Welcoming the games world on-site in Hamburg - 500 conference guests and 50 speakers traveled from 26 countries to the 14th Hamburg Games Conference on March 1 and 2. An additional 600 guests visited the conference’s expo area which was open to the public at the Altonaer Museum during the conference. Over the two days of the conference, a total of 17 presentations, 4 panel discussions, a workshop and a pitch competition were on the agenda. In the expo area of the conference, development studios and service providers presented themselves and their products to the professional audience.  In the business area, conference guests arranged a total of more than 300 meetings via the matchmaking platform MeetToMatch and the get-together on the evening of the first conference day was used extensively for networking with the German and international games industry.

The focus topic of this year's Hamburg Games Conference was "Invest in Games" - major M&A trends in the industry, portfolio strategies, practical insights from the sale of one's own games company: the main track was all about the potentials of the international games markets, but also about the challenges studios face in winning investors and publishers for their own projects. In the second conference track, speakers additionally shared practical insights and knowledge from the areas of game development, start-up founding and financing.

Successful return as on-site event and international networking platform

"We are delighted about a successful conference with numerous international B2B guests here on site in Hamburg. The Hamburg Games Conference has not only established itself as the one of the first major B2B event in the games industry's annual calendar, but also as the ideal exchange platform for making international contacts and initiating deals," comments Dr. Ralph Oliver Graef, Managing Partner of the law firm GRAEF Rechtsanwälte who co-organize the event.

"Our conference program on 'Invest in Games' and selected hands-on topics received very positive feedback. In addition to the many practical insights, we were also able to spark discussions, for example about salary transparency or games marketing post-corona," adds Dennis Schoubye, Head of the location initiative Gamecity Hamburg, co-organizer of the Hamburg Games Conference.

Numerous well-known games companies among attendees, contributors and sponsors

Hamburg-based games companies InnoGames, Bigpoint, Exit Games/ Photon Engine, Behaviour Interactive and The Sandbox supported the conference with sponsorships, as did software service provider Endava and Wemade, provider of the blockchain platform WEMIX, and the Polaris Convention, also based in Hamburg.

Canada's Quebec was on board as a partner region, which allowed for talks by Stephanie Marchand (VP Production at Behaviour Interactive) and Christopher Chancey (CEO ManaVoid Entertainment & Co-Founder Indie Asylum), among others.

Companies present with speakers or among the conference guests included Humble Games, Assemble Entertainment, 1Up Management, Gameforge, gamigo, Team17, Fishlabs, Jung von Matt Nerd, MTG, Exmox, DDM, DigiTales, Boombit, Tivola, Sviper, DZ Bank, Rockfish Games, BLN Capital, Daedalic Entertainment, FDG Entertainment, DER SPIELGEL, fritz-kola, Agaté, Crunchyroll, com2us, Swiss Games, Hamburg Messe + Congress, Agnitio Capital, Articity, Aream & Co and game – The German Games Industry Associaton.

All current information on the Hamburg Games Conference is available at www.gamesconference.com.

Photos from the Hamburg Games Conference 2023 for editorial use can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/197816907@N07/with/52723462188/

For further information and questions please contact:

Johannes Klockenbring
Gamecity Hamburg
PR Manager
T +49 – 40 – 23 72 435 74
johannes.klockenbring@gamecity-hamburg.de

---

About the Hamburg Games Conference

Since 2010, the annual Hamburg Games Conference has been a key element of the German and international games industry’s calendar and one of the most important B2B events for the games sector in Europe.

The Hamburg Games Conference is jointly organized by Gamecity Hamburg and GRAEF Rechtsanwälte. The conference is planned and produced by the event agency Super Crowd Entertainment from Hamburg, which specializes in the games industry and who hosted the Indie Arena Booth Online at gamescom 2020 and 2021, for which it was awarded a special prize by the Deutscher Computerspielpreis (German Computer Game Award).

About Gamecity Hamburg

Gamecity Hamburg supports, connects and makes the gaming hub Hamburg visible. Founded in 2003, Gamecity Hamburg was the first public funding institution for the games industry at the state level in Germany and celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The aim is to improve the general conditions for companies and founders of the games value chain in the city, to support them in their further development and to anchor Hamburg in the public perception as one of the leading games locations in Germany. Gamecity Hamburg is the contact point for Hamburg's games funding as well as the Games Lift Incubator and also offers programs, events, and services in close cooperation with the games industry to strengthen local developers. At the same time, the exchange of knowledge within the sector and with other industries is promoted. The promotion of young talent, the development of new formats that activate the strong network of games companies in the city, and internationalization are the focus of the location initiative's activities. Gamecity Hamburg is part of Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft.

About GRAEF Rechtsanwälte

GRAEF Rechtsanwälte, based in Hamburg and Berlin, is one of Germany's leading law firms in the field of media law, entertainment law and intellectual property. The team around Dr. Ralph Oliver Graef and Dr. Christian Rauda represents leading German and international media companies from the complete value chains of the film industry, the games industry, the publishing industry and the live entertainment industry. In addition, the firm represents "creatives" such as authors, directors, actors, photographers, designers, game developers, etc. in the protection of their creative achievements as well as, in the area of crisis communication, companies and celebrities in the protection of their personal rights.

About Super Crowd Entertainment

Super Crowd Entertainment organizes the annual Indie Arena Booth, the world's largest independent developer booth for video games as well as the community convention Polaris in cooperation with Hamburg Messe. With an easy-to-access app, Super Crowd turned the first Polaris Convention in Hamburg into a true community event, where exhibitors, artists and retailers collected points together with visitors to unlock surprises for their heroes. Furthermore, with the Super Crowd Framework, the company also offers a comprehensive yet easy-to-implement solution for digital events for all industries that brings a real trade show feeling to life despite COVID-19. With 3.6 million GSA customers reached and over 100,000 visitors, Super Crowd sets new standards for exciting online events and makes it easy to find your friends again via Super Crowd ID and stay in touch with them.