Year in Review 2017

2017 was full great opportunities and events, we’ve met a lot of great people and were able to provide a good service to the community and the local games industry.

Talk&Dev and Talk&Play Munich

With a new event series called Talk&Dev and Talk&Play Munich, we have a new format for exchange between developers and the public. The Talk&Play format originates from Berlin, where berlingamescene.com with the support of Lorenzo Pilia has made it an an institution for the local community.
The goal is to create a platform, in which everybody can talk about playing games, making games and everything that comes with that. Talk&Dev is foremost an exchange platform for developers, whereas Talk&Play Munich focuses on the cultural aspects that surround games and the development of games.

Talk & Play Munich

X-Mas Pitching

For the fourth time in existence, the X-Mas Pitching event provided a chance for young teams to pitch their projects to a jury and audience. To receive important feedback, getting their feet wet and maybe even taking home some prices.

This time, “Late for Work” by Salmi Games and “Realm of the Machines” by Enigma Workshops took home the price of the jury and the audience award. Congratulations to both teams!
Thanks goes out to our jurors, who took the time to help these teams with their feedback:

• Harald Frank (Travian Games GmbH)
• Heiko Klinge (Webedia Deutschland / GameStar GamePro)
• Moritz Wagner (Mimimi Productions)
• Benjamin Feld (Mixtvision Digital)

Photos of the event

Deutscher Entwicklerpreis

This award special to many teams, as it is presented by developers, for other developers. Since the year 2004 the ceremony takes place, rewarding games and the teams behind them. The Bavarian contestants took home three awards, Angry Birds: Evolution by Chimera Entertainment with the award for Best Mobile Game, Realm of the Machines with the award in the category “Ubisoft Blue Byte Newcomer Award” and Salmi Games with their title “Late for Work” in the category Best VR Game. Congratulations to these teams and all other winners and nominees as well.

We’re proudly supporting the awards with our sponsoring.

List of winners 2017

Game Mixer Johannesburg

This program is organized by the Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur, the Goethe Institute, financed by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany and supported by Games/Bavaria.

It gives developers from many different cultural backgrounds the chance to spend ten days full of exchange and experimentation. In Johannesburg, the program included a Barcamp for games, an internal as well as an external showcase and a gamejam, bringing together more than 25 developers from Indonesia, Brazil and the sub-Saharan region. Games/Bavaria helped organize the GameCamp which is modelled after the Munich GameCamp. Robin Kocaurek attended the delegation and represented Games/Bavaria in South Africa.

Pressrelease

Celebrating 100 years “Free State of Bavaria“

2018 is a year of celebration in Bavaria. The Free State of Bavaria celebrates its 100^th birthday and the Bavarian constitution revels its 200^th year. Already in 2017, the anniversary celebrations were kicked off in Bamberg, more specifically at the Brose Arena. Games/Bavaria contributed to the opening with a curated art exhibition from the past four Vernissage events.

Photos of the event

More Information

Medientage München

Every October, Munich becomes the place to be when it comes to broadcast and media: The Medientage (Media Days) offer a vast amount of talks, presentations under this years’ motto “Media.Trust.Machines – Confidence in the new media society”. This time Games/Bavaria enriched the event by helping organize a day full of games & streaming: The independent game streaming individuals have some overlap with the classic big broadcast companies.

In parallel the “Making Games Conference” organized by Computec Media Group took place, offering talks and masterclasses on various topics.

Photos of both events

Game Connection Europe

Thanks to Bayern International we were able to support companies from Bavaria having a presence on the crowded B2B matchmaking floor. Game Connection Europe is a three day long B2B event, taking place in Paris as part of Games Week. Publishers, investors and developers are looking into making deals and expanding their business.

Photos GameConnection Europe

BBQ Jam

Only eight hours to invent, create and deliver a game. This is the goal of our participants of this years BBQ Gamejam. After the reveal of the topic (Meatloaf/ Meet Love), everybody went to work and hustled something together. You can check out some of the creations here:

You can find the timeline of the BBQ Jam here.

BBQ-Jam Games

Respawn / devcom

With a little overlap to gamescom, two very important business conferences are taking place. Respawn, the annual gathering of developers and “devcom”, the newly established successor of GDC Europe. Both conferences did enrich the professional atmosphere and exchange in Cologne.

We supported Respawn and devcom with a sponsored bar on the roof: time to network, relax and enjoy the view.

Photos Roof Get-Together

gamescom

Once a year, all video game enthusiasts of Europe culminate in Cologne for the biggest games celebration in Europe. Over 355.000 consumers celebrate the games for five days. In the midst of this event, Games/Bavaria hosted a joint booth, representing local companies under one roof.

With enough room for meetings, an open Biergarten area and a shared reception the booth brought some Bavarian flavor to Cologne. Another highlight of our attendance was the yearly Breakfast Reception at the booth. With an open bar and snacks we prepared our partners and invited guests for the last day of business making at gamescom.

Thanks to our partners!

Impressions of the shared booth

Impressions of the breakfast reception

FFF Bayern Bergwanderung

For sixth time, the regional funding institution FFF Bayern, invited partners, guests and funded companies to a hiking tour in the mountains. Under the motto “Bavaria is good for you”, this years’ tour lead through the majestic scenery of the Tegernsee.

Around 50 guests followed the invitation and hiked, played games on the mountaintop and gathered for a dinner in the evening. The tour is supported by TeamSpeak, SKW Schwarz, the LfA Förderbank Bayern, Playata, European Games Group and United Soft Media. The FFF Bayern organized the tour under the joint brand of Games/Bavaria.

6. Update Games

Also for the sixth time, the FFF Bayern hosted their annual “Update Games” mini-conference. Projects which had been funded in the past had the opportunity of showing the impact of the funding. Panels and experts discussed the roadmap and the different challenges of the industry in general, and the role of institutions like the FFF Bayern in detail.

Press release FFF Bayern

GameCamp Munich & Games/Bavaria Vernissage

As an opening for the GameCamp Munich, Games/Bavaria hosted a vernissage at WERK1, curating real-life game art, as well as the opportunity for developers to showcase their games. Anything from a finished and released title to rough prototypes were displayed. Developers and guests had the chance to talk about the games, exchange ideas and discuss the exhibited titles.

The day after the opening, the community highlight GameCamp Munich took place. 200 Attendees used the opportunity to get together and discuss topics around games. The bar camp principle allows every attendee of this special event to speak themselves, not only spectate at the event.

Save the date for 2018! Friday 4.5. – Sunday 6.5. 2018

You can view the fotos of the vernissage here.

Photos GameCamp Munich

GDC Happy Hour

Being one of the oldest and most important game-development conferences in the world, GDC in San Francisco is one of the many highlights in any game developers calendar. Games/Bavaria hosted around 100 guests at the “Pin Up” in San Francisco. In cooperation with the Bavarian US offices, WERK1 and BIU(Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware), the guests enjoyed a cold beer and a relaxed networking opportunity.

GDC Reception Album

Global Game Jam 2017

The Global Game Jam brings together thousands of developers all around the globe. For 48h the participants are working on new, fun and creative games. At WERK1 we hosted around 80 jammers, fueling their creative juices with some food, drinks and company.

This happening has been an essential part of our calendars, and we are looking forward to it in 2018.

You can already sign up for the GGJ 2018 right here

Photos Global Game Jom 2017