Poznan, Poland – November 6th 2020 – The Game Industry Conference, one of the five biggest B2B- and Developer conferences in Europe, is hosting a virtual edition of their event from November 19th - 21st. In response to the global situation, the team behind GIC decided to make a bold, unprecedented move: All tickets for #GIC20, including business passes, will be available as “Pay What You Like” (PWYL).
“Pay What You Like”
Game Industry Conference is one of the most significant events around, with over 1.400 MeetToMatch meetings of over 500 industry members in 2019. This year, all tickets to the event will be available as PWYL. Not only the online Developer Pass, granting access to all streamed knowledge, but also the online Business Pass, allowing for business meetings in MeetToMatch, are included. It is the first PWYL gaming event and definitely the best offer for MeetToMatch!
“Nothing like that has ever been done in the history of game industry events. What is more: we do not separate tickets to better and worse. Even our MeetToMatch system, typically rated premium, will be available for free”, says Jakub Marszalkowski, Main Organizer of GIC. “There are developers, especially independent ones, maybe beginners who need support in these times. In their case, we can whole-heartedly recommend choosing the rate of 0€. I cannot stress this more. At the same time, we hope that there will be those who will want to support GIC, and not so much us, but our operations.”
Non-profit and gamedev support
This year’s attendees can choose to support GIC programs by paying for their tickets. Or they can choose to be supported and get all that the conference offers for free. GIC is organized by the Vitruvio Foundation, a non-profit, non-governmental organization with statutory goals to support game development, education, research, and innovations. Choosing their own price, one can back programs organized by GIC: scholarships, education, game industry research, etc., not only in Poland but broader.
“The pandemic turns out to be a catalyst for change and we have been thinking about transforming the ticketing system for at least two years already. There is no better opportunity to test it; we are very curious to see how this experiment will turn out. If “Pay What You Like” works, it may also stay with us when GIC returns as an on-site event. I would love that “, adds Jakub Marszalkowski.
International speakers
Like in the years before, GIC agenda will be divided into basic, intermediate, and advanced talks, with topics reaching from art and audio, through business, PR, and marketing, up to VR, AR & new technologies. 21 speakers from around the world have been announced so far, among them:
- Kate Edwards, Executive Director of the Global Game Jam and CEO of Geogrify – with over 27 years of experience in games, Kate Edwards has seen it all when it comes to geopolitical and cultural challenges that may be overlooked in game creation and can negatively impact a title’s release overseas. At GIC, she will discuss what game creators can do to be better prepared for defending your creative vision against intrusive local regulations.
- Jon Hook, co-creator of Homa Games and VP Publishing at BoomBit – this session will teach developers the basics of a successful hypercasual game, adopting a data lead testing process, top tips and trends for game design, how to negotiate and secure a publishing deal and many more!
- Anna Vvedenskaya, tax law specialist at the University of Amsterdam – 130+ countries including EU plan to introduce a new tax for digital businesses such as videogames industry, meaning that videogames companies, sales platforms, streaming services and other businesses will pay more taxes and compliance costs, and expenses may be passed on to gamers. Anna Vvedenskaya will explain how this will affect the gaming business.
Please visit GIC’s official website for more information. For any press inquiries, please contact gic@marchsreiter.com.