Game Horizon conference to help North East companies

Jun 18 2009 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

VIDEO games firms in the region will next week find out why the best things in life are free, particularly in their bid to battle through the recession.

The annual games conference, Game Horizon, returns next week and once again some of the leading lights in the global gaming industry will head to the North East to discuss some of the burning issues of the day.

Top of the agenda will be the ever-evolving world of online gaming and why making games free to download, with the addition of embedded micro-payments, may be the business model of the future.

Joining the debate will be David Jones, creative director and chief executive of Realtime Worlds and the man who gave the world Grand Theft Auto and gaming classic Lemmings.

Also in attendance will be Rick Gibson, director of Games Investor Consulting, who will discuss how the free games sector, known as freemium, is transforming the gaming world.

Carri Cunliffe, head of sector development at industry body Codeworks GameHorizon, said: “The ‘best things in life are free’ session will focus on the dramatic growth in the number of games companies now offering games for free and making their profit through a combination of other means.

“From subscriptions to microtrans- ations, in-game advertising to digital retail, the online world is teeming with innovative companies giving things away for free.

“Although it’s certainly not the standard way of doing things, it’s seen as an especially good model for casual games and network games.

“During the conference, developers, publishers and other games firms from around Europe will find out how these models make money, what content works, and what they need in place to make it work for them.”

Darren Jobling, business development director of Gateshead-based games firm Eutechnyx, will also join a discussion on how firms in the industry are navigating their way through the recession.

Meanwhile, the head of the PlayStation Home platform, Quantic Dream’s co-chief executive and the former executive director of the Game Developers’ Conference have all signed up to speak at next week’s conference. Peter Edward, director of PlayStation Home platform group, Quantic Dream’s Guillaume de Fondaumière and Jamil Moledina – who left his role in the Game Developers’ Conference to become outreach director for EA Partners in a shock move last year – will talk at the event at The Sage Gateshead.

The trio will be joined by Marc Goodchild, the head of interactive and on-demand for BBC Children’s TV, alongside around 300 games industry executives are expected at the conference.