Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Hyeong-Joon), Busan Information Industry Promotion Agency (Director Jeong Mun-seop), and Busan Indie Connect Festival Organizing Committee (Organizing Chairman Seo Tae-gun, from now on referred to as BIC Organizing Committee) are organizing the Busan Indie Connect Festival 2023 (BIC Festival 2023, from now on referred to as BIC Festival 2023), which is scheduled to open in August. BIC Festival 2023)’s official sponsor was revealed on the 18th.
The companies confirmed as the official sponsors of ‘BIC Festival 2023’ are ‘Pearl Abyss, Smilegate Stove Indie, Nicalis, ProudNet, Epic Games, Devolver Digital, Chap Games, Behind, Megazone Cloud, Future Contents Foundation, Zempie, One Store, Microsoft Xbox, Lightning Games, NCsoft, Iskra, and the Game Rating Management Committee,’ a total of 17 purchases.
The above companies have decided to participate as official sponsors to gather strength to expand the base of indie games, such as supporting the works of developers participating in ‘BIC Festival 2023’ to be introduced to more gamers through sponsorship participation.
First of all, four companies will participate as platinum sponsors. A global game company that is directly servicing ‘Black Desert’ developed its engine to more than 150 countries around the world ▲ Pearl Abyss, expanding the indie game ecosystem with users and creators ▲ Smilegate Stove Indie, since 2007, PC, console, ▲Nicalis, a developer and publisher that has been developing and releasing games on mobile platforms, ▲ProudNet, a P2P network server engine optimized for PC online, mobile MMORPG, and asynchronous game development, participates and strives to expand the base of indie games. The four sponsors above will hold a special award for ‘Sponsor Pick,’ newly established for the first time this year, and will further strengthen their support for developers.
Two companies are participating as gold sponsors. ▲Epic Games provides a digital ecosystem where developers and creators can develop, distribute, and operate various content, including games, through Unreal Engine, Fortnite Unreal Editor, Epic Games Store, and Epic Online Services. Epic Games is a great digital platform for indie creators around the world. Devolver Digital, a boutique game label carefully selected and provided by entertainment providers and pleasant colleagues, participated and expressed its intention to support indie game developers actively. The Gold Sponsor will also choose one ‘sponsor pick’ from the competition section participating in 「BIC Festival 2023」 and give a special award.
As many as ten companies expressed their intention to participate as silver sponsors. Game rating review, marketing, and multilingual support! All-in-one gaming platform that provides subscription and two-track BM for each payment ▲Chap Games, Korea’s representative game server platform that allows game developers to use game server functions without server development ▲The end quickly, the most significant cloud management company in Korea and Asia (MSP) ) to support customized ONE-STOP services tailored to the needs of about 220 game companies ▲Megazone Cloud, a non-profit public interest foundation that secures competitiveness throughout the content industry and nurtures future talent for sustainable growth, supports creation, and conducts scholarship projects ▲ Future Contents Foundation joins 「BIC Festival 2023」.
In addition, with the motto of revitalizing the indie game ecosystem, a social platform service aimed at becoming a global hub in the indie game industry ▲Gempie, Korea’s representative app market, serves various mobile contents such as games, apps, and story contents ▲One Store, ▲Microsoft Xbox, which is at the center of the Xbox vision and strives to enable gamers to enjoy the games, devices, and people they want, also confirmed participation as a silver sponsor.
Not only this, but as a video game publisher that provides high-quality PC/console games to players around the world, we discover talented developers based on our experience and help them leap towards their vision ▲Lightning Games, Lineage’, ‘Aion,’ Blade & Soul,’ ‘Guild Wars,’ a world-class global game developer that provides domestic and international service for various game IPs. It plans to participate as a silver sponsor and enrich this year’s festival.
A game management public institution that creates a healthy game culture and industry, ▲ The Game Management Committee participates as a bronze sponsor.
「BIC Festival 2023」, which moves the venue to BEXCO and prepares the event intending to have the largest exhibition ever, is raising expectations. The event is going on. Expectations are high as they plan to showcase various content and events with virtual influencers ‘John’ and ‘Arnold.’