Gaming
Game ON Mid Sweden reveals Investor & Publisher Connector event for budding Nordic game developers
Mid-Sweden’s biggest gaming hub launches a series of free workshops ahead of Investor & Publisher Connector, in partnership with Steel Media
Game ON Mid Sweden has announced Investor & Publisher Connector, an exciting new virtual matchmaking event for hopeful game developers, taking place on 1st November. Hosted in partnership with Steel Media, the free event will offer the next generation of Nordic games developers the opportunity to meet with publishers and investors with the aim of securing support/investment/building contacts. Aspiring game developers had the chance to take part in a series of free business development workshops.
Investor & Publisher Connector will give prospective developers and designers the opportunity to kickstart their careers, forging a name for themselves among key investors in the gaming industry. During the session, game developers will be matched with organisations and individuals best suited to their needs and give them the opportunity to present their ideas and game concepts. Ahead of the event, game developers had the opportunity to take part in educational workshops to ensure they are fully prepared to meet with investors and publishers.
Game ON Mid Sweden brings education and contacts to people to help them to make their way into the game industry. It works with mentors and industry experts from across the world to provide the necessary resources to support new developers. It aims to advise, equip and inspire participants, supporting their success and encouraging them to thrive in their newly developed areas of expertise. With a focus on growth, development and recognition in Sweden’s booming gaming sector, Game ON Mid Sweden guides these hopeful developers to the next stage of their budding careers.
As the global gaming industry continues to grow, Sweden stands out above the rest. In the last year, around one billion players have played a game made by the Swedes. The growth from 2009 to 2019 was substantial, including a 25- fold increase in total revenue from €91 million to €2,318 million according to the Game Developer Index.
Patty Toledo, Project Lead at Game ON Mid Sweden, saw the potential that the country has to offer and knew she had to seize the opportunity to showcase the outstanding talent that is in Sweden. Patty Toledo didn’t just stop there, extending Game ON Mid Sweden to drive success in other Nordic countries that also need support and guidance.
“The gaming industry continues to build and grow and it’s my job to ensure that mid-Sweden is not left behind and has an equal chance against the rest of the world”, says Patty Toledo Project Lead at Game ON Mid Sweden. She continues, “It is great to get the support from big names like Steel Media, and to have 9iNTERACTIVE and LEGENDARY.VC participating in such a life-altering event for these hopeful developers.”
“A tremendous obstacle to becoming established in the games industry is being well connected with like-minded people, this Investor & Publisher Connector will help developers to meet and further build on these relationships. I cannot wait to see what is next.”
Ahead of Investor & Publisher Connector, Game ON offered multiple free workshops, to give participants the opportunity to be as prepared as they can be for the main event. These included “How to create a pitch deck” by PR guru Jacki Vause, CEO and Founder of Dimoso, “How to improve and showcase your game” by Sophia Drake, expert in supporting Indie Developers and organiser of Steel Media’s event The Big Indie Pitch. But the students and first time teams are not left behind, as Game ON is offering them a feedback pitching session on November 11. In this practice session, developers will pitch to publishers in an informal setting and receive tips and advice on how they should expertly present not only their games but themselves.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin Miner celebrates two years of hugely successful collaboration with ZBD
Bitcoin Miner, the world’s number one Bitcoin game, is celebrating two years of its collaboration with ZBD, a leading fintech company powering digital economies for gamers and developers. Since the partnership began, Bitcoin Miner has gone from a forgotten title with no players to becoming one of the largest play-and-earn games ever, with over 2 million lifetime users.
ZBD’s Lightning-powered payments technology enables developers to inject instant rewards into their games to boost retention and community engagement. Fumb Games, the studio behind Bitcoin Miner, partnered with ZBD in March 2022 to help revive its flagship title, enabling it to reward players with fragments of Bitcoin for playing the game as normal. From the outset, the integration of ZBD’s tech had a marked impact, leading to a 12x boost in 30-day retention. Two years on, Bitcoin Miner is achieving 40,000 daily active users, making it the biggest Bitcoin game by user count.
Besides the retention benefit of rewards, which leads to player retention that exceeds 6 months, the success of Bitcoin Miner has also been fueled by community-based features such as regular live events. The majority of Bitcoin Miner players are US-based millennial males who enjoy engaging with gaming communities, with weekly events leading to a 20% increase in revenue. As well as its own community of engaged players, Bitcoin Miner benefits from the ZBD app user base of more than a million gamers.
Paul West, Founder of Fumb Games, said “Bitcoin Miner has proven that US players love games that are fun, snackable and rewarding. The game is not only sustainable, but has soared to new heights since the partnership with ZBD. It’s no surprise that I’m very excited for the future of bitcoin and player-friendly rewarded games.”
Ben Cousens, Chief Strategy Officer at ZBD, said “The two-year collaboration with Paul and Fumb Games on Bitcoin Miner has been a quintessential success story for what we’re building at ZBD. It proves the value in offering rewards for gamers and the success of ZBD’s rewards and payments tech at making it possible at speed and scale. We will no doubt see further impressive numbers for Bitcoin Miner that cement its status as world’s number one Bitcoin game, and we also look forward to extending the potential benefits of Bitcoin rewards to more developers.”
In November 2023, Fumb Games also integrated ZBD’s technology in its idle tycoon RPG SpaceY. ZBD works with more than 100 game developers worldwide, including major brands such as Square Enix, and is also used by innovative adtech companies like Slice and AdInMo.
Gaming
UK Gaming Charity SpecialEffect to Receive Special Award at 20th BAFTA Games Awards
BAFTA has announced that UK gaming charity SpecialEffect, will receive the prestigious Special Award at the 20th BAFTA Games Awards. The award, which recognises outstanding contributions to games, film and television, is one of the highest accolades bestowed by BAFTA. Dr Mick Donegan MBE, founder and CEO of SpecialEffect, will pick up the Special Award at the annual BAFTA Games Awards ceremony on Thursday 11 April.
In 2007, Mick Donegan founded SpecialEffect to help people with even the most severe physical challenges to access video games. The organisation uses specialised technology to enhance access to video games and creative self-expression for people with a wide range of Disabilities.
SpecialEffect’s success began as a result of the collaboration between Mick, a specialist in assistive technology and his son Bill, a keen gamer with a background in product design. Since its creation, the charity has grown to thirty employees, raising all their own funds, and has provided specialist one-to-one assessments and support to severely disabled people throughout the UK and beyond.
Dr Mick Donegan MBE, SpecialEffect founder and CEO, said: “With a background in special education, I realised how much people with severe physical disabilities were missing out by not being able to play. I started SpecialEffect not only to help individuals to play video games but also to collaborate with the games industry to make their games more accessible ‘at source’. Since then, we have been privileged to be invited to share our ideas with more and more developers all over the world. Now, 17 years since SpecialEffect began, it’s an absolute honour for SpecialEffect’s work to be recognised by BAFTA.”
Emma Baehr, BAFTA executive director of awards and content, said: “SpecialEffect’s work is essential to the games world and is hugely deserving of a BAFTA Special Award. Their innovative and supportive approach to making games accessible drives progress within the industry, collaborating with developers and studios on new technologies to make games within reach to more people. We look forward to honouring their contribution to games at the ceremony on Thursday 11 April.”
Throughout the years, SpecialEffect has been involved in collaborating with Xbox, Sony and Logitech, to help design accessible controllers and a switch kit, enabling thousands more severely disabled players to access their games using a wide range of control devices. They have also worked with games studios and developers to help make their games more accessible. The organisation also developed EyeMine, a freely downloadable gaze-controlled interface to enable players to enjoy Minecraft through gaze-control alone.
Later this year will see the rollout of their EyeGaze Games (currently available on PC only) onto Android and iOS, games designed to be fully accessible for people with physical disabilities, whether they use gaze control, joysticks, switches or gamepads.
Gaming
The Rocket League Championship Series Major 2 Heads Back to Copper Box Arena in London This June
The Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) returns to Copper Box Arena in London, UK for the second Major of 2024 from June 20-23.
Copper Box Arena hosted a sold out RLCS Spring Major in 2022 and saw Team Vitality defeat Team BDS in the final. The venue will again play host to the world’s best Rocket League players as they compete for the second trophy of 2024, a chance to win the lion’s share of a $255,000 in total prize pool winnings and earn additional RLCS points to secure a spot in the Rocket League World Championship in September.
The RLCS Major 2 will be broadcast on Twitch and YouTube from June 20-21, and welcome a live audience in the Copper Box Arena for the weekend competition on June 22-23. Tickets go on general sale beginning at 10:00 AM GMT on Friday, March 29, and the direct link to purchase tickets can be found on the Rocket League esports social accounts. There are three presale windows for O2 Priority customers, Live Nation users and Ticketmaster users.
BLAST and Rocket League esports have teamed up with Live Nation, one of the world’s largest live entertainment companies to help support and promote the RLCS Major 2 coming to London in June 2024.
-
Central Europe6 days ago
HIPTHER’s Prague Gaming & TECH Summit 2024 reaches new milestones with record registrations and prominent sponsors
-
Central Europe6 days ago
HIPTHER’s Prague Gaming & TECH Summit 2024 Boasts All-star Sponsors and Record Registrations
-
Africa6 days ago
A Comparative Analysis Of Land-Casinos and Online Casinos in South Africa 2024
-
eSports7 days ago
TEAM VITALITY DOUBLES DOWN FOR TWO COPENHAGEN MAJORS IN COUNTER STRIKE AND ROCKET LEAGUE
-
Industry News7 days ago
Internet Vikings Became VMware Premier Partner, Offering Cost-Effective Solutions for iGaming and Sports Betting
-
Asia6 days ago
Crane Payment Innovations partners with Mohegan INSPIRE’s Casino
-
Asia6 days ago
FBM® Group wins two prizes at the Asian Gaming Awards
-
Conferences in Europe6 days ago
2024 Gaming in Spain Conference