◈ Held from August 15th to 17th at BEXCO Exhibition Hall 1… 283 indie games from 32 countries on display, the largest ever.
◈ Online Exhibition] Until August 29th, Busan Indie Connect Festival official website (bicfest.org)
◈ Busan IndieWave Conference scheduled for August 14th at the Grand Josun (Grand Banquet Hall) in Haeundae
Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Hyung-joon), Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency (President Kim Tae-yeol), and Busan Indie Connect Festival Organizing Committee (Organizing Committee Chairman Joo Seong-pil, hereinafter referred to as BIC Organizing Committee) announced that they will hold the “Busan Indie Connect Festival 2025 (BIC Festival 2025)” at BEXCO for three days from August 15th to 17th.
The Busan Indie Connect Festival, held annually in Busan, is Asia’s largest indie game event where you can see domestic and international indie games* all in one place.
The “Busan Indie Connect Festival (BIC) 2025,” now in its 11th year, will feature 592 indie games from 41 countries. 25 judges will rigorously review the games over a three-month period, and 283 domestic and international indie games from 32 countries will be unveiled to the public.
The slogan for this event is ‘MATCH YOUR INDIE SPIRIT’, which means that attendees and developers with different tastes and personalities will experience a ‘match’ that suits them.
This year’s event featured 592 indie games from 41 countries, an 18 percent increase over the previous year. The exhibition scale also expanded by 16 percent, making it the largest ever. Officials believe that, in line with the growth of the global indie game industry, the Busan Indie Connect Festival (BIC) is transcending its traditional exhibition format and establishing itself as a platform for global indie game developers to showcase their work and engage with one another.
The offline exhibition and experience event will be held at BEXCO from August 15th to 17th, and the business-to-consumer (B2C) period has been extended from 2 days to 3 days to allow anyone to freely view and experience the event throughout the entire period.
Moving away from last year’s division into “Business Day” and “Festival Day,” the event will transition to an experience-focused event open to everyone across all three days, increasing the promotional impact of domestic and international indie games and expanding experiential opportunities for visitors.
At the site, various side events will be held, including ▲stage events ▲event zones ▲goods zones ▲live streaming, and rest and convenience spaces will also be provided for developers and visitors.
At the opening ceremony (15th), the nominated works for the ‘Busan Indie Connect Festival (BIC) Award’ and the newly established award category ‘Special Pick’ will be announced, and on the last day of the event (17th), the awards ceremony and closing ceremony will be held.
The major award winners announced at the ‘Busan Indie Connect Festival (BIC) Awards’, including ▲Rookie category’s ‘Rising Star’ and ▲General category’s ‘Grand Prix’, are expected to attract the attention of the industry and audience as they will be selected as the best indie games of the event.
Following the offline event, online exhibitions and experiential events will continue on the official website (bicfest.org) until August 29th. Further details about the event can also be found on the official website.
Joo Sung-pil, the organizing committee chairman of the Busan Indie Connect Festival (BIC), said, “This year’s event has been prepared to provide a richer indie game experience for both visitors and industry professionals, including expanded global entries, full-day business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions, and a newly established awards ceremony,” adding, “I hope this will become a venue for an indie game festival where visitors can discover new games and communicate.”
Busan Mayor Park Hyung-joon said, “The Busan Indie Connect Festival, now in its 11th year, is establishing itself as a global indie game hub with Busan as its starting point,” and “Indie games are a key growth axis for the future content industry, and our city will spare no support to create an environment that developers practically need, from creation to distribution of indie games.”
