Combining a thriving gaming industry, best-in-class venues and organisers, Singapore hosted gamescom asia. The event brought together the world’s brightest studios, publishers, investors and notable figures from the gaming industry to network at one event.
Singapore was chosen for the first Asian satellite event of the world’s largest computer and video games festival – a prelude to the full-scale convention that is set to take place in 2022 when fans and industry players will get to enjoy a whole host of exciting events featuring the latest products and games from developers and publishers.
Participants were able to meet and network with visionaries from the Southeast Asian gaming industry. With a focus on game publishing, development, and the future growth of the video games sector in Asia and beyond, gamescom asia featured prominent international speakers from Axie Infinity creators Sky Mavis, That’s No Moon, Cygames, Square Enix, miHoYo and Zynga.
Mathias Kuepper, managing director of Koelnmesse Singapore, the organiser of gamescom asia, said: “We are thrilled to finally bring gamescom to the shores of Singapore and Asia this October. We have worked hard to deliver to our fans and industry players a program that is not only quintessentially the core of Asian gaming, but also one that brought the gamescom brand closer to the region. For this hybrid event, we put together an engaging event for our regional and global audiences.”
The event organisers worked closely with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to prioritise the health and safety of all event participants – adhering to the necessary Safe Management Measures (SMMs) such as crowd density control and the use of TraceTogether to facilitate contact tracing for visitors. On top of this, attendees had to be fully vaccinated and go through daily pre-event testing (PET) in the form of an antigen rapid test (ART) or a Lucira self-test kit.
Why Singapore?
Singapore may be well known in the Asia-Pacific region, but there is a deeper reason that drew Koelnmesse to the country for its event. Prakash Ramajillu, division director for technology, digital media, entertainment and mobility, Koelnmesse Singapore said: “Singapore is an aviation hub for Asia Pacific, due to its ease of access for the entire Asia-Pacific region and excellent infrastructure. Another attractive point is the Singapore government’s commitment to supporting gamescom asia in line with their vision of fostering the digital, media, entertainment and gaming industry in the country.”
Prakash added that: “Companies looking for a regional media hub capable of creating, publishing and distributing cutting edge games content will find in Singapore a skilled workforce, IT infrastructure and strong intellectual property rights protection regime. The country is home to major industry players as well as several local players, with more global companies choosing Singapore as a regional base in recent years.”
Alvin Tan, Minister of State for Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Culture, Community & Youth, said: “These companies add to a rich and diverse digital media sector and provide good jobs, allowing many Singaporeans to pursue their passion for gaming by making a global impact with fun, creative and original IP conceptualised and developed in Singapore. Singapore is committed to growing the sector by encouraging our homegrown companies to push the boundaries by experimenting with new and immersive content formats and business models, as well as supporting our local talent to become creators of world class gaming content.”
Bringing joy(sticks)
Facilitating not just the gaming industry but the business surrounding it is Global Top Round 2021 (GTR). Taking place alongside gamescom asia, the event highlights the best that the industry has to offer.
GTR is a global game start up accelerator whose mission is to support small studios from all over the world with development, publishing, and fundraising. Since 2015, GTR has supported over 50 game studios worldwide via the accelerator program, which sees 10 new games added every year.
At this year’s gamescom asia event, GTR chose 10 of the most promising studios at the conference to receive funding starting at $40,000 as initial investment and an invitation to participate in GTR’s accelerator program dedicated to support game and business model development, introductions to global publishers, and more. The chosen studios may potentially receive further investments of up to $360,000 through GTR and its angel network.
Pontus Mahler, director of business development at GTR, said: “GTR’s purpose is to partner with and grow the best studios in the world. We feel we continually reach new heights because of the success of the program and conference. By partnering with gamescom asia, we’re taking our network to the next level and tapping into their resources to further help the studios we work with.”
Along with the leading brand names in the gaming industry, the Singapore Games Association (SGGA), the primary trade association for Singapore’s games and esports industry, co-hosted the Singapore Pavilion with gamescom asia. Trade visitors were able to network with Singapore-based gaming companies, creators, service providers, publishers, and investors at the event.
Prakash said: “Organising an event during the current circumstances were both a challenge and an achievement, especially with the health and safety of all delegates being our top priority.”
With an aim to become the premier platform for Asian game developers, gamescom asia showed why Singapore is an important gateway for event organisers and businesses to access the region, and how the country continues to be a safe and conducive venue for the world to meet.
To know more about planning your events in Singapore you may visit MICE Singapore.
Featured Image by gamescom/Koelnmesse
