Game Republic

Creative Boost at Game Republic’s first event of 2025

Over a hundred games industry professionals including developers, studio heads, publishers, researchers, investors, legal and financial experts and educators attended Game Republic’s first event of 2025 at the fabulous Guildhall in York on Jan 23rd.  The event saw the announcement of two Official Partners for Game Republic for 2025 – Barclays Games and Creative and Red Kite Games.

Attendees enjoyed networking and an expo with exhibitors IGGI, XR Stories, Pixel Research, Panda Cat Games, Slate Games and Otterweave Games Studio. The Expo also included three brand new game prototypes created by Game Republic Skills Bootcamp participants supported by NextGen Skills Academy in a programme supported by York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, UK Government and the Department for Education.

First up Chris Dring formerly GI . Biz shared his forecast for 2025 including 7 key trends that would impact the industry, including: that player time is a real problem, with new non-annual titles only making up 8% of the total gaming playtime in 2023 according to Newzoo; old games are now serious competitors (Fallout 4 sold a million copies in Europe last year); and the games market is very unpredictable with surprising hits (Warhammer: Space Marine) and failures (Star Wars: Outlaws). The console market will grow again after a disappointing 2024 with Nintendo Switch 2 released and PlayStation 4 owners upgrading to PlayStation 5 to play Grand Theft Auto 6, and while studio closures and layoffs will continue, investment will improve – and more opportunities will be available for game devs to sell their games direct to consumers, and via a growing number of stores and new types of platforms such as Roblox.

Next up, Meg Clarke, Senior Games Scout for Team17 did a fireside chat with Jamie Sefton sharing insights on what the publisher looked for, the kind of deals they provide (including recoup and revenue splits) and the kind of support available.

The chat was followed by a short presentation by Federico Szalkowicz from Google where he shared info on the company’s 6-month free App Growth Programme for mobile games, to boost revenue with in-app purchases and help with developing a business strategy.

In the break Dr Jackie Mulligan provided personalized prescriptions to attendees in the form of a Limited Edition bottles of Creative Boosts for 2025. The free gift was an exclusive creation made by Game Republic in partnership with the Poetry Pharmacy.

The break was followed by a Trends and Opportunities panel with Elaine Dowman (Barclays), Pamina Bou (Factor Tech), Callum Underwood (Uwu,biz) and Andy Kelly (Devolver Digital) sharing opportunities and trends in the industry that would help developers navigate the year ahead. A short feature on some of their insights will be out soon.

The event ended with thank yous from Jamie Sefton to members, Official Partners and the venue hosts Barclays Eagle Labs and York Conference and Events team. Jamie also gave a special toast to the late Martyn Brown, before networking continued with drinks and canapes before some of the guests moved on to The House of Trembling Madness next door to make the most of the city, setting and hospitality.

Gallery below

Game Republic events are free to attend for Game Republic members, to find out how to join click here. To find out about future events coming up, check out our latest event calendar update.

 

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