Hamburg Games Conference releases program for March 1 & 2: 30+ speakers, expo, pitch competition, matchmaking & networking

An extensive program as well as the ideal opportunity for matchmaking with the German and international games industry awaits guests of the 14th Hamburg Games Conference on March 1 & 2. The main track focuses on the topic “Invest in Games”, a second track offers talks on dev, start-up, and financing topics. The complete program overview can be found on the conference website. Newly confirmed program highlights include the opening keynote by Stephanie Marchand (Behaviour Interactive, Canada), as well as panel discussions on salary transparency, M&A trends, marketing, and work for hire. Tickets for the Hamburg Games Conference 2023 are available online.

How do a strong culture and a balanced strategy help Canada’s largest indie studio with over 1,000 employees to successfully operate in the market as an independent player after 30 years? This question will be the focus of Stephanie Marchand‘s (VP Production at Behaviour Interactive) keynote titled “Behaviour Interactive – 30 years of independence and loving it!”, which will kick off the conference.

Overall, the Hamburg Games Conference is again strengthening its international relevance this year: Among the conference guests are numerous decision-makers from the international games industry, represented by companies such as MTG, InnoGames, Endava, Humble Bundle, Behaviour Interactive, Assemble Entertainment, DDM, BLN Capital or Exit Games / Photon Engine.

New talks and three panel discussions for main track “Invest in Games”

For the main track on “Invest in Games”, moderated by Prof. Dr. Christian Rauda (GRAEF Rechtsanwälte), talks by Matthew Short (Managing Director of investment bank Aream & Co.) on the development of the games market in the light of M&A deals and consolidation, and by Christopher Chancey (Founder & CEO ManaVoid Entertainment & Co-Founder Indie Asylum) on the successful concept of the indie accelerator he co-founded have been added to the schedule.

Three new panel discussions with seasoned experts and notable industry personnel promise valuable insights and exciting discussions:

Arnd Benninghoff (EVP of Gaming at MTG), Janosch Kühn (founder of BLN Capital), Ole Schaper (CTO at Sviper) will discuss the topic “M&A in the Games Industry: Current Market Trends and Outlook for 2023 and Beyond”. The panel will be moderated by Shum Singh (Managing Director and Founder of Agnitio Capital).

In the HR panel “Money Talks – We talk money”, moderated by Spiegel editor Florian Gontek, Dr. Andreas Lieb (HR Director at InnoGames), Alexander Krug (CEO of Softgames), Susan J. Moldenhauer (career coach, consultant, and author) and Steffen Behn (CEO at celebrate company) will exchange views on the topic of salary transparency.

Furthermore, Thorsten Hamdorf (Director Publisher Relations at Jung von Matt Nerd), Nikolas Angerstein (Deputy Managing Director at MSM.digital), Dirk Ludewig (CEO of NerdStar) and John-Dustin Martin (Founder & CEO of 1UP Management) will examine the challenges of games marketing in the post-pandemic era together.

Additionally, DZ Bank will contribute an exclusive workshop titled “Crafting your equity story: Show investors that you are a gem” to the program.

Further new talks and program items in the second conference track

The agenda for the second conference track on dev, startup and funding topics was extended as well: Jasmin Pfeiffer (Co-Founder of DigiTales Interactive) will recap game design and writing of the indie hit Lacuna, Ata Sergey Nowak (Managing Director of Torpor Games) will report on learnings from porting their award-winning game Souzerain, and freelance tech artist Casilda de Zulueta will give insights into the highs and lows of turning your passion into a source of income.

An overview of the funding landscape in Hamburg and opportunities for young studios offers a talk by James Rucks and Clemens Runge (founders of Soapbox Interactive), and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection will give a presentation on federal computer games funding.

An additional panel discussion with, among others, representatives from Endava and indie studio THREAKS will address the topic “Work for Hire”.

A special opportunity for indie studios is the “Pitch Royal“, where developers can present their projects in front of a jury of publishers (among others, Catherine Bygrave, Director Publishing, Strategy & Growth at Humble Games, Jerome Zenker, Business Development Manager at Assemble Entertainment, and Philipp Döschl, Co-Founder and Executive Producer at FDG Entertainment) as well as the organization team of the Indie Arena Booth to win a free spot at the joint booth at gamescom.

Networking, matchmaking, get-together and expo area round off the program

In addition to the extensive talks and panel schedule, networking and matchmaking are a focus of the Hamburg Games Conference. For the first time since 2020, the organizers Gamecity Hamburg and GRAEF Rechtsanwälte together with the executing event agency Super Crowd Entertainment will hold the conference as a 100% on-site event. Also, there will be two days of on-site program for the first time in the conference’s history.

To effectively broaden their networks, conference guests can use the digital matchmaking tool MeetToMatch to find valuable new contacts already ahead of the conference and schedule in-person meetings in the conference’s business area. The get-together on the evening of the first conference day will additionally be an ideal opportunity to network in a relaxed atmosphere.

On both days of the conference, (indie) studios and service providers from the games sector will present themselves to the conference audience in the Expo Area.

Conference tickets available online

Tickets for the Hamburg Games Conference 2023 are available for purchase.

The business ticket for 299 euros includes access to the two-day conference program as well as the opportunity to arrange meetings with other conference guests and make valuable new contacts via the digital matchmaking system MeetToMatch.

Start-up tickets are available exclusively for small enterprises and start-up companies. They allow participation in the entire conference program as well as use of MeetToMatch at the discounted price of 149 euros.

Students can participate in the conference program for 25 euros.

All current information on the Hamburg Games Conference is available on the website.