Game industry gathered in Paris for eventful week

During the first week of November 2022 Game industry professionals around the world travelled to Paris France to attend two events organized at The Paris Expo Porte de Versailles conference centre. Game Connection Europe, took please from 3^rd to 4^th November and was aimed solely for game industry professionals. The second event, aimed for gamers and hobbyist, Paris Game week happened from 2^nd to 6^th November.

Paris Game Week poster in outside. Dome like structure in the background — Picture 1. Restart was the theme of Paris Game Week. (Picture: Ria Gynther)

Games Connection Europe

Games Connection Europe has long history as business to business (B2B) event aimed for the games industry. The first Games Connection was organized already in 2001 and it is known as a deal making event. The event is also considered as successful one, according to the feedback survey results published by the organizers the average Return on Investment (ROI) per participant company was $300,000. (Game Connection 2022.)

Baltic Explorers project supported game companies from Finland, Sweden, Estonia and Latvia to participate in the Games Connection. According to the feedback survey Baltic Explorers conducted with these companies, game publishers were the main target group companies wished to meet with. Next were service providers and networking with other game developers. Companies had approximately 15-20 B2B meetings during the two days. Feedback about the meetings was overall positive and it seems that everyone was able to meet representatives of their target groups. There are also early indicators that these meetings will lead to concrete collaboration and deals. Participation in the event was seen beneficial although some participants were disappointed in the low number of investors at the event.

Two people inside pink booth with text We Are Dev. In the background more similar small booths and people — Picture 2. Baltic Explorers supported few game companies from Finland, Sweden, Estonia and Latvia to participate in the Games Connection. In the picture Finnish game company Zaibatsu Interactive making deals. (Picture: Ria Gynther)

Paris Game Week

The second event for the week was Paris Game Week had much broader audience. This trade show was aimed for gamers, cosplayers, students, families and even for professionals. For everyone interested in the game culture, esport and lates game and game technology releases. Paris Game Week has been organized since 2010 by S.E.LL. (Syndicat des Editeurs de Logiciels de Loisirs). The event had three-year break due to Covid-19. (SELL 2022; Laurent 2022.)

The event had most of the major international game publishers present, such as PlayStation, Xbox, Campcom, Nintendo and Namco, and showcased over 20 much waited releases. Visitor numbers of 2022 are not yet available but in 2019, last time the show was organized, they had over 317 000 visitors. (SELL 2022; Laurent 2022.)

Video 1. Paris Game Week feels like a festival dedicated to games and game culture. The video is from 2019, but it gives an idea of the feel of the event. (Paris Games Week 2019)

Author

Ria Gynther works as a RDI Specialist at the LAB University of Applied Sciences and as a Project Manager in the Baltic Explorers Project.

Sources

Game Connection. 2022. About Game Connection. Cited 7 Nov 2022. Available at https://www.game-connection.com/about-game-connection/

Laurent, P. 2022. Paris Games Week 2022: all games revealed. Sortira Paris. Cited 10 Nov 2022. Available at https://www.sortiraparis.com/interests/gaming/articles/54523-paris-games-week-2022-all-games-revealed/lang/en

Paris Games Week. 2019. Paris Games Week 2019 – Bilan. YouTube. Cited 10 Nov 2022. Available at https://youtu.be/KJ6r2aKRvGI

SELL. 2022. La Paris Games Week. Cited 7 Nov 2022. Available at https://www.sell.fr/evenements/la-paris-games-week

Links

Baltic Explorers. 2022. Project. Cited 7 Nov 2022. Available at https://balticexplorers.eu/