Recap: Road to Polaris 2022

November 2, 2022

Recap: Road to Polaris 2022

The Polaris Convention, Hamburg's new community convention centered around gaming, e-sports, and Asian pop-culture, attracted around 10,000 visitors to the Hamburg exhibition halls for its first edition from October 28 to 30. Gamecity Hamburg participated with a joint booth, where we featured five indie developers from Hamburg though our Road to Polaris program, presenting their game projects to a broad audience.

Whether in the Cyberdome, the Sandbox, the Munchi Market, or in one of the many other themed worlds with around 150 different national and international exhibitors, numerous stage shows, competitions, and gameplay stations - there was no chance of boredom during this weekend at the first-ever Polaris Convention. Our five indie teams had a lot on their hands, presenting their games and exchanging feedback and user experiences with the visitors.

The five Hamburg indie studios at our joint booth

With our "Road to" programs, Gamecity Hamburg offers game developers and independent game companies from Hamburg access to national and international events where they can present their projects, make new business contacts, show their games to the visitors and close deals.

For the Polaris, Gamecity Hamburg brought these five Hamburg-based indies to the event, providing a free joint booth via the Road to Polaris support program:

Leif's Adventure: Netherworld Hero by OneManOnMars
Jonah Weingarten's Ninja Brigade by Impawsible Games
Soulitaire by Beardshaker Games
The Amusement by Curvature Games
Turbo Shell by Radioactive Dreams

Our teams had a great time at the Polaris Convention

Also, the PLAY Creative Gaming Festival, which started right after the Polaris Convention gave visitors a glimpse of the fun and experiences that await them during the festival with a small gaming installation on our booth.

First Mayor of Hamburg, Dr. Peter Tschentscher, visited the Gamecity Hamburg booth

And not only did visitors enjoy testing the games, even the First Mayor of Hamburg, Dr. Peter Tschentscher, paid a visit to the Gamecity Hamburg booth and discussed with our developers about their games and Hamburg as an important games location.

► Click here to see some impresions from the Polaris Convention in our photo gallery

In addition to playing games at the booth, visitors were able to demonstrate their drawing skills at our "Drawmerama" challenge, by drawing their favorite content creators as video game characters.

We are pleased about the positive feedback of the first Polaris Convention 2022 and are already looking forward to 2023!

If you already miss the convention feeling, we highly recommend you check out the PLAY Creative Gaming Festival, that celebrates gaming culture in uptown Hamburg from October 31 to November 6.

Gamecity Treff meets Polaris 2022

The Gamecity Treff at the Grüner Jäger music club

On Friday, October 28. from 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm we met up at the Grüner Jäger music club in Hamburg St. Pauli for a new edition of our traditional Gamecity Treff casual networking event for the whole games and gaming industry in Hamburg. More than 250 people attended to celebrate together with us the first day of the Polaris convention, but also to meet familiar faces and make new contacts from the Hamburg games industry over a snack and a drink. A big thank you to all attendees and the event's sponsor Bytro!

► Click here for some impressions of the evening in the Gamecity Treff photo gallery.

Do you want to know more about our "Road to" program that takes Hamburg developers to international game events? Then check out the program here and subscribe to our monthly newsletter to never miss a call for participation.

Gamecity Hamburg at Polaris Convention gallery

Dr. Peter Tschentscher with Curvature Games

Dr. Peter Tschentscher talking to Roman Fuhrer from OneManOnMars and Anke Günther from Beardshaker Games

Dr. Peter Tschentscher in conversation with Tim Angerer, Roman Fuhrer and Amanda Förtsch

Dr. Peter Tschentscher watches Roman Fuhrer and Anke Günther play Leif's Adventure

Dr. Peter Tschentscher in conversation with our teams

Impawsible Games' Ninja Brigade in action

Turbo Shell played by the Twitch-Streamers "Indie Strolche"

Photo: Jan-Marius Komorek / Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft

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November 2, 2022