Hamburg, May 5, 2025, Gamecity Hamburg is setting sail with the premiere edition of Portside Game Assembly – a dedicated B2B conference for international indie game leaders – taking place aboard a ship cruising Hamburg’s famous harbour on June 27. With a carefully curated program of keynotes, impulse talks, and roundtables, the conference offers a rare opportunity for studio directors and decision makers to connect in a focused and collaborative setting. Designed to spark fresh perspectives and actionable insights, the event brings together voices from acclaimed indie studios worldwide like Benjamin Laulan (COO & Co-Founder Evil Empire), Philomena Schwab (Founder Stray Fawn Studio), Søren Lundgaard (CEO Ghost Ship Games), Mauricio García (Studio Director The Game Kitchen), Kevin Zuhn (Creative Director & Co-Founder Young Horses Inc.), and more speakers. Tickets for the full conference experience, including a Networking Brunch and the Games Industry Party, are available at portsideassembly.com.

As the premiere of the Portside Game Assembly on June 27 is approaching, the laser-focused program for indie game leaders takes shape.

Keynotes, impulse talks and roundtables: This is the program

By offering a confidential setting for studio directors, the Portside provides value through relevant conversations and strategic networking, which is also reflected in the diverse yet focused conference program. These are some of the program highlights:

• Keynote: Benjamin Laulan (COO & Co-Founder Evil Empire): The "Triple-i Initiative Deep Dive" keynote on how to create your own announcement space and talk directly to your audience when you can’t really relate to other existing showcases.
   

Impulse Blocks:

Impulse Blocks consist of two to three impulse talks, all of which relate to an overarching topic, followed by an open discussion about the perspectives shown and an opportunity for participants to share their own experiences. The discussions will be moderated by Mariève Beauchemin (Programs Director & Co-Founder Indie Asylum) and Andreas Suika (Creative Director & Game Designer).

• Mining for Your Next Gem – How to Decide which Games to Develop

A defining and crucial decision for every indie game studio is: what of the (probably many) game ideas should be pursued? Where should studios allocate their resources – and what game will help a studio prevail? Three speakers will share their approaches to these questions in 10-minute impulse talks:

• • Philomena Schwab (Founder Stray Fawn Studio): Game Idea Validation
  • Jonas Tyroller (Founder Grizzly Games): You Don’t Need a Hook
  • René Habermann (Director bippinbits): Don’t Ship the Wrong Game

• Games Are Made by People – How to Foster a Good Company Culture
  Founding and maintaining an independent game studio and managing a small to mid-size team comes with a lot of responsibility: from growing or having to downsize a team to maintaining a company culture where talent is nurtured, developed, and kept long-term.
  • Mauricio García (Studio Director The Game Kitchen): Keeping the Indie Mindset while Going Big
  • Kevin Zuhn (Creative Director & Co-Founder Young Horses Inc.): Hold Your Horses: Why Slow is How We Grow
• From Dev to Dev – Why to Invest in Other Studios

More and more indie studios take the leap to market not only their own games but also put their resources and experiences on games from other developers. Two speakers will share their motivations and learnings from investing in games and studios that are not their own:

• • Søren Lundgaard (CEO Ghost Ship Publishing): Developer by Day, Publisher by Night
  • Christian Nyhus Andreasen (COO Fair Games): How to Lose 50% and Still Prosper - Angel Investment Lifestyle

Roundtables:
Roundtables have a more interactive concept than impulse blocks and encourage participants to discuss all aspects of the overarching question from the very beginning

• Roundtable 1: Mobile Ports – When, Why & How? Moderated by Ali Farha (Senior Producer Star Stable Entertainment)
• Roundtable 2: Stronger Together – Business Cooperations Between Indies. Moderated by Manny Hachey (Creative Director Positive Impact Games)
• Roundtable 3: (Self-)Publishing – The Good, the Bad, the Ugly. Moderated by Sophie Atkin (Director & Founder Secret Sauce)
• Roundtable 4: Longtail FTW - How to Make the Most out of Your Game. Moderated by Leonie Wolf (Associate Art Director Maschinen-Mensch)

 

The Portside Game Assembly website offers a detailed view on speakers, program topics and participating studios: https://portsideassembly.com/program/   

The premiere of the Portside Game Assembly is supported by these great sponsors and partners: Photon and Twin Harbour Interactive!

Selection of already confirmed participants:

More than 60 studios from over 15 countries have already registered for the Portside Game Assembly conference on board the MS Princess. Besides already announced participants like Evil Empire, Stray Fawn Studio, The Game Kitchen, Toukana Interactive, Ghostship Publishing, and others, further acclaimed studios join the conference:

• Digital Sun (Moonlighter, Cataclismo) / Spain
• Keen Games (Enshrouded) / Germany
• Young Horses Inc. (Bugsnax, Octodad) / USA
• Gamious (Lake, Turmoil) / Netherlands
• Color Gray Games (The Case of the Golden Idol) / Latvia
• Massive Damage (Star Renegades) / Canada
• Beam NG (BeamNG.drive) / Germany

Further participating studios can be found on the Portside Game Assembly website. https://portsideassembly.com/attendees

Tickets and Registration

Founders and leaders of indie game studios who have released at least one successful title are welcome to apply for the main conference of Portside Game Assembly using the registration form:

https://portsideassembly.com/registration   

The full conference ticket includes access to the Opening Mixer on June 26, as well as the Networking Brunch, the main conference, and the Games Industry Party on June 27 for a total of 189 euros plus fees & VAT. 

Tickets for Games Industry Party and Networking Brunch are available

The Networking Brunch begins on June 27, 2025, at 9:30 am at the “Alte Liebe” restaurant in Hamburg's HafenCity. A ticket costs 49 euros plus fees & VAT:

https://psga-networking-brunch.eventbrite.de/?aff=pm

The Games Industry Party in the evening invites guests to the second ship location of the day: the MS Stubnitz in HafenCity. Starting at 7 pm, Tickets are available for 15 euros plus fees & VAT:

https://psga-games-industry-party.eventbrite.de/?aff=pm

For further information and questions please contact:

Senta Gohr                                         Anna Jäger
Gamecity Hamburg                            Gamecity Hamburg
PR Manager                                       PR Manager
T +49 40 23 72 435- 74                      T +49 40 23 72 435 - 78
senta.gohr@gamecity-hamburg.de   anna.jaeger@gamecity-hamburg.de

About the Portside Game Assembly

Portside Game Assembly is the expert conference for internationally successful indie game studios. The B2B conference connects studio managers and decision makers on a ship cruising through the Hamburg harbor to exchange strategies, get inspired, and make relevant contacts. The conference also includes two evening events and a networking brunch at selected locations. Portside Game Assembly is organized by Gamecity Hamburg as part of the Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft.

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 the Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft 

Since its foundation in 2010, Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft has seen itself as a central contact point for all players in Hamburg's creative industries from the eleven sub-markets of architecture, visual arts, design, film, literature, music, press, radio, software/games, theatre/dance, and advertising. It supports creative professionals with contemporary services and promotes innovation within the framework of the "Cross-Innovation Hub" project. Since 2017 the industry-specific initiatives Gamecity Hamburg, nextMedia.Hamburg and Design Zentrum are part of the Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft mbH.