Why aren’t developer conferences a hit anymore? Except for very few significant events, such as this year’s G-Star Conference and Inven Conference, which featured world-renowned speakers, why aren’t developer conferences a hit anymore? Except for very few significant events, such as this year’s G-Star Conference and Inven Conference, which featured world-renowned speakers, it isn’t easy to hear stories of game developer seminars or conferences being successful in Korea anymore.
What is the problem with organizing a game conference?
Giving a staged lecture to the public is not easy for anyone. Even if you are the CEO of a successful company or a great developer, there is a clear difference between being good at developing and giving lectures. In particular, most developers are stressed about giving lectures on stage to external audiences, so it is tough to recruit conference speakers.
In the reality of the game industry, which is becoming increasingly harsh, finding people to give lectures, let alone keynote speakers, is tough. Even if you try to see contact information and invite them, they are rejected due to the preparation period for the lecture and the concerns of company executives who are reluctant to expose key personnel to the outside world. In most cases, this is the case. In other words, unless a few cooperative organizations or major media in the gaming industry can exert enormous influence, it is almost impossible to invite a keynote-level celebrity or named developer to a conference.
Are offline game seminars and conferences still necessary?
Starting with COVID-19, many face-to-face events have been converted to non-face-to-face events, and numerous webinars are still being held. There are already multiple lecture videos and materials on YouTube and the Internet. Audiences no longer come to event venues to learn but to admire and meet famous developers. Therefore, one-sided, one-way offline development lectures, which are burdensome to find speakers and prepare for lectures, should be avoided, and rather more casual events such as interactive talk shows where game users and developers communicate together on content topics are needed.
How should game seminars and conferences be organized?
Technical seminars that deliver information and knowledge should be structured as webinars to increase sustainability. In contrast, offline workshops and conferences aimed at exchanges should be filled with dense content after clear audience targeting. Therefore, rather than organizing a general public lecture, a customized coaching program by experts targeting a clear target group or a round table-type structure where practical cases are shared among participants at the same level as each other is needed. In addition, it should be a program where participants can grow together through mutual exchange by organizing a networking party that includes various events rather than just simple lectures.
Chungbuk Global Publishing Summit 2023, which drew a warm response from participants with a changed format
Through this ‘Chungbuk Global Publishing Summit 2023′ event, the Chungbuk Global Game Center directly invited executives and marketing experts from major publishers in countries where Korean games’ major exports and sales are generated to Korea to introduce the center’s games, meet with game companies, and hold events. We have prepared an opportunity to receive direct coaching regarding localization for each country.
- Developers Meet-up
Since most indie game companies are small in scale, it is difficult to expect to be selected and benefit from overseas game show B2B programs due to a lack of competitiveness when comparing directly with carefully selected games from mid-sized companies. Even if you are lucky enough to be chosen, in most cases, promotion material preparation and global build response are inadequate. In most cases, due to the nature of overseas publishers who have no choice but to prioritize managing a small number of games and companies of interest, they are often pushed out of actual preferences and priorities. No see.
In other words, it is virtually difficult for indies to expect export contracts to be achieved through B2B events. Therefore, game show support for indies shouldn’t be B2B-centered, but rather B2C support to improve local user testing and understanding of the market and users by country. For indies, it is much more essential to meet users directly through B2C experiences at domestic or overseas exhibitions, observe users’ gameplay, and establish goals for the next update by supplementing the game through that experience.
In addition, since global launching is essential for indie developers, meetings and direct advice with overseas publishing experts based on local service experience are necessary to achieve global results.
2. Publishing Summit
At this event, Korean and foreign publishing experts provided direct and practical advice for global, direct and practical guidance for global expansion was supplied by domestic and foreign publishing experts through an open conference. Improving understanding of international services and major markets in each country is a common need for most game companies, and each session of the summit included in-depth discussions and active questions regarding the global expansion of indie developers from North Chungcheong Province.
This event was organized by the Chungbuk Global Game Center and the Cheongju Cultural Industry Foundation to support new indie developers in North Chungcheong Province and to promote exchanges with global game center companies in Cheongju. It has become a place for practical advice.
Professor Musik.Jung of Gachon University’s Department of Game and Media, who was in charge of overall planning and hosting of this Global Summit event together with the Cheongju Global Game Center, said, “I am happy that it will be a great event for talented developers and passionate indies in North Chungcheong Province,” adding, “Focusing on indies.” In the Korean game industry, which is being reorganized, rather than ineffective export consultation meetings and B2B support that only advertisers meet, B2C support helps users find game improvements and set following development goals through users, major overseas publishers, or global companies, like this event. “We need to create a practical program that directly invites service experts to enable them to communicate, interact, and receive advice from game companies,” he said.
