Hamburg, March 7, 2024 The 15th Hamburg Games Conference (HGC) gathered about 365 international trade visitors and 42 speakers from 255 companies in Hamburg on March 5 and 6. At the business conference, participants exchanged views on the status quo of the games industry and made valuable contacts in the historic Altonaer Museum.

With a focus on current topics such as waves of layoffs and studio shutdowns as well as impulses for the future of the industry, the Hamburg Games Conference is once again positioning itself as a fixture in the games industry's event calendar. On the first day of the conference, Hamburg's First Mayor Dr. Peter Tschentscher gave a welcome address and took a tour of the conference to learn more about the current challenges facing the games industry. 

The program offered a total of 17 talks, 5 panel discussions, the workshop "The Current Challenges for Public and Private Funding in Europe" with Prof. Odile Limpach, the roundtable "State of the Art of Artificial Intelligence Use Cases in the Games and Entertainment Industries" with Dr. Ralph Oliver Graef and Fabian Stösser, and the Indie Arena Booth Pitch Royal. In the Expo Area, 20 games companies and service providers, including Alibaba Cloud, Giants Software, Reactional Music, and several indie studios, presented themselves to trade visitors, who were also able to meet up in 470 meetings and an exclusive get-together event via the MeetToMatch matchmaking platform. 

With the theme "Gaming meets Business", the two stages focused on investments and licensing, current M&A trends, AI and technological innovations in game development, case studies on best practices, and panels on the state of the games industry.  

Thanks to the free opportunity tickets sponsored by industry partners Plitch, InnoGames, Chrono Games, Marchsreiter Communications, Polaris, Immutable and IGDA, 70 people affected by layoffs were able to attend the HGC and benefit from the comprehensive program and matchmaking opportunities. 

"In the current situation where waves of layoffs are the order of the day, our Opportunity Ticket campaign is our contribution to allowing those affected by layoffs to get in touch with potential employers. There is so much talent in the games industry and the industry needs to keep these experts," says Wolf Lang, Managing Director of Super Crowd about the Opportunity Ticket campaign.  

Exclusive in-person event with tailor-made matchmaking  

 "On its two conference days, the Hamburg Games Conference once again set topics, facilitated new collaborations, and made Hamburg the top choice for all things games. Whether in the lecture halls, in the Expo area, or the Meet to Match area, the need for exchange in the industry could be felt everywhere," commented Dr. Ralph Graef, Managing Partner of GRAEF Rechtsanwälte. 

Many international games companies on-site  

The Hamburg-based companies Sunday, Bigpoint, The Sandbox, InnoGames, and 1SP Agency Holding supported HGC 2024 as enablers and on the Advisory Board. Many thanks also go to further sponsors Alibaba Cloud, 4Players, Bytro, Photon, Playa Games, Threaks, Tiny Roar, gamigo, Giant Games, Reactional Music, Neox Studios and Québec.  

Speakers at this year's Hamburg Games Conference came from the renowned companies Remedy Entertainment, Keen Games, Metacore, Thunderful Group, The Sandbox, Animoca Brands, Bigpoint, InnoGames, Sunday, Gamelight, London Venture Partners, Gamesindustry.biz, WINGS Interactive, Chrono Games, Lowbirth Games, Tabbler, Gamelight, Agnitio Capital, stillalive studios, Drake Star Partners, ROCKFISH Games, Spielworks, SpielFabrique 360°, Layer, The Sandbox, Rise and Play, Whow Games, 1SP Agency Holding, VIZTA Digital, Super Crowd Entertainment, GRAEF Rechtsanwälte, PATI, Dotemu, Team17, INSTINCT3 and Azerion.  

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

Photos of Hamburg Games Conference 2024 for editorial use can be found at: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBgJVr (Photos by Rolf Otzipka Fotografie) 

For further information and questions please contact: 

Anna Jäger
Gamecity Hamburg 
PR Manager 
T +49 – 40 – 23 72 435 78 
anna.jaeger@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. 

About Gamecity Hamburg 

Gamecity Hamburg supports, connects and makes the gaming hub Hamburg visible. 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 hosts the annual Indie Arena Booth, the world's largest independent developer booth for video games, and together with Hamburg Messe und Congress organizes the community convention Polaris, which last attracted over 27,000 visitors to its colorful halls in 2023. With the in-house Super Crowd app, events are turned into tangible community events that connect exhibitors and visitors and offer playful content.