14 DAY TRIAL // Softpedia was in attendance at Game Connection Europe 2014, and it was an interesting opportunity to get an inside peek at a much more focused and business-oriented kind of event than the usual suspects.
Unlike Gamescom and E3, Game Connection is not consumer-oriented, which means that you don't get to see flashy panels, cosplayers and massive flocks of gamers trying to get the latest scoop. It's not about who has the most visually impressive demo on display, it's not about eye candy and selling people on future games.
It's about video game and software developers meeting with like-minded people, as well as with publishers and investors, establishing new contacts and opening the door for future collaboration. And it's run very efficiently too.
First, a word about the setting
Game Connection Europe 2014 took place in Paris, France, in Hall 4 of the Paris expo Porte de Versailles. As if there is the need to say this, Paris is one of the most important cities of the world, both right now and historically.
Aside from being a huge, sprawling metropolis, Paris also owns some iconic landmarks, and you could wander its streets all day long, just taking in the architecture. Like any old European city, it has a ton of narrow and winding streets, and it constitutes a seamless blend of new and classic, from its vintage building facades and hyper-modern business centers, to its very denizens, very diverse in color, flavor and style.
It's a truly beautiful city, and there's a lot to see. No matter what your preferences are, you're bound to discover a ton of things of interest.
This year's edition was organized in partnership with Paris Game Week, an imposing display of everything gaming-related who drew a massive crowd (last year's attendance was estimated at around 250k people, and this year's at 275k), taking place in the same exhibition center as Game Connection.
Having the trade fair right across the street from the business venue means that you can casually drop into the second biggest video game-related expo in the world, after Gamescom, once you take care of your schedule.
What is Game Connection?
The first edition of Game Connection took place back in 2001, and since then the convention has become an international success, drawing in game industry people from all across the globe. Although the main bulk of the attendance is made out of West European and North American entities, people from as far as Brazil and China find their way to there regularly.
The conference only spreads across three days, but those days are packed. Weeks before the convention actually takes off, you start scheduling appointments and filling up your time slots, so that each day during the actual thing, you already know whom you're going to meet, and your agenda is pretty much packed.
It works like some sort of business speed dating, with people meeting for 30 minutes at a time in order to pitch their ideas and show off their projects. This means that there's no time to waste, everything is pretty intense and you get a lot done very fast.
Everyone is there for business, as the event is not consumer-oriented, and everyone is busy doing something. It's a very good marketplace for game developers, service providers and publishers to get in touch with each other and find new business partners, and everyone is excited to be there.
What I did there
I was there as the proud owner of a press badge, trying to document everything and get a feel for the pulse of the show. I did my best to play a less glamorous version of James Bond, blending in and getting the job done inconspicuously.
Fortunately for my adversaries, my weapons were a camera and microphone, and they weren't really adversaries. Rather, they were a bunch of lovely people of all ages, from all around the world, keen to share their thoughts and show me what they brought to the show.
Overall, the developers are all eager to be there, enthused about being able to establish relevant contacts and to get immediate feedback on their creations. While you won't sign a deal right then and there, you'll at least show up on people's radar, especially if you have a really good idea and a solid prototype to boast.
Furthermore, you'll get input from people with years of experience in the business, who won't beat around the bush and who know what works and what doesn't.
In addition to video game developers, there are a ton of other auxiliary software developers, who can help you find new users, gain important information in relation to your existing ones, host your servers, take care of transaction security, and a wealth of other stuff.
There are also studios looking for work for hire, showcasing their past experience and trying to land deals and expand their network of connections. And then there are publishers, looking for good projects and talented studios to add to their contact and/or project lists.
What I liked about Game Connection
I am a fan of both chaos and order, and Game Connection has both. The Meeting App is probably the show's best feature. You send meeting requests ahead of time and arrive there with a full agenda. When you sign in you get a print-out of your schedule, and every morning you get an email with the day's meetings.
Everything moves very fast and I don't think that there is any other place on Earth where you can have 30 meetings in just three days. It's very streamlined and I love that, everything is neatly marked down, from the many maps of the layout with ordered lists of attendees, to the meeting points at the common meeting area, the entire experience is crafted with the sole purpose of efficiency.
But you can also have impromptu bump-ins with people. This year's edition saw an attendance of over 2,700 people, representing over 1,000 companies, and you still had plenty of room to breathe. It wasn't packed, not by a long shot, and even though most people had a full agenda, there was still enough time to bump into someone and start up a chat.
Fortunately, I was too busy looking for people to pester, and I didn't get to see any of the show's bad points. I was just an observer there, so I can't speak from a business point of view, but you could clearly see how everyone was excited to be there.
Stuff to gawk at
While there weren't any cosplayers or any other shiny gaming stuff (except for the arcade corner, where people constantly played Killer Instinct), due to the B2B nature of the event, there were a ton of interesting panels to attend.
From video game writing, from proper free-to-play marketing and pointers on how to build a perfect sales pitch, to more technical speakers detailing how to improve your ZBrush skills or how to hone your multithreading optimization competence, a plethora of options were available.
Not only were the panels interesting, but they were also held by a lot of prominent people in the industry, and many of them also hosted Master Classes, further exploring the issue and sharing their expertise.
Granted, coming in with zero knowledge on the topic might not suddenly transform you into a guru, but any information gleaned from actual real-world experience is good in my book.
In conclusion
Everyone I talked to said that it's definitely worth it to be at Game Connection, if you're looking to do business in the video game industry, as there are a lot of opportunities for players both big and small.
Everyone liked that fact that it was so focused, that everyone knew why they were there, and that there were no distractions.
Even those who said that it was difficult for them to come were thrilled to be there and had no qualms about the investment.
There's not much that I can add to that, except maybe for 42. I got to talk to a lot of great people, from the stars of tomorrow to already established industry veterans, and in the coming days, I'm going to post further impressions from the event, as well as interviews with developers and publishers.
