The international games community kicks off debate about the industry’s worldwide developments, trends and challengesÂ
Berlin, March 7, 2014 – Nearly 26 million Germans, that is about a third of the population, play video games regularly. According to the German Trade Association of Interactive Entertainment Software BIU the industry had total revenues of about 752 million Euro in the first half of 2013. This strong industry is on an international growth course with new nextgen consoles, new game titles, with substantial, technical and visual emphatically staged stories and cross platform playing experience. At the INTERNATIONAL GAMES WEEK BERLIN from April 8- 13, 2014, international games developers, publishers, distributors and investors discuss actual trends, new business models, economical developments, political perspectives, and judicial issues, as well as actual challenges the games industry is confronted with. The INTERNATIONAL GAMES WEEK is Germany’s leading communication and networking platform, which merges several key games events under one roof in Berlin.
The INTERNATIONAL GAMES WEEK will be opened on Tuesday morning, the 8th of April (Café Moskau), by Björn Böhning, Head of the Senate Chancellery Berlin, followed by Brigitte Zypries, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economy and Energy, who will give a political keynote at the Opening Summit (invitation only).
The biggest German games meeting QUO VADIS (8-10 April, Café Moskau) is still the heart of the GAMES WEEK. The organizers are looking forward to welcome over 2,000 trade visitors. This year numerous international top speakers will discuss developments, innovations, chances and risks in the international games industry: Matias Myllyrinne, CEO of Finnish Remedy Entertainment, the games studio of the international successful games MAX PAYNE und ALAN WAKE, Robert Tercek, one of the most profiled creators of interactive content, TV-director, game designer, digital artist, new media adviser among other of Anthony Robbins, Oprah Winfrey, Deepak Chopra, founder of the Game Developer Conference Mobile Symposiums, Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of Icelandic MMO games developer CCP Games (EVE Online, WORLD OF DARKNESS), the games developer and games designer Bob Bates, famous for titles like TIMEQUEST, UNREAL II: THE AWAKENING, SACRED 2, responsible for almost 40 games, former Chief Creative Director of Zynga, Chris Taylor (Wargaming.net), Guido Henkel (G3 Studios) and games developer and pioneer Don Daglow and many more speakers are expected at this year’s QUO VADIS. www.die-entwicklerkonferenz.de.
The A MAZE. / Berlin (9.-11. April 2014, Urban Spree, The WYE) is the third international independent video games festival. Besides the A MAZE. Awards for outstanding indie games, a unique exhibition with 15 nominated games and a selection of games and an interactive installation, musical performances and party, carefully selected speakers will be presented. Actors of the field of independent games development and overlaps of the artistic indie sphere will share their knowledge through inspiring talks and workshops. Already confirmed: Jonathan Blow (USA), Tale of Tales (Belgium), Cara Ellison (UK), Petri Purho (Finnland), Major Bueno (Germany), Pippin Barr (New Zealand), David Calvo (France), Jessica Curry (UK), Christoffer Hedborg (Sweden), Fernando Ramallo (Argentina) and more. Conference + Workshop: http://thewye.de, Games Ausstellung, Play + Party: http://urbanspree.com. For more information visit: http://amaze-berlin.de.
With the beginning of the GAMES WEEK the „Gamefest at Computerspielemuseum“ (8.-13. April, Computerspielemuseum, Karl-Marx-Library), hosted by the Computerspielemuseum in cooperation with Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur, will start. The Gamefest is open for all Berliner fans of gaming and will be opened on Tuesday, April 8 with the exhibition „Let´s Play! Computerspiele from France and Poland“. During the week it offers an interesting and entertaining program with numerous highlights around the digital games culture. http://gamefest.computerspielemuseum.de
Making Games Talents (April 12, 2014) is Germany’s most successful talent market for the games industry. It has already brokered more than 250 jobs. The recruiting event will again take place as a part of the GAMES WEEK on April 12. The concept of Making Games Talents differs from other recruiting events: not only do the talents apply to the companies, but the companies will also apply to the talents.
Other events for the industry during the GAMES WEEK include the Matchmaking Dinner of games.net berlinbrandenburg or the Polish Games Day, which will be hosted by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Berlin together with the Polish Institute Berlin.
The INTERNATIONAL GAMES WEEK BERLIN 2014 is the successor of the Deutsche Gamestage, which were initiated by the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg in 2007 and has been supported ever since. Regardless of the name, the event’s organization structure has also changed. The new team is headed by DGT’s former project leader. Taken as a whole, the die International Games Week Berlin 2014 is a new umbrella brand with a stronger international focus. Furthermore, it has now been extended to last for a week and will have a greater emphasis on public events.
The events are funded by the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg. The INTERNATIONAL GAMES WEEK BERLIN 2014 is hosted and coordinated by Booster Space.
Trade visitors get a combo ticket, valid for Quo Vadis, A MAZE. and the Computerspielemuseum: www.gamesweekberlin.com
Please find the release as pdf here.
Here you find the International Games Week logo.
Press Contact:
Dr. Kathrin Steinbrenner/Kristian Müller, SteinbrennerMüller Kommunikation
T:+49 (0) 30-47372191, E: media@gamesweekberlin.com
About the INTERNATIONAL GAMES WEEK BERLIN 2014
The INTERNATIONAL GAMES WEEK BERLIN 2014 is a leading cross-industry communication and networking platform for games business, development and culture. More than six individual events over six days offer a plethora of information on the topic of games. Participants include German and international game developers, publishers, investors and gamers as well as representatives of public institutions and the media industry. In 2013, more than 6,000 visitors came to the Games Capital of Berlin-Brandenburg. The INTERNATIONAL GAMES WEEK BERLIN 2014 follows in the footsteps of the DGT – Deutsche Gamestage – an event initiated by the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg in Berlin in 2007.
The umbrella brand of the INTERNATIONAL GAMES WEEK BERLIN 2014 from 8-13 April includes the following events:
– Opening Summit: the official opening event, April 8
– Matchmaking Dinner: VIP networking event, April 8
– Quo Vadis. Create. Game. Business: games business and development conference, April 8-10
– A MAZE. / Berlin: Independent video games festival, April 9-11
– Gamefest at the Computerspielemuseum: (Computer Games Museum)
– Making Games Talents: recruitment event, April 12
and many more.
The events are funded by the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg. The INTERNATIONAL GAMES WEEK BERLIN 2014 is hosted and coordinated by Booster Space.
Event Partners: A MAZE., Aruba Events, Computerspielemuseum, games.net berlinbrandenburg, IDG Media, Polnisches Institut Berlin
Institutional Partners: G.A.M.E. Bundesverband der Computerspielindustrie, ACI Games Brazil, Afri GameZone Academy, Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie, Digital Dragons Cracow, EGCA – European Game Conference Alliance, EGDF – European Games Developer Federation, GameIS, Malta Enterprise, media.net berlinbrandenburg, Polska – Botschaft der Republik Polen, Projekt Zukunft Berlin, Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur, TIGA – Representing the Games Industry, UK Trade & Investment, UKIE – The Assocation for UK Interactive Entertainment, WGK – Polish Conference on Computer Games Development
Funding and Sponsor Partners: Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, BIU – Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware, Amazon, Blacklane, PaymentWall
Main and Premium Partners of the Quo Vadis: Goodgame Studios, Bigpoint, Google Cloud Platform, InnoGames, Microsoft, Osborne Clarke
Media Partners: DW-Shift, develop, Der Tagesspiegel, FluxFM, GamesMarkt, golem.de, making games, MediaXP
