■ Offline at the Busan Port International Exhibition and Convention Center for 4 days from September 1 to 4
■ Entries accepted from April 25th to May 25th in the general division and May 16th to June 20th in the rookie division
■ New attempts such as the establishment of Connect Pick and the recruitment of the 2nd Big Connects
Busan City (Mayor Park Hyeong-jun), Busan Information Industry Promotion Agency (President Jung Moon-seop), and Busan Indie Connect Festival Organizing Committee (organizing chairman Seo Tae-gun) held an online briefing session for the ‘BIC Festival 2022’ held on the 25th, and held the global indie game festival ‘Busan Indie Connect Festival 2022 (hereinafter referred to as BIC Festival 2022)’ will be held from September 1 to 4 for 4 days.
‘BIC Festival 2022’, which celebrated its 8th anniversary this year, is scheduled to be held on a larger scale than the year it was spent at the Busan Port International Exhibition and Convention Center.
In particular, it is expected that this year’s festival will be even more enriching by establishing a new ‘Connect Pick’ along with the general and rookie categories. ‘Connect Pick’ selects and displays indie games that the public wants to meet again, and plans to select works that have been exhibited at BIC festivals for more than a year since they were released or through voting.
Recruitment for the 2nd term of Big Connectors, which was first attempted last year, is also underway. The first group of Big Connectors, composed of gamers with a fan of BIC and indie games, played an active role in promoting indie games in various fields last year through activities such as indie game marketers, beta testers, and connectors.
The exhibition registration and screening schedules were also revealed. The general division is from April 25 to May 25, and the rookie division (student competition division) can be submitted from May 16 to June 20. The works confirmed for the exhibition will be announced at the end of July after going through a fair and detailed review by a judging subcommittee made up of game-related experts.
In particular, the online system where the reception, screening, and result announcement will take place drew attention by explaining the virtual influencer ‘John’, which was released on the 24th, as a surprise host. Virtual Influencer Zone will act as an ambassador to introduce indie game works every other Thursday through the YouTube channel ‘Zone Indie’.
The early sponsor of this year’s BIC Festival was also revealed through this business briefing session. As platinum sponsors, Studio Kingdom (Debsisters Cookie Run: Kingdom developer), Nicalis, and Pearl Abyss came forward, while gold sponsors were Yahaha Studios, Epic Games Korea, and silver sponsors were Xbox, Xsolla, Smilegate Stove Indy, As a sponsor of One Store, Unity, and Bronze, Naver Jet decided to participate early and announced its ambition to support indie game developers.
Tae-Gon Seo, chairman of the Busan Indie Connect Festival organizing committee, said, “Remembering the passionate offline event before the corona, we are preparing the event by focusing on communication with developers. We are working hard to prepare a support program for indie game developers who have become indie game developers.”
Jung Moon-seop, head of the Busan Information Industry Promotion Agency, said, “Following the successful end of last year despite the Corona crisis, this year’s BIC Festival will be held on a larger scale, both online and offline. We will spare no effort to provide support so that it can become an event that can revitalize the game ecosystem.”
