Hyderabad: For the next three days, Hyderabad is set to turn into a gamer’s paradise with over 1,000 top honchos of the global gaming community, congregating in the city for the annual India Game Developers Conference. In a shift in trend, the event this year will see over 90% of its participants fly in from other cities and countries, to discuss latest trends in the industry — right from animation and visual effects to gaming and comics (AVGC) — said organisers.
“The number of participants has been growing each year. While in the previous editions most attendees and companies used to be from Hyderabad due to its strong gaming ecosystem, this conference is now recognised internationally as a significant event. Hence, we will see prominent names from other countries joining us as well,” said Sridhar Muppidi, president of the Game Developers Association of India.
Some of prominent names on the list are: Well-known American game designer Jordan Weisman, the brain behind BattleTech, MechWarrior and Shadowrun; Tim Morten, the head of Frost Giant Studios and person behind real-time strategy games such as StarCraft 2; Bryce Johnson, co-inventor of the Xbox Adaptive Controller and creator of Microsoft’s Inclusive Tech Lab; and Willem Delventhal of ‘Indie Game Academy’- a community which helps people build and release games, among others.
They will be joined by another 20,000 experts and enthusiasts from the city.
“The conference will focus on the necessity of establishing specialised video gaming hubs and enhancing the incubator ecosystem within the nation,” said a member of the organising team adding that the achievements of Telangana’s IMAGE Tower will also be showcased at the event.
Day 2 of the event will feature policy roundtables involving state representatives, IT ministers from various states, and industry experts. These discussions will centre around strategic initiatives to promote local video game development and encourage international partnerships, the organisers said.
One of the workshops will also focus on Tamil Nadu’s AVGC policy.
“The meet will see participants engage in conversations around Artificial intelligence in gaming, emerging trends, investment and market in India, and participation of women in gaming,” said an organiser.
Along with several govt representatives from the states, Union secretary for information and broadcasting Sanjay Jaju also will be in attendance at the event.
