The four-day long, ‘virtual’ IGDC2020 (The India Game Developer Conference) concluded on a high note on Friday, with great takeaways and exchange of ideas with 6000+ check-ins from 64 countries, doubling the attendance over 2019.
The online conference had a fantastic line-up of 80 industry sessions, panel discussions and workshops. In all, 115 speakers including 43 international renowned speakers from 10 different countries participated. Per session attendance was also 3x this year compared to the 2019 physical event.
“This year’s virtual event went way beyond our expectations. The participation was overwhelming, with over 6000 check-ins from 64 countries, a reflection of the rapid growth and market potential of India”, said Rajesh Rao, Convenor of IGDC 2020. ”Thanks to strong industry support, we were able to offer this conference free to all attendees. The speaker line up was the best ever, with ‘virtual’ making it possible for so many speakers to participate without traveling”.
This year’s ‘Investor-Publisher-Connect’, had over 50 gaming companies from India and overseas, 300 + virtual one-to-one meetings were set up between investors, publishers, and the startups, which is 70% higher than 2019 with a 100% match rate. The inaugural “Founder-Connect”, which had 20 founder’s participation, was a huge success as they networked and explored opportunities to collaborate with each other.
Notable VCs present at the event were Accel, Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Blume Ventures, Lumikai, Elevation Capital, Kalaari Capital, Venture Highway, and Falcon Edge Capital who held meetings with shortlisted gaming startups.
There was also enhanced interest from game publishers this year with marquees names such as Epic Games, Mobile Premier League, Nazara, Paytm First Games, nCore Games, and Zapak Games extending their publishing support to promising gaming companies.
Global publishers such as Miniclip, Crazylabs, Tilting Point, Hyper Hippo Entertainment, and Tapnation and many gaming start-ups from the UK, Canada and Australia were among the attendees.
BYOG (Build Your Own Game) Jam held alongside, received 87 finished entries by the deadline, which was three times more than 2019. The number of participants showed a remarkable jump of about 50%, jumping from 200 in 2019 to 313 in 2020.
Good news also flowed in during the event as Bengaluru-based Mobile Premier League (MPL) has earmarked a ₹37 crore fund for Indian game developers and studios to develop games for their Indian and global audience.
IGDC 2020 saw great support from the industry. Unreal Engine/ Epic games were presenting sponsors of IGDC 2020, along with MPL, Facebook, Google, Unity, Hyper Hippo, Gametion, Nazara, Lakshya, and Yesgnome.
IGDC 2020 which was held online amid concerns of coronavirus attracted 50 exhibitors on the e-expo floor.
About IGDC: The India Game Developers Conference (IGDC) is India’s premier game developer’s conference. It is a “for the industry, by the industry” event-driven entirely with volunteers from across the Indian games industry and with active support from companies in the ecosystem. Now in its 12th year, IGDC is the biggest and the most significant developer conference in India and South Asia.
For more information on the IGDC, check out their website here.
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