Game Republic led a Department for Business and Trade (DBT) Mission to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco from 18th – 22nd March 2024 – the largest and most important game developer business event in the industry calendar.
A total of 70 companies including Game Republic members Cooperative Innovations, Skyhook Games, Betajester, Other Things, Five Aces Publishing, Curve Games and Draw & Code were on the mission, which included access to the UK Business Lounge at Werqwise, a special DBT reception, a UK Showcase at the Pocket Gamer Connects event, access to the MeetToMatch meeting system and a Ukie Investor Dinner.
The mission also included a series of exclusive meetings with major publishers, investors and platform-holders organised by Game Republic and the DBT including Sony PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo of Europe and Nintendo of America, Tencent, Valve, Meta, Apple US, Devolver, London Venture Partners and Netflix Games – a real opportunity to meet and present to the decision-makers that could make a difference to our UK games companies.
Jamie Sefton MD at Game Republic explains “The industry is going through a difficult period of adjustment post-Covid at the moment, and while it’s a mixed picture, the prevailing message from the DICE business event in Las Vegas the previous month was a brutal “survive ‘til 2025”. After a week in San Francisco talking with game developers, it is undoubtedly harder for developers to get publishing deals and funding, and one games VC admitted that its terms for investment have become tougher in a so-called “buyer’s market”.
However, the mood music from GDC was much more positive – deals are being done, games are being signed by publishers or funded by VCs/angels and some games are selling very well – it was heartening to speak to publisher PlayStack (PlayStack Leeds is a GR member) about its recent one-million-selling smash hit Balatro, developed by one person, and also publisher Secret Mode on its successful “cosy” game A Little to the Left.”
There are positive moves in representation and games developed by under-represented groups, with initiatives like the ID@Xbox Developer Acceleration Program, and more games being created by diverse teams. GDC itself was attended by more than 30,000 people, compared with 28,000 in 2023, and the event avoided the lengthy 2-hour queues due to Covid checks last year, with easy access to getting badges to the GDC talks and GDC Expo. Speaking of which, it was a packed Expo this year, with stands from major exhibitors such as Meta, TikTok, Tencent Games and Epic Games as well as countries including Spain, Italy, Canada, India and Wales, with the latter also having a cohort of interesting and innovative companies such as Wales Interactive that attended a few of our UK events at Werqwise. There were also plenty of stands featuring motion-capture solutions, blockchain/web3 and of course, AI, which also hit the headlines after a behind-closed-doors demo by games company Ubisoft demonstrated how its cutting-edge tech might be used in future games titles.
All in all, the Game Developers Conference 2024 was a much more positive experience than most predicted, with feedback from companies on the mission reflecting optimism for the year ahead, our games developers getting to see the companies and individuals that can really help their businesses, and Game Republic meeting more publishers, funders and platform-holders to introduce to companies in our network. A huge thanks to DBT for the opportunity to help lead the UK trade mission to GDC and to Ukie for the brilliant Investor Dinner and UK games industry reception.”
If you are interested in joining Game Republic to be the first to hear of opportunities and get access to Game Republic events for free, get in touch.
