations from leading teams specifically involved in development—1C Game Studios, CarX Technologies, Sobaka Studio—as well as entities ready to support developers—"Skolkovo" and the Federation of Computer Sports of the Republic of Mordovia.
According to guest reviews, one of the most striking moments of the program was the round table on the situation in the Russian indie scene. During it, the host of the podcast The House of the Dev, Pyotr Salnikov, asked tough questions to the experts, one of whom was Nikolay Dybowski, founder of Ice-Pick Lodge.
Also during the conference's lecture program, there was a major film announcement. Director Nikita Ordynsky, previously recognized for his short films based on the games Papers, Please and Beholder, announced his plans to adapt the game "Black Book" into an eight-episode series.
Showcase
The showcase turned out to be one of the largest in Russia in recent years. The developers' exhibition featured 135 games at various stages of completion and development levels.
We had already highlighted some of the games before the conference. Now, let's highlight a couple more. First, the cozy card game Abra-Cooking-Dabra, a kitchen version of Doodle God with a cat as the main character. Second, the grim physical puzzle Greeded.
Both of them, as well as 71% of other games presented at the "Game Industry," are being developed for PC. According to a survey conducted by the organizers, Unity remains the most popular development tool among Russian teams. 60% of games showcased were created with it.
The official conference program concluded with an intimate awards ceremony for the best projects at the developers' exhibition. According to App2Top, the best project was the isometric action RPG Life / Death by Two Horn Unicorn. The audience award went to the tactical strategy Twilight Wars by Gemenot Digital (we will definitely write more about these projects in the future).
Figures
The fall session of the "Game Industry" was attended by a total of 625 people. Of them, 46% identified themselves as top managers/company owners, another 36% classified themselves as simply game developers. Additionally, 10% of the event participants were business development and sales managers.
According to the collected statistics, representatives from 328 companies associated with the gaming business attended the "Game Industry."
Sponsors and exhibitors of the Moscow event included: "Yandex Games," Discus Holdings, Prosctacy, Semenov & Pevzner, and AdsGram.
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The next session of the conference will take place in the spring of next year in Minsk.
Below are more photos from the conference.