MCV@gamescom August 22nd 2018 Day Two

NEWS | INTERVIEWS | MAPS | EXHIBITOR LISTINGS

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DAY TWO

BOOTH B-62 BOOTH D-60 14/08/2018 11:21

CONTENT Editor: Seth Barton seth.barton@futurenet.com, +44 (0)203 871 7388 Senior Staff Writer: Marie Dealessandri marie.dealessandri@futurenet.com, +44 (0)203 889 4910

UK in Europe Now we’re all warmed up!

Gamescom got off to a storming start yesterday, with the business halls thriving as usual. The UK industry stand in particular was bigger and busier than I’ve ever seen it – you can’t miss it, it’s covered in British flags and bunting.

With only a few months to go until Brexit, you might think the UK industry was somewhat hesitant about the future, but instead its rolled up its sleeves and, like many industries in the country, its fighting back the only way it can, by doing business.

It will come as no surprise to most that the UK games industry is (largely) united against Brexit. The UK trade body, Ukie, has lead the battle to ensure

Today @gamescom 05 News and interviews

Content Director: James McKeown james.mckeown@futurenet.com, +44 (0)207 354 6015

that the industry gets the access it needs to Europe, both in terms of trade and to get the best talent.

Beyond that a new, issue specifc lobbying roup has been set up Games4EU which is fighting not to leave the EU at all.

At least as an incresingly digital business we won’t be overly affected by tailbacks of lorries at channel crossings into the country.

But desite that meager comfort please understand that in the games industry at least the UK is doing everything it possibly can to continue working with its European partner, for this gamescom and many more to come.

Seth Barton, editor of MCV

Designer: Sam Richwood sam.richwood@futurenet.com Digital Director: Diane Oliver dianne.oliver@futurenet.com, +44 (0)207 354 6019 Production Executive: James Marinos james.marions@futurenet.com, +44 (0)203 889 4907

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MCV has an exclusive media partnership with Famitsu – Japan’s leading video games analyst and news source

The biggest stories at gamescom

12 GSD: Euro sales data

How the region finally got its own chart

16 Triple-A fatigue

Why devs are setting up on their own

26 Exhibitor listings Plus trade hall plans

46 Hands-on at gamescom Our take on the show’s biggest titles

48 IRL@gamescom

The best pics from the show

The Emerson Building, 4th Floor 4-8 Emerson Street. London, SE1 9DU

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50 The final boss

Dr Jo Twist on the UK industry Future plc is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FUTR) www.futureplc.com

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Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne Non-executive chairman Peter Allen Chief financial officer Penny Ladkin-Brand

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21/08/2018 18:20

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Thank you for your efforts and passion!

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07/08/2018 09:00

Aaron Greenberg: Xbox is ‘well positioned for a record holiday‘ Xbox’s GM of marketing talks to Seth Barton about Xbox One X bundles, how Fortnite has grown gaming, and why Game Pass benefits its partners

XBOX is the platform holder most committed to gamescom, with a big presence in both the consumer and business halls. All of which will help with its bid for a ‘record holiday’ season in 2018, Aaron Greenberg, GM of games marketing at Microsoft, told MCV@gamescom.

And that confidence in the upcoming months was obvious at the show, with the company broadcasting live for the first time ever from the show floor last night, announcing expansions to current titles and a huge variety of new console bundles to tempt gamers into the Xbox camp this Christmas. And this year, with Xbox One X having been in full production for 12 months, he confirmed that stock will not be an issue: “We’re not going to be constrained. Anybody who wants to buy it, we will have one available.

“We prioritise gamescom as a big beat for us,” he continued. “It’s really great as it serves that midpoint between E3 and holiday.

So we’re announcing eight new console bundles… It’s a big selling season and we’re doing both new Xbox One S and Xbox One X bundles. Plus we have a limited edition, Gold Rush Special Edition Battlefield V Bundle, the first one we’ve ever done with an Xbox One X.” Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Forza Horizon 4 both come in One X and One S bundles, while Fallout 76 also has an One X bundle. And to complement the limited edition, there’s a standard Battlefield V bundle with a One S. Greenberg was ebullient about the sector in general: “Everyone is doing well right now, gaming is growing its category, more people are engaged with it.”

Part of that growth he attributed to the

“massive phenomenon” which is Fortnite. But what’s most impressed Greenberg is how the game’s success hasn’t come at a great cost to others: “We were watching for the impact: is this going to impact our other third-party partners? And we largely haven’t seen that.

For the large part Fortnite seems to have been additive, it has definitely grown gaming. It’s a game that has brought a lot more people into gaming, and the people who came in then went and spent more time playing games.

“The hardcore gamers who were playing all their favourite games didn’t stop playing their games to go and play Fortnite, but it did take people who were casual or very light gamers and they’re now spending more time playing.

It just brought a lot of new people, which is great; it diversifies the population.”

Of course some have benefited more than others: “It’s been great for Epic and it’s great

for the platform. We had a record Q4, really strong growth year-on-year, we ended our fiscal year with the biggest year we ever had, over $10bn (£7.7bn) in revenue.”

It would be reasonable to think the huge free-to-play success of Fortnite might have turned Microsoft’s head somewhat, but Greenberg is cautious: “The ability to get scale and to remove as many barriers as possible is definitely attractive, but you have to be careful about just focusing on a business model, as that alone doesn’t generate success. If you took a paid game and made it free-to-play that doesn’t mean it will be more successful, in many cases it could ruin a game. And you see how many people are trying to do battle royale right now.”

Of course Microsoft is looking to break down barriers in its own way, with Xbox Game Pass. Which has been popular in the territory, Greenberg told us: “In Europe the uptake of Game Pass has been particularly strong, people have responded really positively to the value. It just depends on the market, some markets are more ‘I want to own these games as part of a collection’ and others are like ‘I want access to a huge library’.”

That uptake means Game Pass can offer a new opportunity for publishers looking to get their franchises in front of new potential players, Greenberg told us: “Think about Bethesda putting Fallout 4 into Game Pass, they’re able to take that huge base of people who are Game Pass subscribers and introduce them to that, in advance of Fallout 76. It drives great engagement for them. It’s an opportunity to create new fans and drive that engagement.”

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Ubisoft: ‘We have long term plans with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’ Ubisoft’s EMEA executive director Alain Corre tells Marie Dealessandri about the firm’s longterm plans for Assassin’s Creed – and it looks like it’s not becoming an annual franchise again

ASSASSIN’S CREED ODYSSEY is coming out in early October and Ubisoft’s EMEA executive director Alain Corre confirmed that the franchise is very much becoming a live game.

“The plan with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is to come regularly with events, with content, so that the game is enriched and our fans are happy to have new things to discover and new challenges, because we know that our fans are consuming things very quickly,” Corre told MCV@gamescom.

“What we want is for them to stay in our universes. Because they have invested a lot of time, they want to stay, they want to have more fun to discover more things so our teams are committing to create more content for them. We want to enrich the game going forward and we have some long-term plans with Odyssey.”

But with Origins having released last year after a year hiatus, and Odyssey releasing this year, the question is: is Assassin’s Creed becoming an annual franchise again?

“No, that’s not what we have said,” Corre instantly replied. “What we did last year with Origins is to put back Assassin’s Creed as a big franchise of action adventure games and the success of Origins is still existing today. The community is huge and growing and people are playing Origins more and more, and we think that Odyssey – which started development very early – is something completely fresh for the Assassin’s Creed experience. So we are bringing something extra. We have long term plans with Odyssey to enrich the experience and the game moving forward.”

Next comes the tricky question of monetisation, with the promise of regular content often coming with a price tag.

“What is important for us and for our team and for our studios on all our games is that we create content on a regular basis. And what is very important is that the content we create is not changing the core gameplay.

We want our fans to be treated fairly,” Corre answered, tackling the question of monetisation with ease.

“So when we create content the idea is to bring something fresh so that fans can play or buy whatever they wish, but they’re not obliged to.”

With Assassin’s Creed Origins having been such a commercial success, Corre added that he has “very big expectations” for Odyssey.

That approach has been applied to Anno 1800 and its Anno Union community program, but also to the highly awaited Beyond Good & Evil 2 and its Space Monkey Program, that’s been gathering feedback from the fanbase since its reveal. Speaking of Beyond Good & Evil 2, we attempted to find out more about its potential release window.

To which Corre replied with a smile: “Some of the best dishes have to be cooked for a long time. And I believe that Beyond Good & Evil 2, when it comes out, will be a very important moment for the industry. Michel Ancel is working hard to develop it, to polish it. The game will come out when it will be ready but when it will come out, it will be huge.”

MONKEY BUSINESS Another topic that Corre spoke about at length is how Ubisoft wants to get closer to its community, with feedback from its players being processed very early on to shape the look, feel and play of its games.

“What we want is to really understand our communities, what they wish for, and to adapt and create our games and extra content depending on what what they want,” Corre said. “And so we want to go on listening to them even more. That’s why for the next games we’ll be integrating the feedback into what we do, integrating it into the development process, because we believe that it is by being as good as possible to the fans that we will be able to grow franchises in the future.”

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Robot Cache CEO: ‘The lowest price we’re probably going to sell a game will be $9.99’ Marie Dealessandri talks to Robot Cache CEO Lee Jacobson about the new digital distribution platform where curation is going to be key. Instead of replacing Steam, Robot Cache wants to provide an alternative to it DIGITAL distribution and resale platform Robot Cache will focus on highly curated content, CEO Lee Jacobson told MCV@ gamescom. “We’re not going to allow any school shooting simulation. We’re not going to allow any pornography,” he said, hinting at Steam’s recent controversies.

“I can’t tell you beyond those boundaries what we’re not going to accept but I can tell you we’re not going to accept a crappy game that gets a one out of ten or we’re not going to get a game that some kid uploaded using assets he licensed on the Unity store and sell it for $1.99. We’re not going to have that. I would say that the lowest price we’re probably going to sell a game will be $9.99. But never say never. But we’re a five per cent margin business so…” he smiled.

Robot Cache, which will enter an early access phase in October, will indeed rely on a very low margin, with publishers taking 95 per cent of all the sales proceeds. Gamers will also be able to resell their games once they’re done, with the publishers then taking 70 per cent of the proceeds and 25 per cent going back to the gamer in the form of digital tokens named Iron, Robot Cache’s currency, which they can use toward the purchase of another game on the platform.

“In five to seven years, reselling anything digitally, whether it’s a game, book, or movie... Whether it’s just games or other digital forms of content... It’ll be very hard to put the genie back in the bottle,” he said.

That doesn’t mean that Robot Cache will necessarily move into other sectors

though, he added: “We decided to focus on games but never say never. We think there’s an enormous amount of opportunity, for example college books. Reselling digital college books.”

Concluding our chat, Jacobson said the goal is ultimately not to replace Steam, but to add some variety to the market.

“We know Steam, we’re not naive to think that we’re going to go take them out,” Jacobson said, adding that “die hard Steamers will not leave” anyway. “But every year there’s going to be that younger audience that may see this as an alternative and this is just what it is: it’s an alternative to Steam. You rarely get a chance to have publishers and gamers both win. And this is the first time that we think that could happen,” he explained.

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‘It’s going to be an amazing Christmas’ says Koch Media CEO Klemens Kundratitz talks to Seth Barton about the THQ merger, Xbox Game Pass and his continuing enthusiasm for the industry

KOCH MEDIA partners a lot of the biggest names in gaming, so CEO Klemens Kundratitz has a great idea of the state of the European gaming: “I think it’s going to be an amazing Christmas,” he told us at Koch Media’s bustling stand yesterday.

“As an industry we’re in an altogether very healthy state. I find it fascinating how new brands come in, offer something new, and take the gaming community by storm, like Fortnite. Yes, it takes gaming time away from other games, but I think it’s great to see not only the established players always at the top.

The unpredictability of our business keeps us all interested and engaged.”

And speaking of the unpredictable, the THQ Nordic acquisition of Koch Media earlier this year could have given its veteran CEO an ideal time to bow out, but his enthusiasm for the industry is still infectious.

“It’s still very much a passion. I wanted to take the company into this new phase, coming out of being privately owned, to being a publicly-owned company. Being part of a bigger family, full of great IPs and with a greater number of studios. It’s just a bigger play, and I like to play bigger plays.”

It’s early days in the co-operation between the two companies, which remain “operationally separate units” he explained: “We both have a full slate and a full pipeline of products going forward, we’re very challenged by our throughput of products, there’s no need or immediate reason to think about more than just soft synergies.”

Looking at the company’s line-up, it still largely publishes single-player titles: Metro

“We still believe there’s a lot of gamers who love single player experiences. If other people leave that space, there’s more room for people like us to fill it.”

Exodus, Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Shenmue 3 for instance. So we wonder if Deep Silver, Koch Media’s publishing arm, has a live game in the offing?

“We have multiplayer games and we certainly aren’t avoiding multiplayers games in the future,” he told us. “On the other hand we still believe there’s an awful lot of gamers who love single player experiences. If other people leave that space, there’s more room for people like us to fill it.

“It’s not a philosophical question for us, being here or being there, we just want to offer the best entertainment for gamers, and as an organisation we will gradually learn and get more involved in multiplayer games.”

One area in which Koch Media has been keen to get involved is Xbox Game Pass. Though Kundratitz does have some reservations: “As an industry I think we need to be careful about how we approach this new business model. It’s a good additional source of income, a good way of keeping brands alive, and touching audiences that we normally don’t touch so easily, so I’ve got a very positive attitude toward this,” he told us.

“But I’m caveating that as an industry we need to be careful of following the example of first-parties to put front-line products into it, I would think long and hard about that.”

We rounded up by discussing Brexit He’s as concerned as anyone personally but assured us: “We are invested in England as a company and we will continue to grow and support our UK entities… We still love England and we travel to London more than any other European city.”

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Film, TV, comics: ‘There are a lot of avenues we can open’ to developers says Skybound Games Mark Stanger, general manager for EMEA at Skybound Games, tells Marie Dealessandri about the label’s line-up, IP expansion hopes and why it’s going for physical releases in a digital era

HAVING just announced it will be handling the physical distribution of Team Cherry’s indie hit Hollow Knight, as well as Adult Swim Games’ Death’s Gambit and Reverge Labs’ Skullgirls, Skybound Games is not only dedicated to carving its niche at retail, but also to expanding on the games’ universes if the opportunity is right, general manager for EMEA Mark Stanger told MCV@gamescom.

“The physical box distribution is something we feel that we understand and are comfortable with. Where it’s right and where there’s ambition, we can talk about film, we can talk about TV, we can talk about comic book publishing,” he said. “We have got two and a half million Skybound Insiders who would love to talk about certain types of game we know will resonate with that audience. We’ve got a merchandise team, a live event team. The word ‘holistic’ is over used in some instances but there are a lot of avenues we can open to content creators.”

Skybound Games is the publishing division of Skybound Entertainment, created by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman in 2010. The publishing label launched in April and is handling the physical release of The Long Dark and Slime Rancher, both due in September. Being part of that bigger entity means Skybound Games has access to a lot more resources than your typical independent publisher.

“Although the publishing entity is new, the people involved had been around the industry for quite some time so it’s quite an experienced team and we’re able to move pretty quickly,” Stanger said.

“From a games publishing perspective we’re in a good position because we can rely on products and services in the group.

So, you know, we have a relationship with Universal for movie treatments, we have a relationship with Amazon for TV, with Simon & Schuster for books... We have a sizeable

global community that we can tap into.

Those are things that other games publishers don’t necessarily have at their disposal immediately. But as a group we do, and where it’s right for the product we can bring those departments to support us.”

And with all these resources, Skybound Games is committed to retail, in an industry that is getting more and more digital.

“Obviously the retail landscape has changed massively over the past three, five, seven years. Digital has become so strong and so dominant. But we feel that for the right titles presented in the right way there is an opportunity at retail. And let’s face it: retail still exists, people do still go into shops and buy games and we feel that we can offer something really compelling in a box. What we’re seeing is that, although in the UK and Germany digital is a big component within the market for sure, there is still a very worthwhile retail piece to be explored there.”

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Sales data is getting...

EURO VISION Five years in the making, pan-European sales data is finally becoming a reality.

Seth Barton reports

I

t’s somewhat ironic that just as the UK is leaving the European Union, it’s a British man who is uniting the tricky-to-navigate sales territory like never before.

Simon Little, managing director of the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) has, after five years of negotiations, succeeded in unifying the territory with a truly pan-European sales report.

That service is the Games Sales Data (GSD) charts. And for the very first time, figures from across the region will be available in a single report; that’s both physical and digital sales, all collated in a single database.

It will allow the industry to better understand regional differences and to see how their marketing spend has played out across Europe, and all without having to collate numerous national reports into something semi-coherent.

It will make a lot of people’s working lives a lot easier.

WHY IS THIS GOOD? “That was one of the drivers behind this,” Little begins.

“The system as it existed was multiple systems, using different data standards for each country. I was working with the [big publishers’] European HQs, and what they wanted was a pan-European view using a standard approach.”

Little is keen to note that in many regions the local data was excellent, "that wasn’t the issue," he tells us. What was needed is the new system’s Europe-wide capability, which will have uniformity of data such as genres, game names, PEGI ratings and more.

And it’s up-and-running now in some countries: “It’s live in France, meaning that we’re publishing the data and charts on a weekly basis, but we’re also in a closed beta, an

industry test, in Spain, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Nordic countries, Switzerland, Poland and Portugal.”

Later this year, it will expand to Austria, Germany and potentially Russia. The UK will likely be the last of the big markets to go live. GSD combined digital and physical charts (or 'network' and 'retail' as Little calls them to avoid confusion with digital codes sold at retail) will take over from the current retail-only system in the country on January 1st, 2019.

HELLO OLD PAL Digital shift has made Europe a far more unified sales territory than ever before. “On the network side we cover 42 countries which is basically what we used to call PAL," Little says. "That doesn’t really exist anymore, but it’s pretty much the sales territory of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.”

And speaking of Sony, it’s worth noting at this point that initially the data will only cover the biggest publishers, with a couple of exceptions. This was done to get the largest possible sales volume from the off, as their are practical limitations to the system. Namely, despite having the big platforms onboard, Sony and Microsoft, as well as Steam and other online PC retailers, GSD still gathers its data from the individual publishers.

“It’s a bit of a convoluted ruse,” Little explains. “Every week the networks [eg, PSN and Steam] send their sales reports to the publishers and most of them simply forward theirs straight onto our service provider. Some are more sophisticated and integrate them into their own data processing system, and we get an extract of that. We don’t get the data directly from the network.”

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Pictured above: Simon Little, managing director of the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE)

The reasons for that are varied but the key is that “the networks don’t want the liability of accidentally sending the wrong data or the wrong person’s data. That’s why it goes round this route.”

The ISFE retains audit rights to ensure the data is correct, though that’s more for errors than any need to police the validity of the data. “Can you imagine the fuss if a listed company had been misstating sales,” Little comments with a sense of disbelief.

“Getting weekly data, there are sometimes slight glitches. So we also get the rolling data from the publisher and that corrects the data in the long term, so maybe it’s a few units out last week but by the time we look at the previous month it’s all fixed and correct.”

WHAT ABOUT THE LITTLE GUYS? It’s this method of data collection that is currently limiting the ISFE to just including the biggest publishers for digital data. Though Little obviously isn’t happy with that situation.

“I’m keen people don’t come away with the feeling that it’s just a project for the big guys. I’ve had to tackle this from a very practical point of view because of the the intensive way we gather the data. By signing up Activision and EA, I get a lot more data than by talking to 30 of the smaller guys.”

With smaller publishers come potential problems, he tells us, especially with a manual, weekly task. Key staff being ill and the company not being able to cover those absences is the main one.

“We’re fairly close to our limit in terms of the number of publishers we can onboard for now. There’s a few more we could accept but then the system starts to bog down,” he explains. However, Little is open to the suggestion of potentially adding smaller companies in on a less regular basis, for monthly or quarterly reports for instance.

He tells us that his long-term goal is to “be able to ingest the data from everyone” but that would require “an extra level of cooperation from the platforms.” He hopes that the industry will quickly get comfortable with the new system, though, and then they can again discuss getting the data from the platforms directly.

“I’m keen people don’t come away with the feeling that it’s just a project for the big guys.”

Long-term is a recurring theme of the discussion. The project was never going to be a “quick fix” but Little is mindful that “without the considerable commitment of the ISFE board, the platforms and the membership to the long-term vision of the project, it would not have survived the set-backs and delays. It may not seem like it when I am always trying to push my members for ‘more’ but I must keep in mind how much they have already supported and that even small steps are still steps.”

WHAT WILL IT COST? The ISFE is a not-for-profit organisation that represents various publishers and trade organisations to the EU and associated bodies. “The aim of the project, because it’s been run by us rather than as a commercial venture, is to create something that adds value for every part of the industry, for [the press and analysts], for the retailers, for the publishers and smaller firms,” states Little.

Though that doesn’t mean that the data will be freely available: “The prices are based on our analysis of several other markets but they should all be competitive and ultimately the project will be run on a sort of profit neutral basis. Ideally the costs and the expenses will match.”

However, the ISFE will first need to recoup the substantial investment it’s made, thanks to members and investors, in setting up the new service. “Once that’s all repaid, then we can look again at the pricing and try and balance income and expenses. So the expectation is that it will become cheaper,” Little predicts.

The biggest publishers and the platform holders will want full access to the online portal with all the data. But that depth of information and the prices that accompany it would make most blanche. “Basically, unless you’re employing a team of full-time analysts you’re probably not going to want that,” he reassures us.

“It’s good value but it is still relatively expensive if you’re a small operation. If you’re a publisher and you want to get that kind of access then you come to me, we’ve got a standard price list and we figure that out.”

For anyone else interested, Little has granted exclusive rights to the national associations for “the standard weekly, monthly and quarterly sales reports”. So in the UK the new charts will be available via Ukie just like the current Chart-Track figures – while those operating from other European countries should contact their local industry body.

It’s a big step forward for the industry, providing what should prove to be accurate and easy to comprehend data for the whole of the European games market for the first time. Arguably it’s well overdue, and comes at a point when full-game sales are no longer the be-all and end-all of the games industry. But it’s no less welcome for it.

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There’s a rise in new studios set up by industry veterans and former triple-A developers.

Marie Dealessandri investigates why top talent is jumping ship for a life as indies

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railmix, Sharkmob, Interior Night, Maze Theory, Ordinal Games, Dream Reality Interactive, SlingShot Cartel, PlayMagic: all these recently-opened studios are the creations of former triple-A veterans – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are more and more examples pointing in the direction of developers being weary of triple-A production every day, even if that’s what they’ve been aiming at for their entire career. Wanting to leave a wellestablished company to create something of your own is not a new desire, but it seems to be increasingly popular in development in the past few months.

Star Wars Battlefront II’s actress Janina Gavankar specifically discussed the rise of independent studios created by triple-A veterans in a interview with GamesBeat recently: “If you don’t have something that hits gamers’ hearts, you’re not going to reach them. I have triple-A fatigue, and I have felt like this for a while.

Why am I playing games that I could’ve played in 2007 except with better graphics?”

So we decided to ask newly-created studios if they too felt this triple-A fatigue, how instrumental it was in their decision to create their own company, their role in the future of an industry that is changing more rapidly than ever and what people are doing wrong when it comes to retaining talent within triple-A studios.

THE GAMES FACTORIES A need to explore more creative processes, and generally to have more creative freedom, is first and foremost what’s driven these industry veterans out of their comfort zone to find a new path, away from the sometimes rigid formats of triple-A development.

“After three triple-A games in 11 years (Fahrenheit, Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls), I felt the need for a change of pace and scale,” says Interior Night creative director and CEO Caroline Marchal, formerly of Quantic Dream and Sony. “Triple-A development is great but it means long development duration – four years on average at Quantic Dream – and bigger and bigger teams which come with organisational challenges and less flexibility. Running my own studio, I get creative freedom and the benefits of working with a smaller team. People are here for good reasons, not because it’s comfortable or prestigious. But it also comes with new

challenges: now, I control a lot more things, which is super cool, but can also be a bit scary.”

Jim Brown, who spent over 15 years at Codemasters, is now studio director at Malta-based PlayMagic. He echoes Marchal’s statement on the challenges of long development cycles: “The video games market and the industry move too fast to spend years on one game. I enjoy making entertainment for a living but too many years on one title is not for me anymore, I’ve done that.

I’m happiest working on multiple products that I know can make the kids in my family smile.”

The lack of creative freedom at some triple-A studios is also what led Martin Hultberg and Chris Pasley to cofound companies with devs who felt the same way.

“It is not unusual for triple-A studios to become these monster production houses, more akin to factories than creative studios,” Hultberg says. He spent 14 years at Ubisoft, 11 of which were at Massive Entertainment.

He’s a founding member of new Malmö-based studio Sharkmob, where he’s now IP and communications director. “I wanted to get back to a studio size where everyone had creative input, were hands-on with the game and felt a sense of ownership for what they worked on. When organisations get too big and these things aren’t considered you can lose that and it quickly becomes a more political and rigid environment.”

Pasley, who was executive producer on The Walking Dead: Road to Survival at Scopely and also worked for the likes of Cartoon Network and Kongregate, recently founded free-to-play mobile studio Ordinal Games. He also mentions “a strong desire to do things in [his] own way,” adding: “Large established studios with high burn rates make it difficult to go off in directions that are interesting but unproven – any plan you make could end up costing millions, so you tend to design and execute conservatively.”

INDIE READY The well-reported success of indie hits from studios such as Campo Santo, Infinite Fall, The Fullbright Company or Giant Sparrow, to name a few, has also shown that it’s now possible to make it as an indie, paving the way for more ambitious independent productions.

“There is so much opportunity to innovate as an indie, the landscape of tools, talent and market make it

Pictured above, from top: Interior Night’s Caroline Marchal and Ordinal Games’ Chris Pasley

Pictured left: Illustration by Sam Richwood

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a viable and exciting option,” says Dave Ranyard, who spent 11 years at Sony before launching Dream Reality Interactive in 2016. “The next wave of triple-A will come from indies, possibly backed by major publishers, but finance can come from many sources now: just look at film financing.”

Sharkmob’s Hultberg also sees similarities with the film industry: “I think [these new indie studios] combine the best from both worlds – combining elements of triple-A production values and practices with indie creativity and risk-taking. It is a move similar to what the movie industry in Hollywood went through years ago when there was a paradigm shift from the huge studios to the smaller, more flexible, production companies.”

The comparison with films doesn’t stop here, with the democratisation of tools also being instrumental in the emergence of these new studios led by industry veterans: they don’t need to work at triple-A studios anymore to have access to the best game engines.

“I looked at the film industry pre and post-WW2,” Ranyard continues. “Originally, the big studios made all the film and contracted the talent, but post-war, the tools for film-making were democratised, making it possible for smaller creative companies to develop ideas and then look for funding from the studios. I see a similar pattern in games, with the ubiquity of tools like Unity and Unreal.”

Ordinal Games’ Pasley agrees that the market is now mature enough to support the emergence of more indie productions: “I think if there is a shift to indie development it’s because of two possible things: creative people want to stretch out in ways established companies have a hard time justifying and the indie economy can now support it.”

Pictured above, from top: Dream Reality Interactive’s Dave Ranyard, PlayMagic’s Jim Brown, Maze Theory’s Marcus Moresby and Sharkmob’s Martin Hultberg

STORY-POWERED This shift is also a genre one, with the great majority of these new studios having been vocal about wanting to develop narrative-focused titles.

“Narrative games are the only fertile ground for new IPs at the moment,” Ranyard says. “I have talked with many publishers and many have done the same research, with the same conclusions… Narrative games are a huge opportunity for new IP to flourish. Indies have the experience and the agility to make great stories – how many great stories have been written by a committee of executives?”

Marcus Moresby, VR director at Maze Theory (founded by veterans from Sony and Activision) is in agreement: “Over the past few years I’ve spent a lot of my time playing games from the indie world: Firewatch, What Remains of Edith Finch, Gone Home and Dear Esther to name a few. As a massive fan of

narrative experiences that have a strong emotional hook, I think the shift to indie productions could be rooted in developer fatigue of triple-A polish and constantly redressing the same well-trodden game mechanics.

I believe they appeal to a wider audience who are perhaps put off by the heavy action titles or seemingly complicated control schemes.”

Interior Night’s Marchal shows nothing but respect for triple-A games, saying she enjoys playing them once in a while “the same way [she] enjoys superhero movies from time to time” and adding she “knows how much sweat and blood goes into to this level of perfection,” mentioning God of War as a prime example of what triple-A has to offer. However, she agrees that the greater ease of access of indie narrative games is what makes them appealing.

“Narrative games tend to be more accessible as they focus more on story than skills. They have the potential to appeal to a broad audience as stories are universal,” she says. “It’s a blossoming genre with several successful new IPs every year – something other game genres struggle with – and recent interesting experiences trying to bring together TV/film and games. I think this convergence is fascinating and will lead to the creation of a new medium/format in the next few years.”

Narrative games have also not reached their full potential yet, meaning it’s still a relatively unexplored part of the market that is well worth exploring, Pasley continues: “It’s time to double down on narrative because it’s a gaming niche that is currently not as fulfilled as it could be. And now a few companies have shown that these are viable market mechanics – that I am not alone

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Pictured: Games like Campo Santo’s Firewatch (left) and The Fullbright Company’s Gone Home (right) paved the way for more ambitious indie productions

in my desire to play great stories, and that players will support that desire financially. I think indies are drawn to them because these games who have set the stage for others were all well made, but production-wise not that difficult to make on a budget. I think indies see these experiences as ways to deliver quality without needing to deliver expensive graphical fidelity.”

NEW VOICES Ultimately, these newly-created studios led by veterans have an important role to play in the industry: they’re shaping its future. A future that could see a wider range of firms sharing the market, with triple-A titles sideby-side with indie narrative darlings. Perhaps these polished, often shorter experiences, are worth bringing the term ‘triple-I’ back for, no matter how silly you think it is.

“It’s the promise of getting new voices out there, exploring different topics and new genres,” Interior Night’s Marchal says. “It can only be beneficial to get more diversity in games as this allows us to reach new audiences and satisfy niches which are not considered by triple-A. It’s a very exciting time and I have high hopes in these studios delivering high quality and innovative experiences.”

PlayMagic’s Brown concludes: “Companies like ours are the lifeblood of future creativity, and to a quality standard players respect. I don’t work to make games for our company – we make them for the consumers that buy them. Our duty is to create high quality engaging experiences that deliver fun. Triple-A studios copy what works and package it in graphics. We create what works.”

RETAINING TALENT WITH many people leaving triple-A studios to create their own firms, it’s only natural to wonder if big firms are rewarding key creatives enough and if they could do better to retain staff.

“This is a tricky question. Some turnover is inevitable in any studio, especially after a project’s completion,” Interior Night’s Caroline Marchal says.

“As to retaining staff in triple-A studios, promoting people, trusting them to evolve the franchise and empowering them creatively seem like sensible things to do, but I’m sure they already do this.

What I do know is that you rarely make a fortune as a game developer. Heavy Rain was a massive success, but to my knowledge it didn’t translate into massive revenue for Quantic Dream. If developers had a better royalty share, then they could reward and retain their staff more.”

Here, Marchal touches upon a very sensitive topic: rewarding the developers for their contribution to the game, in a similar way the film or music industries reward staff with bonuses and royalties.

“When it comes to rewarding key creative staff compared to Hollywood, I think that might be difficult, but the idea is interesting,” Ordinal Games’ Chris Pasley says. “Should key creatives get royalties, or other performance bonuses beyond what companies usually give

in the industry now? I think it works in Hollywood because of the concept of key creatives as auteurs. In games, with a few notable exceptions, most are made by large teams who collaborate in a much different way. So if you didn’t have this key creative, would the game have been as successful? In movies, the answer is usually no – without James Cameron, Avatar doesn’t exist.

However, I think in games that is rarely seen to be the case.”

Sharkmob’s Martin Hultberg also thinks it’s maybe time to change the way we approach recognition in the industry: “I think we have problems in regards to giving credits, royalties and proper recognition. This probably stems from a lack of unionised or industry wide standards, something that is more common in the movie and music industries. In gaming, all the rights stay with the company.

“All the recognition goes to spokespeople selected to represent the product. It would be interesting, and highly motivating, if the actual content creators were the ones recognised for their contributions. And don’t even get me started on credit lists. Maybe a more structured industry in this regard would help stabilise compensation and recognition for everyone working in it.”

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Creative Assembly: ‘Gamescom provides a unique environment for creative and business discussions’ Tim Heaton, Creative Assembly studio director and EVP of Sega Studios, tells MCV@gamescom more about Total War: Three Kingdoms and the studio’s work on a brand new tactical FPS

WE always get excited about our annual gamescom visit. Yes, of course it’s the largest consumer show in the world (and still growing) and a must-do for reaching our fans, but it also provides a unique environment for creative and business discussions. With so many developers and publishers all in one place and all driven by the same passion for gaming, there is an opportunity to build partnerships and, especially for smaller independent developers, climb over that hurdle of discoverability.

This gamescom, Creative Assembly is giving our European fans a first-play opportunity as we’ll be showcasing neverseen-before content for our new major historical title, Total War: Three Kingdoms.

Germany is actually the third largest market for Total War so it’s great to bring them the chance to go hands-on with the game for the very first time.

Players will get an exclusive look at the exotic lands of ancient China in a campaign map flythrough before being thrust into the midst of a night-time ambush battle. Sun Jian’s army, led by Sun Ren and Sun Quan, must defend against waves of incoming heroes and warriors or choose to make a break for freedom. I know that many will be

“We are on the lookout for talented developers to join this project, it’s a real opportunity to make a mark on a new IP.”

eager to see what the other side of Creative Assembly is working on.

Back in our UK headquarters the team behind Alien: Isolation are busy exploring new frontiers with a brand-new and exciting first-person tactical shooter. While it’s a game for a future gamescom, we are on the lookout for talented developers to join this project and, at such an early stage, it’s a real opportunity to make a mark on a new IP. In the meantime, you can catch Creative Assembly at the Deep Silver stand in Hall 9, as part of the huge Sega presence this year.

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Hi-Rez Studios: A game launch ‘is only the start of its journey for us’ Véronique Lallier, VP global marketing and GM of the European HQ, and Stew Chisam, president of Hi-Rez Studios, tell MCV@gamescom about the creation of distinct publishing and development divisions and the firm’s current projects, including battle royale title Realm Royale

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What’s the core idea behind Hi-Rez Studios?

Stew Chisam: We are a group of people who are very passionate about games and more than anything, passionate about our type of game.

Our games tend to be multiplayer competitive games that can be played on a number of platforms that are constantly being updated over time. They’re constantly changing and continually evolving over the course of, hopefully, years. In stark contrast to the production of a game that’s just put out there and moved on from. Everything else we are and have become is fuelled by that passion for these types of games and for that general approach to gaming overall.

What kind of businesses are you looking to work with?

Véronique Lallier: We have recently announced the establishment of distinct publishing and development divisions at Hi-Rez which will enable us, as a publisher, to see that our own and partner studios fulfill their maximum potential. Its primary remit is to empower the studios that we work with, help them make the greatest games possible and see that those games reach the largest audience possible.

Unlike other traditional videogames publishers, Hi-Rez works exclusively with free-to-play games-as-a-service and so our approach is non-traditional. The point at which a game becomes publicly available is only the start of its journey for us. We don’t market, promote, ship and move on, the relationship with our studios and their players is very long term.

We have two primary goals as a publishing organisation: to act as a service company for our own studios and offer investment funding and the benefit of our experience to other free-to-play, games-as-aservice studios to help them achieve and exceed their own business and gaming aspirations.

platforms. For the first time, HRX will run twice in one year and will be back at Dreamhack Atlanta in November.

What are you showing at gamescom this year?

Véronique Lallier: We are located at the Ukie booth in the business centre (Hall 4.1 Stand B030/D049) where we’ll be meeting with existing and potential partners and free-to-play game developers.

We’re excited at the prospect of establishing new relationships and would like to extend an open invitation to other games-as-a-service partners and studios.

In the consumer hall our focus is on our battle royale title Realm Royale. Developed by Heroic Leap, it is currently in Alpha on Steam where we are gathering feedback from players around the world.

Thanks to our partners Mixer, Facebook, Discord and Lootboy the game is also playable across the show floor on their booths too. At the Mixer HypeZone, players can compete in Realm Royale and win the console of their choice if they accomplish a crown royale. Facebook is hosting live games on their booth and our team will be there to cast games and present the latest in game updates to our fans.

Every other day our partners LootBoy and Discord will offer their communities the chance to play Realm Royale and win goodies and exclusive skins codes for both Realm and Smite.

This evening, we’re hosting a party at Rheinloft between 8pm and 2am, everybody is welcome to join and fans who cosplay our games can compete to win special gamescom goodies and merchandise.

What projects do you currently have in the works?

Véronique Lallier: At our owned studios, Titan Forge is working on the BAFTA winning game Smite, Evil Mojo on the critically acclaimed Paladins and Heroic Leap on the most recently launch battle royale game Realm Royale. Each is constantly creating new and exciting content for their live games.

Our esports division Skillshot Media is working at full pace in preparation for our esport live events including Hi-Rez Expo (HRX), the company’s world championship for all our games across multiple

GET TO KNOW HI-REZ STUDIOS HEADQUARTERED in Alpharetta, Georgia, Hi-Rez Studios is an industry leading videogame publisher and developer at the forefront of the free-to-play, games-as-a-service industry.

More than 70 million players worldwide have experienced Hi-Rez games across PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android. With three games regularly among the Top Ten free-to-play titles on Steam, Hi-Rez is one of the few western developers to have successfully launched

multiple, multi-platform games-as-a-service to a large audience.

With a proven track record, its highly skilled and talented workforce has been a pioneer in short-cycle content generation, monetisation without impacting gameplay and community building through esports.

As part of its expanding services business Hi-Rez lends its unrivalled expertise in competitive gaming, tournament operation and production to partner studios through its

community driven esports division, Skillshot Media. Alacrity Arthouse, its new technical art studio, leverages the company’s tech and art pipeline experience to produce highly creative and compelling in-game assets to an industry leading standard.

Having won numerous awards and accolades for innovation and technology, Hi-Rez has also been recognised for its company culture, leadership and diversity as an employer.

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G2A.COM is expanding its offer for gamers Dorota Wróbel, general manager at G2A.COM Marketplace talks to MCV@gamescom about the online store opening up to the sale of physical products and how gamescom is ideal to establish partnerships

What projects do you currently have in the works and what challenges are you facing?

The market is changing at such a fast pace, that to keep up with it, we must do the same: constantly develop. Our customers are very demanding. We persistently observe their needs and try to give them everything we can to satisfy them. This is how our slogan “best deals for gamers and geeks” was born.

Since the very inception of our marketplace, we have worked hard to build a platform that offers gamers what they love for less. We noticed that these same gamers are also looking for software, top-up codes and online courses. As all these items are digital, all we had to do was create new product categories on G2A.COM. Now our biggest challenge is going a step further and opening our marketplace to an entirely new method of delivering products by introducing the sale of physical items.

G2A.COM has recently transformed and isn’t just a marketplace for digital products anymore. Customers, for now from a few European countries, can buy and sell electronics on G2A Marketplace. We want to offer gamers everything that interests them on one platform, while offering our partners new marketing and sales opportunities.

How important is gamescom for your business?

Gamescom is a great opportunity to review and summarise business and discuss mutual needs with partners. Cologne is the ideal place to establish long-term partnerships.

After all, it is thanks to our partners, as well

as our customers, that we have grown our company into what it is today.

This is where we established cooperation with all the biggest sellers on our marketplace. The entire industry gathers in one place at gamescom, which gives us the best opportunity to do great business.

What is key to your business at the moment?

In short – technology and the best tools. We create solutions, and the solution we are most proud of right now is G2A PAY – a payment gateway offering over 200 global and local payment methods. PAY lets us easily reach clients all around the world. We also see huge potential, and so are strongly investing, in the development of artificial intelligence.

We partnered with Microsoft on our journey with AI, which has helped us quickly advance our progress with the technology.

We use AI for two main goals. First, it’s at the center of our recommendation system that increases conversion and user satisfaction at the same time. Second, we utilise the power of AI in an advanced fraud prevention tool, thanks to which we can identify inappropriate behaviour on our marketplace with almost perfect accuracy.

by providing a marketplace where hundreds of thousands of sellers compete to give the best prices, but by offering customers the chance to easily earn through our affiliate system, Goldmine.

Privately? I am eagerly waiting for Cyberpunk, and when it comes to titles with earlier release dates – Battlefield V.

What are you looking forward to most in gaming during the next 12 months?

Our most important goal is for gamers to be able to afford games. We want to help not only

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Exhibitor guide 2018 Vorläufiger VorläufigerHallenplan Hallenplan• Preliminary • Preliminaryhall hallplan plan

Your complete guide to who’s where at this year’s gamescom

Vorläufiger Hallenplan • Preliminary hall plan

entertainment area · entertainment area fanshop arena family & friends business area · business area Freigelände/Eventgelände · outdoor area/event area

entertainment area · entertainment area entertainment area · entertainment area fanshop arena fanshop arena family && friends family friends business area · business area business area · business area Freigelände/Eventgelände · outdoor area/event area Freigelände/Eventgelände · outdoor area/event area

entertainment area · entertainment area fanshop arena

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

COMPANY

family & friends

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

business area · business area

Freigelände/Eventgelände · outdoor area/event area

HALL 1 EA Swiss SARL

1

1

A001

HALL 2 5Ca International B.v.

Abysse Corp Acronis Germany Gmbh Ad2games Gmbh Adia Entertainment Ltd. Advgame / Adtech One Ltd. Ak Tronic Software & Services Gmbh All Esport Ltd. Ams Neue Medien Gmbh Appbi Technology Co.,Ltd. Appcpi

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

D038 D049 C013 A014 E029 D020 A059 D058 D015 C020 C013 A014 C013 A014 C050 C056

Astragon Entertainment Gmbh Astro Gaming Avanquest Deutschland Gmbh Basco Inc. Be Haviour Interactive Inc. Beta Service Gmbh Bhaptics Inc. Bigben Interactive S.a.

Bigpoint Gmbh Cardpay Psp Ltd Cdp Sp. Z O. O. / Klabater CI Games S.a.

Click Entertainment Ltd Combo Strike/ Nevaly Gmbh Creative Distribution Ltd. Reef Entertainment Ltd.

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

B069 A060 C013 A014 C040 E049 C013 A014 D051 D040 C013 A014 C030 B051 D053 C013 A014 C051 B050 E029 D020 E014

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COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

E-Concept Sas Eset Deutschland Gmbh Ethoscorp Dwc Llc Exquisite Gaming Limited Ez Games/ Ez Cards Distribution, In Flaregames Gmbh G Data Software Ag G2a.com Spolka Z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnoscia

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

D010 C013 A014 E043 C013 A014 A051 E048 C013 A014 C011

G2A HALL 2 LEVEL 1 BOOTH NO. C011 19 million customers, 400,000 sellers and over 75,000 digital products, ranging from game keys to subscriptions: this is G2A.COM. With the digital retailer having recently added software like Microsoft products, gaming peripherals and hardware, it’s the place to go to for amazing deals on all things in gaming.

G2A.COM is looking to establish new long-term partnerships at gamescom 2018.

Gaijin Network Ltd. Gameforge 4D Gmbh Gamera Interactive S.r.l.

Gl Entertainment Distributions Limited Gl Events Exhibitions Fuarcilik A.s Half Moon Bay Ltd. Hash Rush Sia Helpshift, Inc Hori (U.k.) Ltd Imagination S.c. Lukasz Kubiak, Bartosz Moskala Indie Garden / Events For Games Ironsource Mobile Ltd Jinx, Inc. Jöllenbeck Gmbh Speedlink Kalypso Media Group Gmbh Keywords Studios Logitech Deutschland Gmbh Marketpoint Gmbh Msm.digital Nbg Edv Handels- Und Verlags Gmbh Nero Ag Nordic Game Supply Gmbh Ogury Ltd Omnyex E Commerce Dmcc Perfect World Europe B.v.

Plantronics B.v.

Pt Megaxus Infotech Qiwi Bank (Jsc) Ram Rom Games, S.l.

Rubber Road Ltd. Saber Interactive Sharefun Network Limited Sky City Y2k Limited Smatrade Gmbh Snakebyte Distribution Gmbh Splash Damage Symantec Deutschland Gmbh Teejay Games Limited Tencent Wegame Total Disc Repair Ltd, T/A Elm Europe Trust Deutschland Gmbh Turtle Beach Uk Unity Technologies Aps Unityads Upltv Co., Ltd. Vh Solutions Oü World International Trading, Llc Xtreme Spa Yoozoo Games Zingfront Technology Co.,Ltd.

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

E015 D014 D069 C052 C046 D059 D051a C013 A014 D038 C059 A050 E010 C058 C013 A014 E015 D014 D013 C010 C054 C013 A014 C013 A014 C013 A014 C013 A014 C013 A014 C013 A014 D031 C041 B040 E046 C013 A014 E045 D057 E053 D050 A011 C013 A014 E041 D042 C013 A014 C013 A014 B068 C069 C013 A014 E049 D041 D046 C013 A014 C013 A014 B059 A058 B059 A058 E039 D048 C046 C043 C030 E041

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

1C Publishing Eu S.r.o.

360 Games Acapture Aci Worldwide Adcowa Gmbh Adspree Media Gmbh Adyen N.v.

Amazon Amd International Sales & Service Ltd. Aoc International Europe B.v App Radar Software Gmbh Appcoins Arozzi Europe Ab Asmodee Digital Behle & Partner Gmbh & Co. Kg Bethesda Softworks Zenimax Germany Gmbh Bezant Capcom Entertainment Germany Gmbh Cld Distribution Computec Media Gmbh Cooler Master Europe B.v.

Cosmocover Sarl Cosmocover Sarl Cowana Gmbh Cse Gmbh Cyberlink Europe B.v.

Dcmn Gmbh Denuvo By Irdeto Difuzed Digamore Entertainment Gmbh Dmarket Limited Dotemu Sas Dxracer Distribution Europe Enarxis Dynamic Media Ltd. Epay (Transact Elektronische Zahlungssysteme Gmbh) Epic Games International S.a.r.l.

Factory-C Gmbh Factory-C Gmbh Factory-C Gmbh Factory-C Gmbh Forever Entertainment S.a.

Freaks 4U Gaming Gmbh Frontier Developments Plc Frostkeep Studios Funcom Oslo As G2 Esports Gamei Distribution Co., Limited Gbg Global Brands Group Giants Software Entertainment Gmbh Globaldots Services And Support Gmbh Happy Worker I3d.net B.v.

Ifsa Experts Corp.

Iiyama Deutschland Gmbh Intel Corporation Uk Ltd. Jujubee S.a.

Kingston Technology Europe Co Llp Lagardére Sports Germany Gmbh Latindv, Lda Leogaming Level Up! Interactive Ltda Libredia Entertainment Gmbh Lifexpress/ Medion Ag Lightbulb Crew Sas Making Games, Key Players Medialounge Gmbh Mediarex Enterprises Limited Mmd Monitors & Displays B.v.

Modecom S.a.

Netmarble Us, Inc.

2 2 D029 C028 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 C056 2 2 D041 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 A036 2 2 B029 A020 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 D014 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 D022 2 2 D060 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 C029 B020 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 B057 2 2 D048 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 D028 2 2 D039 C030 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 C068 2 2 D057 2 2 C058a 2 2 D051a 2 2 A021 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 A043 2 2 C046 2 2 C060 D061 2 2 D010 2 2 D040 2 2 A040 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 C060 D061 2 2 C068 2 2 D060 2 2 D043 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 C060 D061 2 2 D059 2 2 C068 2 2 C052 2 2 B049 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 D049 2 2 A045 2 2 A042 2 2 D053 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 C068 2 2 D055 2 2 D060 2 2 C060 D061 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 D012 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 D060 2 2 A058 2 2 C068 2 2 D048 2 2 C039 B030 2 2 C058 2 2 B069 A060 2 2 D041a 2 2 B069 A060

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HALL 1

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ITALIANS THAT MAKE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD

GAMESCOM KOELNMESSE AUGUST 21-23, 2018 HALL 4.1 - STAND A010/B019

Ad Template.indd 1

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COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

Nvidia Gmbh Overwolf, Ltd Paymentwall, Inc. Paysafe Holdings Uk Limited Pqube Limited Pyramid Posters T/A Pyramid International Qloc S.a.

Rad Game Tools Inc. Raw Fury Ab Razer (Europe) Gmbh Reto-Moto Aps Robot Gentleman Sp. Z O.o.

Scalarr Inc. Serienjunkies.de Gmbh & Co. Kg Sevenone Media Gmbh Shikenso Gmbh Soedesco B.v.

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

C039 B030 C068 B011 A030 D060 B031 D029 C028 C044 C068 B069 A060 C039 B030 C060 D061 D045 C039 B030 C039 B030 C054 C060 D061

SOEDESCO HALL 2 LEVEL 2 BOOTH NO. C060 D061 Rotterdam-based publisher Soedesco continues to expand its digital and physical offering across a range of genres and formats, with procedurally-generated horror title Monstrum, film noir horror Dollhouse, Truck Driver to keep Real Farm company in the simulation space, a limited edition of Owlboy in the works and 8-Bit Armies approaching a full release. Meet the team at gamescom!

Stackpath Stillfront Group Ab Ströer Media Brands Gmbh Taurus Europe Gmbh Techland Sp Z O.o.

Tegway Company Limited Tilting Point Media Llc Trion Worlds, Inc. Uol Boacompra Utomik Development Bv Vigamus Media S.r.l Wargaming Europe S.a.s Web Media Publishing Ag Werkmeister & Company Gmbh Whyttest Srl (Limited) Wirecard Technologies Gmbh Wlompos Investments Ltd / Appness Xsolla (Usa) Inc.

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

C060 D061 C060 D061 C039 B030 D041a D020 D047 A056 A041 C040 B069 A060 D060 D025 C020 C039 B030 C039 B030 D051 B059 C042 A049

XSOLLA HALL 2 LEVEL 2 BOOTH NO. B051 A050 Xsolla gives the rights tools to developers and publishers to create, monetise, market and publish their game. The team aims at democratising game development, working hand-in-hand with its partners to provide an overall support solution that effectively lowers the barrier to success in our industry. Xsolla will be in Hall 2.2 to meet current and potential partners.

Xsolla (Usa) Inc. Zotac Technology Ltd.

2 2

2 2

B051 A050 B069 A060

HALL 3 4-Real Intermedia Gmbh Adish Co., Ltd. Advergamekorea Seoul Digitech Highschool Aerosoft Gmbh Akpublish Pty Ltd Altagram Gmbh Amata K.k.

3 3 3 3 3 3 3

2 2 2 2 2 2 2

A010 D019 A031a B062 D067 A010 D019 A070 C030 D039 A031b

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

Amber Studio Srl 3 2 D050 3 2 A031c Ambition Co., Ltd. Amc Romania 3 2 D050 Animation Media Cluster Region Stut 3 2 C020 Apits Lab 3 2 C024 App Annie Europe Limited 3 2 C030 D039 Application Systems Heidelberg Software Gmbh 3 2 C020 Aptitude X - Vehicle Art Studio 3 2 A050 B059 Aquiris Game Studio S.a.

3 2 D071 Arcolabs 3 2 D071 Ares Tech Gmbh 3 2 D029 Argentina Gaming Pavilion 3 2 C071 Artik Games 3 2 C071 Assemble Entertainment Gmbh 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 A070 Australia - Gdaa Ltd Back To The Game 3 2 A050 B059 3 2 C071 Bacus Studios Bail Enemy Jet 3 2 A070 Bcon - Caplab Gmbh 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 A010 D019 Beiten Burkhardt Rechtsanwaltgesellschaft Mbh Below The Game (Btg) 3 2 B073 3 2 A070 Big Ant Studios Pty Ltd Bitpioneers Gmbh 3 2 C024 Blazingsoft 3 2 B073 Blockwise 3 2 B073 Bluestone Soft, Inc. 3 2 B062 D067 Boss Battle Records 3 2 A070 Br Games 3 2 B062 D067 Brazil Games 3 2 D071 Breaking Walls 3 2 A050 B059 C2 Game Studio 3 2 B073 Canvas Games 3 2 D071 Ceim - Canada 3 2 B040 Chengdu Future Tech Co.,Ltd. 3 2 C040 D049 Chengdu Tianheyi Information Technology Co.,Ltd. 3 2 C040 D049 Chile Pavilion 3 2 B071 Coldtower Studio 3 2 C071 Comercial Bekho Team Game Development Y Compañía Limitada 3 2 B071 Comercial Leo Del Sol Sw Limitada 3 2 B071 Compile Heart Co.,Ltd 3 2 A031d Crackproof 3 2 A031e Creative Europe Desk Nrw C/O Film- Und Medienstiftung Nrw 3 2 B030 C039 Creative Victoria 3 2 A070 Cri Middleware 3 2 A031f Dacs Laboratories Gmbh 3 2 A010 D019 Deck13 Interactive Gmbh 3 2 A010 D019 Department Of Commerce Of Hainan Province 3 2 C040 D049 Devdragon 3 2 B062 D067 Devdragon 3 2 B062 D067 Dico Co., Ltd. 3 2 A031h Diseño Web Y Multimedia Limitada 3 2 B071 Dong Guan City Vilsun Electronics Co, Ltd 3 2 C040 D049 Emoji Games Gmbh 3 2 B062 D067 Engage.nrw C/O Mülheim&Business Gmbh 3 2 B030 C039 Epopeia Games 3 2 D071 Epsilon Games 3 2 A050 B059 Error 404 Game Studios S.a.

3 2 C071 European Game Composers 3 2 A010 D019 European Games Group Ag 3 2 A010 D019 Eurovideo Medien Gmbh 3 2 A010 D019 F+F Distribution Gmbh 3 2 A020 B021 Fdg Entertainment Gmbh & Co Kg 3 2 A020 B021 Fellow Traveller Games 3 2 A070 Film- Und Medienstiftung Nrw Gmbh 3 2 B030 C039 Film Victoria 3 2 A070 Funster 3 2 C030 D039 Gads Game Art & Design Studios Colombia Sas 3 2 B073 Game - Verband Der Deutschen Games-Branche E.v.

3 2 A010 D019 Gameaddik Network Inc 3 2 A050 B059 Gamecity: Hamburg / Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft Mbh 3 2 A030 B039

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HALL 2

LEVEL 1

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COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

Gamecity: Hamburg / Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft Mbh 3 2 B049 3 2 A010 D019 Gameloft Gmbh Gamelogic Spa 3 2 B071 Gameplan Consulting 3 2 D071 Games Capital Berlin 3 2 C030 D039 Games For Families (C/O Planetlan Gmbh) 3 2 A010 D019 Games From Quebec - Ministry Of Economy, Science & Innovation 3 2 A050 B059 Games.nrw E.v.

3 2 B030 C039 Games/Bavaria – Werk1. Bayern Gmbh 3 2 A020 B021 Gamesmarkt Gmbh 3 2 D025 Gamevil Com2us Europe Gmbh 3 2 C030 D039 Gamigo Advertising Gmbh 3 2 A030 B039 Gaming-Aid E.v.

3 2 A010 D019 Gaon 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 C024 Garlic Games Media Gmbh Gently Mad Studios Ug 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 A050 B059 Globalstep Technologies Montreal In Gnifrix 3 2 B062 D067 Gportal Ociris Gmbh 3 2 A020 B021 3 2 B062 D067 Gravity Co., Ltd. Grimbart Tales 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 D040 G-Star 2018 / Korea Association Of Game Industry Hangzhou Electronic Soul Network Technology Co. Ltd. 3 2 C040 D049 Hannoverimpuls Gmbh 3 2 C024 Harmonious Productions 3 2 A070 Headup Games Gmbh & Co Kg 3 2 A010 D019 Hipster Whale 3 2 A070 Hoplon Infotainment 3 2 D071 Humble Bundle Deutschland Gmbh 3 2 C030 D039 Igda Estonia Mtü 3 2 B050 Ingeniería, Diseño Y Tecnología Bitplay Spa 3 2 B071 Innogames Gmbh 3 2 A030 B039 International Game Developers Association (Igda) 3 2 C051 Ipeoples 3 2 B062 D067 Jamong Inc. 3 2 B062 D067 Jandisoft 3 2 B062 D067 Jetro (Japan Pavilion) 3 2 A031 Jiangsu Huanjun Traffic Technology Co.,Ltd. 3 2 C040 D049 Joysticket 3 2 D071 Jsc Games Co., Ltd. 3 2 B062 D067 Kirarito Inc. 3 2 A031i Kokku 3 2 D071 Koolhaus Games Inc. 3 2 B040 Korea Pavilion 3 2 B062 D067 Kotobuki Solution Co., Ltd. 3 2 A031j Kr3m. Media Gmbh 3 2 C020 Lavalabs Moving Images Gmbh & Co.kg 3 2 C020 Loomiarts 3 2 D071 Lucid Dreams 3 2 C071 Lumentech 3 2 D071 Magix Software Gmbh 3 2 C030 D039 Mammossix Co.,Ltd. 3 2 B062 D067 Manifesto Games 3 2 D071 Matchmade 3 2 C030 D039 Media:net Berlinbrandenburg E.v.

3 2 C030 D039 Media:net Berlinbrandenburg E.v.

3 2 D029 Mediengründerzentrum Nrw Mgz Gmbh 3 2 B030 C039 Mediennetzwerk.nrw 3 2 B030 C039 Mfg Medien- Und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg Mbh 3 2 C020 Mighty Kingdom 3 2 A070 Mind Games Studio 3 2 C040 D049 Mirum Studio 3 2 A050 B059 Mod.io 3 2 A070 Mothership Marketing Gmbh 3 2 C030 D039 Myoogame Ltd 3 2 C040 D049 Nano Biztools 3 2 D071 Ncsoft 3 2 B062 D067 Ngelgames Co., Ltd. 3 2 B062 D067 Nordmedia Film 3 2 C024 Octeto Studios Spa 3 2 B071

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

Oddonegames Corp.

On3d Studios Panda Arcade Pebblekick Co., Ltd. Per-Aspera Planetlan Gmbh Playa Games Gmbh Playmind Playpark Co., Ltd Playside Studios Prideful Sloth Pty Ltd Procolombia Quantic Beans Quantumfrog Gmbh R1 Consulting Group S.a.

Reality Magiq Inc. Remote Control Productions Gmbh Renxo S.a.

Rgda Romanian Game Developers Association Riot Games Services Gmbh S.a.d. Gmbh Scubalight Studios Serious Games Solutions Sheer Tianyi Technology Llc Shenzhen 7Road Technology Co.,Ltd. Shenzhen Blackstream Interactive Entertainment Co.ltd Shenzhen Blaz Information Technology Co.,Ltd Shenzhen Ipega Electronics Technology Co.,Ltd Shenzhen Ipm Biotechnology Co.,Ltd Shenzhen Mygt Co.,Ltd. Shenzhen Sunwin Intelligent Co.,Ltd Shenzhen Yunsu Information Technology Co.,Ltd Silicon Studio Corporation Sinergia Studios Sistemas Globales S.a.

Sisyfox Gmbh Six Foot Europe Gmbh Softdistribution Gmbh Soleseat (Yangzhou) . Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd Sqs Software Quality Systems Ag Studio Seufz Success Corporation Super Entertainment Tantalus Media Pty Ltd Tapps Games Taylor Wessing Partnerschaftsgesellschaft Mbb Teamspeak Systems Gmbh Terra Localizations The Fourthwave Inc. The Voxel Agents Pty Ltd Timba Games S.a.s.

Tivola Publishing Gmbh Travian Games Gmbh Tritone Ultimerse Unizsoft Co.,Ltd Upjers Gmbh Valve Gmbh Vanguard Co., Ltd. Virgo Game Studios Vrillar Co Ltd. Vrotein Inc. Webcore Games Wicked Witch Software Pty. Ltd. Winlight Co.,Ltd. Zenit Gmbh Zequn Cultural&Media Co., Ltd Zhejiang Wooduan Technology Co.,Ltd Zip-Lab Inc: Z-Software Gmbh

3 2 B062 D067 3 2 B073 3 2 A070 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 C071 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 B049 3 2 A050 B059 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 A070 3 2 A070 3 2 B073 3 2 D050 3 2 C024 3 2 C071 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 C071 3 2 D050 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 A020 B021 3 2 C071 3 2 C030 D039 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 A031k 3 2 D071 3 2 C071 3 2 C024 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 C020 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 A030 B039 3 2 C020 3 2 A031l 3 2 A070 3 2 A070 3 2 D071 3 2 A030 B039 3 2 A020 B021 3 2 C071 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 A070 3 2 B073 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 A020 B021 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 A070 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 A010 D019 3 2 B049 3 2 A031m 3 2 D071 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 D071 3 2 A070 3 2 A031n 3 2 B030 C039 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 C040 D049 3 2 B062 D067 3 2 A010 D019

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Neamedia creates,

produces

& delivers all over the world

• E-commerce • Events

• Collector’s Editions • Pre-order Bonus • Licensed Publishing

in collaboration with your creative and marketing teams Find out more about us on www.neamedia.fr / info@neamedia.fr /+33142087016

HALL 2

LEVEL 2

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COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

HALL 4 11 bit studios S.A. 1UP-Conference 2ngaming 505 Games Ltd. 5am Games Activision Blizzard Deutschland GmbH Adshot AESVI Agens Amiqus Limited Anshar Studios S.A. Apocalypse Hunters SA AppTweak Arctic Game Lab ARP Games Artefacts Studio Artifex Mundi S.A. B2EXPAND Badland Games Publishing, S.L Bastion Bazookas NV Belgian Games Bifrost Entertainment Big Games Machine Billy Goat Entertainment Ltd (Northern Ireland area) BIP Media Black Cell OG Black Land Studio Blade Blade Representaciones SL Blindflug Studios AG BoomBit BoomDash Digital Bulwark Studios Business France Capsule Studio CD Projekt S.A. Centounopercento Srl Cherry Pop Games ChilliConnect Cinnoman Games City of Helsinki ClockStone Studio Connection Events Croatian Chamber of Economy Cronos Interactive Croteam (Abest d.o.o.)

Cubic Motion DAE Studio’s DaoPay GmbH Darewise Entertainment Dazzle Rocks Dead Good PR Deep Voodoo Gaming deltaDNA Ltd Derailed Digital Kingdom Sàrl Digital Tales Dissatisfied With Badgers Dodreams doorfortyfour OG Dovetail Games Dutch Games Association EBIM STUDIO Edge Case Games, Ltd. Elektraglide Ltd (T/A Polystream) Enter VR EUGEN SYSTEMS European Gaming League

4 1 D050 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 A002 F008 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 A010 B019 4 1 D060 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 D050 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 D010 E019 4 1 D050 4 1 E026 4 1 D050 4 1 F010 4 1 E010 F019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 D060 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 C017 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 A060 4 1 E010 F019 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 D050 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 C017 4 1 B012 4 1 C022 4 1 A040 B049 4 1 A010 B019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 D060 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 C019 4 1 E040 F045 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 E040 F045 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 E024 4 1 D060 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 A010 B019 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 D060 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 A020-B029, A019 4 1 C017 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 F015 4 1 B016 4 1 B030 D049

COMPANY EverdreamSoft Exordium Games d.o.o.

FGL Fire Falcom Firebrand Games Publishing Ltd. Fishing Cactus Focus Home Interactive Focus Multimedia Ltd (Fanatical) Forge Reply SRL Forge Studios Srl Fun Atomic Ltd Game City Vienna Game Habitat Southern Sweden AB Game Industry Conference Game Industry Network Gamepires (Pandora Studio d.o.o.)

GameSessions (Tangentix Ltd) Gaming Malta Foundation Gamious B.V. Gammera Nest SL GENBA Digital Ltd GG Insurance Services God As A Cucumber GOG Sp. z.o.o.

Graphine Software Green Man Gaming Ltd. HanaHana Headbang Club Heavyweight Rex Hi-Rez Studios LTD ICE

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

C010 D019 E040 F045 A020 B029 B050 D059 B030 D049 B050 D059 B020 C029 B030 D049 A010 B019 A010 B019 B030 D049 D030 E039 D010 E019 D050 B060 E040 F045 B030 D049 E030 F039 A020 B029 E010 F019 B030 D049 B030 D049 B050 D059 A040 B049 B050 D059 B030 D049 C010 D019 C017 D060 B030 D049 A010 B019

HI-REZ STUDIOS HALL 4 LEVEL 1 BOOTH NO. B030 D049 Hi-Rez Studios is an industry leading videogame publisher and developer at the forefront of the free-to-play, games-as-a-service industry. More than 70 million players worldwide have experienced Hi-Rez games across consoles, PC and mobile, with three games (Smite, Paladins, Realm Royale) regularly among the Top Ten free-to-play titles on Steam.

Iceberg Interactive BV ICO Partners Limited Improbable Worlds Limited Indie Games Poland Indiegala s.r.l.

Ink Kit Studio Invader Studios S.r.l. iQu Iron Ward j.d.o.o.

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

A019 B030 D049 B030 D049 D050 A010 B019 C010 D019 A010 B019 A020 B029 E040 F045

ICE/AESVI HALL 4 LEVEL 1 BOOTH NO. A010 B019 Italian Trade Agency ICE and AESVI, the Italian games trade body, have joined their forces to host an Italian Pavilion at gamescom 2018. The Italian Pavilion is showcasing more than 20 games from 14 different developers, bringing adventure, sports, strategy and horror titles all together under one roof. All formats are catered for including VR and toys-to-life games.

Italic Pig Limited Jagex LTD Koukoi Games Krillbite Studio AS La Poule Noire Lab42 Limited

4 4 4 4 4 4

1 1 1 1 1 1

B030 D049 B030 D049 D060 D060 C017 B030 D049

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MCV Toys Template.indd 1

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HALL 3

LEVEL 2

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HALL 4

LEVEL 1

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COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

JAGEX HALL 4 LEVEL 1 BOOTH NO. B030 D049 Jagex is introducing Jagex Partners as its third-party publishing initiative, exclusively for live games, here at gamescom. It will offer live game publishing and operational services, specifically access to Jagex’s living games publishing suite, including UA, digital marketing, analytic and audience insight systems, monetisation design, billing systems, customer support and community leadership. Interested? Come and say hi!

LEAF games & software Little Big PR Limited Little Chicken Game Company B.V. Little Green Men (Intercorona d.o.o.)

Local Heroes Worldwide B.V. LocalizeDirect AB Localsoft S.L. LUCA- School Of Arts Lugus Studios BVBA LuLuLu Entertainment Lunar Great Wall Studios Marvelous Europe Limited MeetToMatch Meizi Games Oy MenaPay MICROIDS Milestone Srl Million Victories MixedBag Srl Moonify My.com B.V. Nanobit d.o.o.

Native Prime nDreams Ltd. Network N Ltd NHTV (Breda University) Nifty Productions c/o Simon Fueglister Northern Ireland Screen Northern Softworks Novaquark Novobox France Okomotive GmbH OPM Response Ltd ORCARI Games GmbH Outsider Games Ltd own3d media GmbH OZWE Games Phageborn (Games Revolted j.d.o.o.)

Piñata Punch Pixel Toys Ltd Plastic SCM Codice Software SL Play Finland PlayFab, Inc Playstack Ltd Playstark Games S.L. Plug In Digital Pole To Win International Polnisches Institut Düsseldorf PreviewLabs bvba Qualitas Global Quantum Shake Quantum Soup Studios Ltd (Wales Are Rablo Games RAGE Rain Games Rarebyte OG Reboot (Digitalna Avantura d.o.o.)

Red Koi Box srls

4 1 A010 B019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 A020 B029 4 1 E040 F045 4 1 A020 B029 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 E010 F019 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 A020 B029 4 1 D060 4 1 A062 4 1 D020 E029 4 1 A010 B019 4 1 F025 4 1 A010 B019 4 1 C020 4 1 A030 B039 4 1 E040 F045 4 1 C013 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 A020 B029 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 F012 4 1 D021 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 E040 F045 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 E010 F019 4 1 D060 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 E010 F019 4 1 C024 D029 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 D050 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 A020 B029 4 1 D060 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B050 D059 4 1 A020 B029 4 1 D060 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 E040 F045 4 1 A010 B019

COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

Renaissance PR 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 D060 Resistance Games Ripstone Ltd. 4 1 B030 D049 Rock Pocket Games 4 1 D060 Rocket Flair Studios Ltd 4 1 B030 D049 Royal Translations and Gameeleon 4 1 B050 D059 Rust0 Games Oy 4 1 D060 Sanuk Games SARL 4 1 B014 Shinypix 4 1 C017 Shiro Games 4 1 B018 Sila Games (Sila Software, S.L.) 4 1 E010 F019 Six to Start 4 1 B030 D049 Skillsearch Limited 4 1 B030 D049 Skinny Bandit AS 4 1 D060 4 1 B050 D059 Slidenjoy Small Island Games 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 Sociable Soccer (Tower Studios Ltd) Solarski Studio GmbH 4 1 C010 D019 Sold Out Sales and Marketing Limite 4 1 B030 D049 1 D010 E019 Southern Sweden Creatives (represented by Invest in Skane) 4 Spain Pavilion - Games from Spain 4 1 E010 F019 4 1 E020 F023 Spain Pavilion - Games from Spain Sphery AG 4 1 C010 D019 Stardust 4 1 C010 D019 Steel Media Ltd 4 1 B030 D049 Storm in a Teacup SRL 4 1 A010 B019 Stray Fawn Studio 4 1 C010 D019 Struckd AG 4 1 C010 D019 Studio Black Flag I Orphan Age 4 1 C017 Studio Waterzooi 4 1 B050 D059 Stupid Stupid Games 4 1 D060 Sunnyside Games SARL 4 1 C010 D019 Sweden Game Arena 4 1 D010 E019 SWISSGAMES 4 1 C010 D019 Tag Games Limited 4 1 B030 D049 Take Off 4 1 B030 D049 Takeoff Creative Agency 4 1 B010 Talespinners Studios Ltd 4 1 B030 D049 TaleWorlds Entertainment 4 1 E050 F059 Tate Multimedia S.A. 4 1 D050 Team Fugl 4 1 D060 Team Jolly Roger 4 1 D060 Team17 Digital Ltd 4 1 B030 D049 Teamto Games 4 1 F013 Teknopilot AS 4 1 D060 Testronic 4 1 D050 That Failed Bank Robbery 4 1 C010 D019

TESTRONIC HALL 4 LEVEL 1 BOOTH NO. D050 Your game’s global reach has never been more important. So meet with Testronic, one of the biggest names in QA and localisation across PC, console and mobile.

Following the opening of its South East Asia division, Testronic is heading towards 800 staff, based out of offices in the UK, Poland, the US and Bangkok – providing translation services into 37 languages.

The Farm 51 Group SA The TrailerFarm Therion Games Thud Media Toplitz Productions GmbH Tripwire Interactive UK INDUSTRY STAND - UKIE Untold Games srl Verein FH Technikum WIEN Virtual Frontiers Walkabout

4 1 D050 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 E010 F019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 A020 B029 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 A010 B019 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 D060 4 1 D050

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COMPANY

HALL / LEVEL / BOOTH

Warning Up Welsh Government (Wales Area) Whitepot Studios Limited Wired Productions Wirtschaftskammer Österreich Wuthrer Xplored XTR4L1F3 YIG Media S.L. - Playcom Yogscast Zarkonnen BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Germany GmbH Deep Silver a division of Koch Media GmbH Facebook Ireland Limited flashpoint AG Gaya Entertainment GmbH Google UK Ltd. London Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. Microsoft Xbox Microsoft Xbox Nintendo of Europe GmbH Square Enix GmbH THQ Nordic GmbH

HALL 4

LEVEL 2

4 1 F027 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 D030 E039 4 1 C010 D019 4 1 A010 B019 4 1 C011 4 1 E010 F019 4 1 B030 D049 4 1 C010 D019 4 2 B059 A050 4 2 D021 B020 4 2 D011 C010 4 2 A028 B027 4 2 A019 4 2 A021 4 2 B049 A048 4 2 D030 4 2 D040 4 2 B040 4 2 D010 4 2 A041

CREATIVE ASSEMBLY HALL 9 LEVEL 1 BOOTH NO. B011 C010 This gamescom, Creative Assembly is giving European fans a first-play opportunity for its new major historical title, Total War: Three Kingdoms. Back in the UK headquarters, the team behind Alien: Isolation is busy working on a brand-new tactical FPS and is on the lookout for talented developers to join this project. Catch up with Creative Assembly at the Deep Silver stand in Hall 9.

ABSTRACTION HALL 10 LEVEL 2 BOOTH NO. C029 Abstraction Games is an adaptation and co-development studio which has worked on Angry Birds, Hotline Miami 1 & 2, Awesomenauts, Don’t Starve, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Danganronpa Reloaded, King of Fighters XIV, The Sexy Brutale and Ark: Survival Evolved. The studio recently started working on its own game and is on the hunt for talented engineers. You can meet the team in Hall 10.2.

MI5 COMMUNICATIONS Hygge. Lagom. Tur. Sisu.

We speak Nordic and can help you out!

Mi5 Communications is a full-service 360° public relations and marketing boutique agency. We offer local expertise PR, advertising, production, business intelligence, marketing campaigns and events.

We’re at gamescom – get in touch: hello@mi5communications.com // +46.708.257.876

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What do Bruce Willis, Courtney Cox, Solid Snake and Testronic have in common?

Testronic’s director of marketing Kevin Slagle talks to MCV@gamescom, looking back at the 20 years since Testronic was born and its new initiative for an even better future 1998 was a great year for the world of visual entertainment. At the cinema, we enjoyed the likes of Saving Private Ryan, The Truman Show and the disaster movie doublewhammy of Armageddon and Deep Impact.

On the smaller screen, Will & Grace and Dawson’s Creek challenged the likes of Friends for TV audiences.

While in the games industry, 1988 has been highlighted by Kotaku and GameSpot as being a seminal year for new releases, with the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Half-Life, Metal Gear Solid and even Nokia’s Snake arriving.

It was also when Testronic opened its doors for business, providing QA and localisation services for the entertainment business.

We’ve grown substantially over the past two decades. But the pace has stepped up

significantly in 2018, with the opening of our new South East Asia division and a recruitment drive that means we’ll be heading towards 800 staff based out of our offices in the UK, Poland, the US and Bangkok.

We’re proud to work with some of the best names in games across PC, console, and mobile at a time when QA and localisation has never been more important.

Gamers will not tolerate bugged games – and ‘social journalism’ means that publisher and developer reputations can be trashed if a release arrives without proper testing.

Similarly, gamers across the world expect new releases to arrive in their native languages – and, to that end, we provide translation services in 37 languages.

Meanwhile, we’ve been doing our bit to address diversity in the games industry,

launching the ‘50% Initiative’ earlier this year.

We’re proud of the fact that 40 per cent of our management team are women, plus women account for 42 per cent of our localisation QA team.

But within other areas of our business – and beyond, the wider industry – women are hugely under-represented. The 50% Initiative has been designed to encourage more women to consider a career in games, and will remain a long-term commitment for Testronic.

Given it’s our 20th anniversary year, winning the Develop Award for QA & Localisation in July was an extremely humbling experience. We’re delighted that we’ve been recognised by our industry partners and peers.

And now we’re looking ahead to the next 20 years!

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Thumbfood: On the look-out for new family-friendly titles Family-focused publisher Thumbfood tells MCV@gamescom why it wants to produce high quality content for a younger audience and tells us about upcoming title Wordhunters THUMBFOOD is a new publisher specialising in kids and family entertainment.

We passionately believe that as the console cycle moves into its later, super-mass market stages then the audience will become larger and younger and demand high quality, pickup-and-play games.

There’s not many people specialising in this market right now and Thumbfood will be bringing out regular releases of familyfriendly original games on console, PC and mobile.

The company was founded by Simon Smith (pictured below) who has over 15 years experience in the games industry in design, production and business development at Codemasters, Blitz Games and PlayStation on family friendly titles such as SpongeBob, PacMan, Barbie and the award-winning Buzz! quiz franchise.

Our first game, Wordhunters, is a PlayStation exclusive created with support from Sony. The game is designed for

PlayLink with two to six players using a free iOS/Android App which turns their device into a controller for the game.

It’s a fun party game featuring 15 different word puzzles played at destinations all around the world from London to Tokyo and beyond. We’re especially keen on supporting different territories – the entire game and every word game is fully localised into multiple languages. You can even switch language within the game and use it as a learning tool.

At gamescom we’re looking to spread the word about Thumbfood as a publisher and Wordhunters as our first console release.

The show is a great place to network with distributors, partners, and journalists from all over Europe and the world so we’re expecting to make some great contacts. We’re also on the look-out for new family friendly titles that we can nurture and publish over the next few months and years so our door is always open to top-quality developers!

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THE LIVE GAME PUBLISHING EXPERTISE & SERVICES BEHIND RUNESCAPE The $1bn Living Games Franchise

THIRD-PARTY LIVE GAME PUBLISHING Analytics & Data Science

Monetisation Design

Digital Marketing & UA

Marketing Strategy

MEET US AT GAMESCOM UKIE UK PAVILLION Hall 4.1 Stand B030G/D049G

jagex.com/partners | partners@jagex.com

GAMESCOM VOICES MCV provides the industry with a regular platform for its own views in its own words. Please get in touch if you have something you share!

We need to talk about influencers Ravi Vijh Bastion PR

WE need to talk about influencers. More specifically, we need to talk about how influencers have become a key sector in the make-up of modern media and – usually in the form of streamers – absolutely central to the games media landscape in particular.

Perhaps the first thing to digest and accept is that simple fact: influencers are not a fad.

Their voices (while still, admittedly, evolving and occasionally struggling to find the right tone) are getting louder and they are here to stay.

All of which means that engaging with them is crucial to the games media in general and the PR/comms community particularly.

There is a strand of thinking amongst some PR folk that pegs influencers as ‘other’, as outside the media tent – and therefore someone else’s problem/opportunity. There might also be some cynicism, possibly resentment, at the unstructured nature of the new breed, at the lack of training, loose thinking, and colourful language.

But the truth is, streamers, at least the best of them, have more in common with games journalists from any era operating in whatever medium: they have a passion for gaming and they want to communicate that passion to as wide an audience as possible in their own distinctive voice.

Our job, as it always has been, is to help them in that mission and, of course, to try and include our clients’ stories in their content mix.

It’s true that there is a whiff of the Wild West about the sector, but then it is very new (immature, if you like) and it is, by its very nature, quite anarchic – these are individuals, not

corporations, and the ‘business’ is built on a DIY ethic. It’s the games media’s punk moment.

Journalists need content and access. We need to tell stories and reach consumers.

Influencers are a new and exciting way of doing that, which is why we’re working with them more and more, getting to know them, as a sector and as individuals. It’s also because we want to make sure they are treated as an editorial platform, not as advertising space.

In some cases, influencers are being seen as not much more than real estate, with media agencies buying time, but then ending the relationship there, not helping to shape the content.

At its most extreme, this approach leads to the EduBirdie exam ‘cheating’ scandal – and to a most unwelcome slot on the evening news.

The risks arise because control has been surrendered. And, no, you’re right, PRs can’t and shouldn’t ‘control’ editorial content, but they can control the materials that are made available, they can brief, they can steer and they can suggest. They can, in other words, do everything they can to ensure their clients’ products and messages stand the best possible chance of being shown and discussed by the fastestgrowing and most vibrant branch of games media in a positive and professional light.

And that is why we don’t just need to talk about influencers. We need to talk to them. In fact, we already are.

Ravi Vijh is account director at Bastion, a PR agency that has been ‘briefing and steering’ in games for 25 years.

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Click_A4_AD_Gamescom_2016.pdf

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MERCHANDISE

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Visit our stand during the show, Hall 2.1, B-050 21st–23rd August 2018

+44 203 750 5250

sales@click-entertainment.com

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in partnership with

Diablo 3 on Switch is the perfect port for local co-op demon slaying Lucas Sullivan rediscovers a love for Diablo – playable even on a single Joy-Con I have such cherished memories of playing Diablo 2 in LAN party fashion, tearing through swathes of hellspawn with friends and feverishly snapping up loot drops as they plinked onto the ground. So it’s delightful to see that spirit of local demon-slaying co-op live on in Diablo 3: Eternal Collection on Nintendo Switch, Blizzard’s triumphant return to a Nintendo console, slated for this fall.

After going hands-on with the gamescom 2018 demo of the Switch port, it’s clear that Diablo 3 on Switch successfully packs all the frenetic fun of its PC, PS4, and Xbox One counterparts onto the portable screen.

For Nintendo die hards who haven’t yet welcomed the Lord of Terror into their lives, Diablo 3: Eternal Collection offers a staggering amount of content. All the substantial additions and welcome refinements of the Reaper of Souls and Rise of the Necromancer expansions are included here, for a total of seven classes that can be played in wildly different ways thanks to the diverse Skill and Rune builds you can swap between at any time.

Diablo 3 might’ve had a rocky launch way back in 2012, but its current form is a bottomless well of intense, polished action whether you’re going solo or in a full party of four. The real-money auction house is a thing of the distant past, and there’s always something new to pursue, whether it be rolling a fresh character for the regular themed Seasons or optimising the perfect build to push your dungeon-clearing limits in the fully randomized Nephalem Rifts.

Bringing Diablo 3 to Switch (complete with exclusive Zelda-themed goodies) just made

sense, and senior producer Pete Stilwell told me that making the transition was fairly simple: “We’d already done so much of that challenging work when we had brought it from PC to Xbox and PlayStation,” said Stilwell. “The challenges we did encounter were just coming to a new platform and making sure server things were working, that we were running at our target of 60 frames per second and things like that.”

And Nintendo was happy to assist Blizzard with any hurdles faced in bringing the

game to Switch. “Nintendo’s actually been really awesome,” Stilwell said with a smile.

“There’s, I think, a bond, because they’re also a development-first kind of studio and they were super excited to have this product, because it offers something that they don’t really have in that space yet.”

You and three other Switch-owning friends can team up via local, Bluetooth-enabled multiplayer, crowd around a single Switch with four controllers connected, or band together via the internet if you’re subscribed to the upcoming Nintendo Switch Online service. You can also play offline if you prefer – and whenever your Switch has an online connection, it’ll upload your characters as a cloud save, so you can use them if you pop over to a friend’s house for some demon slaying on their Switch.

When it comes to controller options, the Switch has plenty – and you can even cast all your abilities via an individual Joy-Con, provided it doesn’t cramp your hands. “It was unique getting it onto just the Joy-Con alone, because it’s a different problem. So we had to experiment with that a bit,” said Stilwell. “One of the teams we were working with on this is Iron Galaxy, who did the Skyrim port, so we leaned a lot on their knowledge.”

With the amount of endlessly replayable action on offer, Diablo 3: Eternal Collection should give Switch owners all the isometric demon slaying they could hope for, and that fuzzy feeling inherent in running dungeons in rowdy local play. And as for this port setting a precedent for other Blizzard properties coming to Switch – most notably Overwatch – Stilwell seems hopeful. “I think we’ve certainly got some valuable teachings from this, and there’s always possibilities of other things,” he said slyly.

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GAMESCOM IN PICTURES

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What are the biggest challenges facing the UK games industry in 2018?

We are going from strength to strength as a sector. We are recognised economically and culturally and supported now by government (local and national) as an industry which is at the cutting edge of innovation and creativity, who export to the world, with a growing and increasingly demanding domestic consumer market. We cannot be complacent however, and need to be able to not only attract more diversity of people into the industry across all job roles, but also retain the excellent talent we already have.

What should games businesses be doing to ensure diversity in the industry?

There is plenty of guidance about how to recruit to reach more diverse candidates, which all businesses should adopt. We need to continue to build those bridges between education and the industry, ensuring that we have diverse role models talking about the wide range of rewarding jobs in the industry and giving the right skills, careers advice and confidence to all kinds of young people at an early age.

As part of the London Games Festival we had the grand final of the Digital Schoolhouse Esports Tournament. What was so incredible to see was how much interest there was from the pupils about the different jobs in the industry – and competitive games are a great vehicle to build all sorts of soft and hard skills as well as to inspire the next generation.

We also encourage businesses to look at other good practice in studios around mental health and the workplace and to adopt the new anti-bullying and harassment guidelines that BAFTA and BFI published at the start of the year. Companies like Media Molecule, SpaceApe and Jagex are just some fantastic examples of how to take workplace culture seriously, and how to give the support staff might need in demanding, creative jobs. The Digital Schoolhouse programme powered by PlayStation is also working hard to demystify computational thinking and games are generally excellent at growing critical thinking skills. We need these skills to navigate an increasingly data rich, algorithmic society.

The Final Boss Jo Twist CEO, Ukie

“Games as interactive art have the power to help us understand ourselves.”

How will Brexit impact the industry?

The industry’s three main concerns that we have fed into numerous government fora are around the ability to have a flexible, frictionfree immigration system so that we can bring the best talent in the world to the UK, as well as maintaining market access and ensuring the free flow of data across borders. We also believe it is now the time to look at how more experimental, risky games can be supported through cultural funding. Games as interactive art have the power to help us understand ourselves, others, our place in the world, and to express some seriously deep themes. Games such as these need to be made.

What is Ukie doing to help with these concerns?

Ukie is actively lobbying to put in place the right conditions needed to make the UK the best place to make and sell games. We are vocal members of organisations such as the Creative Industries Council, working alongside members of the wider creative industries to ensure opportunities like the government’s recent industrial strategy sector deal are fully taken advantage of.

We work hard to represent our members and the wider games sector through engagement with Ministers, Members of Parliament and government officials and we never miss the opportunity to promote our sector’s interests in responding to consultations, enquiries and papers. We are also part of an active global coalition sharing intelligence, best practice and initiatives to promote the sector.

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B2C: HALL 10.1

BOOTH B-62

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B2B: HALL 2.2

BOOTH D-60