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A brand new indie developer event from the teams behind GamesIndustry.biz and EGX Rezzed.

Buy Tickets Here Watch the Talks Attend Meetings Network and roundtables

Utilising a specially created Discord server and the MeetToMatch meeting system, this online event boasts an advanced 1-2-1 meeting functions, top tier speakers on all matters of game development, special roundtables, advice sessions, and indie showcase, special guests and a new awards ceremony: The Indie Publishing Awards.

Speakers and Guests

Peter Moore

Board Member, Nifty Games
Guha Bala

President, Velan Studios
Helen Chiang

Studio Head, Minecraft
Hakan Abrak

CEO, IO Interactive
Dr Jo Twist

CEO, UKIE
Brenda Romero

CEO, Romero Games
John Romero

President, Romero Games
Ian Livingstone CBE

Co-founding Partner, Hiro Capital
Nadine Oehmcke

Business Development Manager, NDreams
Rob Lowe

Managing Director, Digital Play, LEGO Ventures
Warren Spector

Studio Director at OtherSide Entertainment
Anya Combs

Director of Games Outreach at Kickstarter
Debbie Bestwick

Team17, CEO
Amy Wu

Amy Wu, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners
Shai Sasson

Shai Sasson, Senior Publishing Manager, CrazyLabs
Tomas Sakalauskas

CEO / Co-Founder at No Brakes Games
Carl Cavers

Chief Executive Officer at Sumo Group plc
Gary Rowe

Curve’s VP of Franchise Publishing
Sergei Evdokimov

Producer, MY.GAMES Venture Capital
Amanda White

Co-Owner & Co-Creative Director at iam8bit
Jon M. Gibson

Co-Owner / Co-Creative Director at iam8bit
Miikka Luotio

Director of Business Development, Europe at Xsolla

Live

The Indie Publishing Awards 2021

Schedule:
All times in GMT

Talk/Presentation/Panel

9am - Midnight
1-2-1 developer meetings
Platform: MeetToMatch
10:00am
Saving the world with MinecraftThe Corporate Vice President of Minecraft at Mojang, Helen Chiang, discusses the past, present and future of one of the world's biggest games in an exclusive presentation for GI Live: Online.
Platform: YouTube and Discord.
Speakers - Helen Chiang
11:00am
*Sponsored | LEGO Ventures: Adventures in Digital PlayRob Lowe from LEGO Ventures presents a sponsored session about their goal to support and invest in companies interested in 'digital play'. Rob will also be answering questions during the session in the Discord 'livestream discussion' channel.
Platform: YouTube and Discord.
Speakers - Rob Lowe
12:00pm
*Sponsored | Inside our most successful game: Hyper-casual experts CrazyLabs discuss Sculpt PeopleA sponsored session about the business landscape of hyper-casual game development and an in-depth look at the agility needed in order to top the charts. Shai Sasson, a Senior Publishing Manager at CrazyLabs will share inside info from CrazyLabs’ recent success Sculpt People and talk about the methodology on the road to a hit game and will also be joining our Discord chat to answer questions.
Platform: YouTube and Discord.
Speakers - Shai Sasson
1:00pm
Sumo Digital - heavyweights of British game developmentAn Interview with CEO of Sumo Group, Carl Cavers, by GamesIndustry.biz Editor James Batchelor - from Infogrames to Sumo Digital to an MBO and IPO and launching their own publishing label. Carl will also join our Discord 'livestream discussion' channel to answer questions during this talk on YouTube.
Platform: YouTube and Discord.
Speakers - Carl Cavers & James Batchelor
1:00pm
Roundtable: Hiro Capital - VC sessionVC investor Hiro Capital host a Discord video roundtable about VC games funding, with Ian Livingstone CBE and Spike Laurie available to answer questions about games investment and getting your company investor-ready. Limited places!
Speakers: Ian Livingstone CBE & Spike Laurie
Platform: Discord Roundtable
2:00pm
Roundtable: Microsoft Xbox sessionA video roundtable with Guy Richards and Neil Holmes from Microsoft discussing developing for Microsoft Xbox, with advice and answering questions about every aspect of releasing games on the platform. Limited places!
Speakers: Guy Richards, Neil Holmes
Platform: Discord Roundtable
3:00pm
Funding the Next Generation of VR GamesnDreams has announced a $2m pot to co-fund and publish externally developed VR titles. Nadine Oehmcke discusses the new fund and the VR business landscape. Nadine will also join our Discord channel to answer questions.
Speaker: Nadine Oehmcke
Platform: YouTube and Discord
3:00pm
Roundtable: Kowloon Nights funding sessionMajor project investor Kowloon Nights host a video roundtable about their funding of games projects, with funding available between $500,000 and $5m.
Speaker: Callum Underwood & Jenny Windom
Platform: Discord Roundtable
4:00pm - 4:20pm
*Sponsored | Finding new audiences for your mobile games Miikka will present an analysis of different platform audiences such as web, PC & console, and how they correlate with mobile game audiences to help you decide if you should take your mobile game to different platforms. He will provide insights into the benefits, opportunities, challenges and risks of different cross-platform strategies.
Platform: YouTube and Discord.
Speakers - Miikka Luotio
4:00pm
Limited Run Games - roundtable sessionThe physical games specialist discusses the benefits and opportunities offered by creating a boxed version of your game.
Speaker: Ben Moore
Platform: Discord Roundtable
4:30pm - 5:00pm
AMA Discord Developer ChatIndustry legend Brenda Romero joins a text chat in Discord to answer questions about her latest game Empire of Sin, being an indie and succeeding in the games business.
Speaker: Brenda Romero, Romero Games
Platform: Discord
5:00pm
Roundtable: Valve Steam SessionA Discord video roundtable session with Alden Kroll and Molly Carroll from Valve about the Steam platform - ask questions about how to get your game noticed on Steam, how to engage with fans, early access and more. Limited places - book early on the Discord!
Speakers: Alden Kroll & Molly Carroll
Platform: Discord Roundtable.
6:00pm
Let's get physical - Why you should consider boxed productsAn interview with the Co-Owners/Co-Creative Directors at iam8bit, Jon Gibson about the company that's made its name in merch and how games companies can make the most value from their IP.
Speakers: Jon Gibson
Platform: YouTube and Discord.
7:00pm
Warren Spector - Discord AMAGame design legend Warren Spector, (Deus Ex, Thief: Deadly Shadows, Epic Mickey) joins the GI Live: Online Discord for a text chat and AMA about his career, making hit games, and the games industry in 2021.
Speaker: Warren Spector
Platform: Discord
10:00pm
Discord closes

Talk/Presentation/Panel

00:01am - Midnight
1-2-1 Developer Meetings
Platform: MeetToMatch
12:00pm
Debbie Bestwick MBE (Team17) - Discord AMAA Discord text chat with Debbie Bestwick, CEO of Team17 about the company's 20-year game development legacy and current publishing success.
Speaker: Debbie Bestwick MBE
Platform: Discord
1:00pm
Creative England - Roundtable sessionA Discord video roundtable session with Creative England, providing funding, mentoring and start-up help for games companies in England. Limited places.
Speaker: TBC
Platform: Discord Roundtable
2:00pm
Dr Jo Twist OBE (Ukie) - Discord AMAA Discord AMA text chat with Dr Jo Twist, CEO of the UK's games industry organisation Ukie. Ask questions about the UK's games business, funding, coping with Brexit and Covid, and more.
Speaker: Dr Jo Twist OBE
Platform: Discord
2:00pm - 2:45pm
London Venture Partners - VC Roundtable sessionA Discord video roundtable session with one of the UK's major global venture capitalist firms specialising in games - London Venture Partners. Ask any questions on investment and hear about opportunities for equity funding. Limited places.
Speaker: Harry Hamer, Partner, LVP
Platform: Discord Roundtable
3:00pm
Human: Fall Flat’s 25 million sales: How it happened Tomas Sakalauskas from No Brakes Games and Curve's VP of Franchise Publishing Gary Rowe discuss Human: Fall Flat's journey to 25 million sales and how the team work together.
Speaker: Chris Dring, Gary Rowe & Tomas Sakalauskas
Platform: YouTube and Discord
4:00pm
Vicarious to Velan: From indie to AAA and back againGuha Bala, now President of Velan Studios, will discuss his career working with major brands such as Skylanders, Spider-Man and Mario Kart with Chris Dring from GamesIndustry.biz. Guha will also drop into the Discord to answer questions during the talk.
Speaker: Guha Bala & Chris Dring
Platform: YouTube and Discord
4:00pm - 4:45pm
Kickstarter crowdfunding roundtable sessionAnya Combs, Head of Games Outreach at Kickstarter hosts a roundtable to answer questions about hosting a successful crowdfunding campaign.
Speaker: Anya Combs, Head of Games
Platform: Discord
5:00pm
Transcend Fund: Venture financing the next great games businessA Discord video roundtable session with ex-GREE's Graham Gockley on what games companies should be doing to attract equity investment from Transcend Fund. Limited places.
Speakers: Graham Gockley
Platform: Discord Roundtable
5:00pm
AMA Discord Developer ChatDoom and Quake legend John Romero discusses his legacy and latest projects at Romero Games.
Speaker: John Romero, Romero Games
Platform: Discord
6:00pm
2021 VC Gaming UpdateAmy Wu, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, discusses the VC firm's investments and how companies can get funding. Amy will also drop into the Discord to chat to developers about VC funding and answer questions.
Speaker: Amy Wu
Platform: YouTube and Discord
7:00pm
An interview with Peter MooreEx-SEGA/EA/Microsoft/Liverpool FC legend Peter Moore joins the event to talk with GI.biz's Chris Dring about his career and latest project at Nifty Games. Peter will also drop into the Discord to answer questions.
Speaker: Peter Moore & Chris Dring
Platform: YouTube and Discord
8:00pm
Indie Publishing AwardsChris Dring from GamesIndustry.biz presents the first Indie Publishing Awards!
Platform: YouTube
10:00pm
Discord closes

Talk/Presentation/Panel

00:01am - 9pm
1-2-1 developer meetings

Platform: MeetToMatch
10:00am
Self-publishing Hitman: How IO took control of its destinyAn interview with the CEO of IO Interactive, Hakan Abrak, on taking over publishing duties on their own hit game series: Hitman. He'll also reveal new details about what's next for IO Interactive. Hakan will also join our Discord to answer questions.
Speaker: Hakan Abrak & Chris Dring
Platform: YouTube and Discord
11:00am
Shared Values: What it means to have a strategic investment partner on boardA sponsored session featuring Sergei Evdokimov from MY.GAMES Venture Capital about how games companies can enjoy better relationships with investors.
Speaker: Sergei Evdokimov, Producer at MY.GAMES Venture Capital
Platform: YouTube and Discord
2:00pm
Collaborating for mutual success - why indie studios can and should work togetherDevelopers from Tentacle Zone, Payload Studios and more host a panel about collaborative working - what are the best practices? How do you avoid project planning problems? How do you protect your IP? All these questions and more will be answered in the panel - and some of the guests will be dropping into the Discord to answer any questions from attendees.
Speaker: Vincent Scheurer, Sarah Burns, Andrew Smith & Chris Dawson

Platform: YouTube and Discord
3:00pm
*Sponsored | Making Great Game Trailers! Niko DeMordaunt & Andy Mitchell from gnet - A Keywords Studio on how to make your game trailers work for you
Speaker: Niko DeMordaunt & Andy Mitchell

Platform: YouTube and Discord
7:00pm
Games Industry Gathering @ GI Live OnlineA special Games Industry Gathering networking event on Zoom for GI Live: Online - chat informally with games industry contacts around the world in a friendly and inclusive environment. Until late!.
Platform: Zoom
8:00pm
Discord closes