It’s been a busy first 8 months of the year at Game Republic and the last quarter looks even busier with events in Sheffield, Liverpool, Dublin, Wakefield and Leeds to round off 2024. A highlight for us has been winning the Develop Support Star Award and thanks to everyone who nominated and voted for us.
None of our events or work to support games businesses would be possible without our Official Partners Red Kite Games, Barclays Games and Creative and Escape Technology, our event sponsors, our speakers and of course our Game Republic company, affiliate and educational members.
Combined all of our efforts enable us to bring great events and insights to The North and ensure we can run 12 Game Republic events a year, can keep our GaMaYo events free for indie game developers in the North twice a year and we can also run the Great Northern Games Discord and support and spotlight the good work that is going on in the region.
Alongside our events, Game Republic supports companies to make the right connections with business development, meet-ups, webinars, bootcamps, trade missions and promotes the industry to national bodies and to the media. Here’s a summary of some of the activities we got up to this year so far…
On Thursday 18th January over 100 developers braved the arctic blasts to join us for the Narrative Design and Trends Forecast for 2024 Sponsored by Revolution at Avenue HQ Leeds
The event included a forecast of trends by GI.Biz Chris Dring and a panel on narrative design with leading writers including Marvel, DC and Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell, Rhianna Pratchett and Charles Cecil, creator of Broken Sword from Revolution and an update from Ben Board- Epic on Unreal and Fortnite.
In February – Game Republic wrote an article about AI in the Yorkshire Post
On 27th February GR members enjoyed an exclusive GR Online Event with Valve
The event included a presentation and Q&A session with Valve’s Erik Peterson and Alden Kroll
In March – Game Republic wrote an article about the economic landscape for the games industry in the Yorkshire Post
On 6th March Game Republic hosted the Yorkshire Games Festival Reception & Dinner
sponsored by Johnston Carmichael with a BFI Roundtable talk.
On 7th March Game Republic attended the UKie Dinner and Awards
On 12th March, Game Republic hosted an affiliate bonus webinar with Fragomen on international workforce visa regulations and opportunities for talent.
In March Game Republic set up the Great Northern Games Discord to support better connections across the North – Over 300 developers joined it and you can join it here if you make or support the production of games in The North
Between 18th-22nd March Game Republic led a trade mission to GDC with DBT
The mission included 70 UK games companies based at the UK Business Lounge at Werqwise near the Moscone Center, which will feature bespoke meetings with essential publishers and platform-holders organised by the DBT and Game Republic including Meta, Valve, PlayStation, Hiro Capital, ID@Xbox, Epic Games, Tencent, Netflix Games and Lucasfilm Games. Game developers on the mission will also get access to an exclusive games showcase at Pocket Gamer Connects, a reception at the British Consulate in San Francisco and an investor dinner and drinks reception organised by UKIE.
Game Republic members on the mission included BetaJester, CG Hero, Cooperative Innovations, Curve Games, Draw & Code, Five Aces/New Star Games and Skyhook Games
On 18th April Game Republic hosted an event in Manchester on New Partners and PR at KPMG
This event looked at new partners and new markets for games as well as general PR insights. The event invited Gameopolis members to attend and was followed by the FORMAT VIP industry party at the BierKeller in Manchester. Full story here.
The event featured talks from Ben Robinson (ID@Xbox) on Game Pass and other opportunities on Xbox, Scallywag Arcade (Draw & Code) about licensing and making Taskmaster VR, Charley Grafton-Callaghan from Grafton-Callaghan PR about planning your games promotion and dealing with influencers, and Jonathan Lloyd (CG Hero) about working with freelance artists. Special guests included Sony PlayStation XDEV.
In April, Game Republic attended the BAFTA Games Awards and wrote an article about it in the Yorkshire Post
On 15th May, Game Republic Jackie Mulligan and Jamie Sefton joined game studios and creative industries from across the UK at the Buckingham Palace Garden Party as a thank you for Game Republic’s contribution to the creative industries.
On 16th May, Game Republic hosted developers showcasing their games from The North at Frenzy in London organised by Barclays Games and Creative.
Full story here
On 23rd May Game Republic’s GaMaYo welcomed 400 developers and industry from across the North of England, 26 new games to play, roundtables, networking and more. The headline sponsor for the event was Tileyard North.
On 5th June
Game Republic hosted a Panel at Climb 2024 providing investor insights and hosted an industry mixer event
On 5th June Game Republic wrote a piece about the need to focus on talent for the games industry in the Yorkshire Post.
On 6th June Game Republic hosted the biggest Student Showcase so far and in the UK at Staffordshire University, with 14 universities and colleges, 50 projects and 150 students s and judges from Sumo Digital, Red Kite Games, Rebellion, Revolution, Pitstop Productions and Distinctive Games. Participating universities and colleges including University of Hull, Sheffield Hallam University, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Bolton, University Campus Doncaster, University Centre Grimsby, University of Leeds, University Centre Leeds, University of Huddersfield, Staffordshire University, University of York, York St John University , Leeds City College and University of Sunderland.
Full story here
Later that month Game Republic wrote an article on the recognition of the games industry in the Yorkshire Post
11th June we hosted a Game Republic bonus webinar on VGEC and Tax savings for indies with Plus Accounting
The event was recorded and a short piece featuring just some of the insights is included here
On 24th June, Game Republic launched a Game Studio Start-Up Bootcamp supported by NextGen Skills Academy thanks for funding from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority with an in-person event on 2nd and 3rd July.
On 9th July Game Republic hosted a panel on Narrative Design at Develop Brighton 2024 which was standing room only with Rhianna Pratchett, Judi Alston, Paul Cornell and Charles Cecil.
On 10th July Game Republic won the Supporting Star Award at Develop – full story here
On Wednesday 17th July One of the most popular events of the year took place the Game Republic Summer Arcade Party with 3 floors of arcade machines and 200 game developers all in one place.
On 31st July – Jamie Sefton joined creative industry players from across the North to meet newly elected and appointed Lisa Nandy MP.
At the end of July, Game Republic confirmed an exclusive meeting with Valve at GamesCom in Cologne in August and launched the Game Republic Awards which is now open for nominations. Winners will be revealed at GaMaYo on 21st November.
On 2nd August we are attending A MAZE Sheffield and closing the office for a little break so we are ready to go again in Autumn with a whole new set of events kicking off on 19th September. You can see our events calendar here
Events are only the tip of the iceberg for what Game Republic provides for its members, if you would like to discuss joining the Game Republic network – click here
If you like this post, please help us by sharing it!