It’s going to be a different gamescom this year. The world’s grandest stage to showcase new and upcoming games has been physically torn down by COVID-19. While it will be difficult to recreate the unique Cologne experience, here’s 3 digital alternatives to replace your physical gamescom attendance come August.
We hope loads of local talent will join us, so we can still show the #BelgianGamesIndustry is a force to be reckoned with.
VIRTUAL #BELGIANGAMESINDUSTRY PAVILION DURING devcom (AUGUST 17 – 30) – € 450 (EXCL. VAT) – DEADLINE JULY 15
With gamescom turning into gamesgone (sorry), this also means we can’t continue the tradition of rocking the business area with a #BelgianGamesIndustry booth. However, the partners who make that magic happen have worked hard to offer you the next best digital alternative: a virtual Belgian country pavilion at the devcom digital conference (DDC20), taking place from August 17 until August 30.
DDC20 is a two-week digital event full of matchmaking, talks, meet-ups and digital exhibitions. Attendees will get access to all of this great content through a desktop/mobile virtual event app. As DDC20 will operate as gamescom’s core b2b initiative, it’s also the place where the virtual Belgian country pavilion will set up camp to create extra visibility for your own virtual booth.
Hard to picture what that looks like?
- Every attending company gets their own virtual booth, which is essentially your own virtual space on the platform people can visit.
- Next to showcasing all the information about your game and company, you can stream content (or embed your Twitch channel), enable live chat with visitors, offer downloads and set up and manage your team members’ meetings.
- You’ll also get access to real-time visitor data and can leave your contact details when nobody’s around to “man” the booth.
- It’s basically your virtual base of operations from which you can literally run your show.
- On top of this powerful tool 2 team members get access to all the talks, panels, and three ways of meeting people: one-on-one video meetings, quick (3 to 5 minutes) pitches Business Speed Dating and the Random Networking Lounge, where AI will introduce you to people that match your profile.
On top of that we’re throwing in some sweet extras.
- Your game or company will be featured in a BelgianGames trailer that will be showcased during the event on the #BelgianGamesIndustry page and before the event through own channels.
- Booth companies can also join a special 4 hour BelgianGames livestream on Twitch (handled by devcom), where we’ll present our local industry and you can get a slot to do your thing.
- Last but not least, you’ll also get a separate MeetToMatch account (worth € 59,99) for the Cologne Edition (taking place from August 25-27).
We’re offering this package for € 450 (excl. VAT). That’s a hefty knock off the early bird rate of € 999 or the standard rate of € 1199. Interested Flemish games companies can register with Flanders Investment and Trade. The deadline for signing up is July 15, so don’t sleep on this offer for too long. Brussels and Walloon game companies will have to sign up through Hub.Brussels and AWEX respectively, but will be featured in the same #BelgianGamesIndustry pavilion during the event. We know this is a lot of new information to take in, so we have scheduled an info call on July 8 from 16h to 17h (best via Google Chrome, log in and wait for hosts to let you join this videocall). Please join our very own David Verbruggen and Jean Gréban from WALGA if you have any more questions about the virtual #BelgianGamesIndustry pavilion during devcom.
Thanks to Flanders Investment and Trade for guiding us through this special edition of devcom/gamescom. They couldn’t do that without the valuable support of AWEX/Digital Wallonia, Flanders DC, hub.brussels, VAF/GAME, screen.brussels and WALGA. Thank you all!
EUROPLAY CONTEST AT devcom/gamescom (AUGUST 28) – FREE – DEADLINE JULY 15
Don’t worry, this won’t be nearly as long.
Our good friends at UKIE are organising a one-time live event (broadcasted on Twitch, Twitter, and Facebook) on August 28 to highlight the best games Europe has to offer. One finalist of each participating country will get the chance to showcase a video of their unreleased game, after which the public will vote on the winner. Think of it as Eurovision, but with more fun.
There’s a couple of rules if you want to be part of this. Your game must be unreleased (Early Access titles are not eligible) on any platform, video can be 2 minutes 30 seconds max and games age rated 15 and up won’t make the cut.
If you’re interested to qualify, please send us your video (if it’s longer than 2 minutes 30 you’ll be automatically disqualified) and information about your game/company before July 15. The company to defend our national colours will be determined by a Facebook poll (50%) and a jury vote (50%). Fun!
NRW GREEN VIRTUAL INDIE EXPO AT devcom (AUGUST 17 – 30) – € 99 (subject to curation) – DEADLINE JULY 31
Smaller indie teams who are short on cash have until July 31 to apply for one of the cheap spots in the virtual Indie Expo. It’s basically the same idea as the country pavilion (even though you only get one account instead of two), but as the jury will make up its mind long after the deadline to join the #BelgianGamesIndustry pavilion, it’s a bit of a risky shot. It might be a nice extra, but we’d recommend our studios that really want to replace their physical gamescom presence to join the country pavilion in the first place.