Rich business-wise programme, interesting talks, and lots of attractions for game enthusiasts.
We're less than a month away from the next Digital Dragons - the leading European B2B conference aimed at the gaming industry. The core of the event, taking place online on September 7 and 8 and offline on September 9, are lectures and discussion panels with industry experts. Among the invited guests we will see David Jaffe, who worked on the God of War series, among others, and Darren Korb - the composer for Hades, Pyre and Bastion. The promoters would like to present other highlights of the programme.
This year's Digital Dragons will feature over 60 different and interesting talks, lectures, and discussion panels.
On the first day of the conference Benjamin Charbit of Darewise Entertainment will speak on the virtual stage about how he and his team set out to prove that there was another way to create and distribute a high-quality game as a small developer with a limited budget.
Conference participants will also be able to watch a discussion panel dedicated to perspectives on the Polish game market. Experts will discuss how Poland has become one of the hottest places in the world of gamedev and how it can maintain its position as a key player on the global stage in the long term. The invited experts are:
- David Chang (Managing Director at Tyr Advisors),
- Jason Della Rocca (Co-Founder of Execution Labs),
- Alexander Champlin (Senior Analyst, Esports at Niko Partners).
The second day of the conference will begin with a discussion on women's leadership in the games industry. Among the invited experts we will hear:
- Kate Edwards (Executive Director of the Global Game Jam, CEO of Geogrify),
- Sophie Vo (CEO of Rise and play),
- Ana Pohrib (People Ops Manager at Amber),
- Taina Ionita (Live Associate Producer at Ubisoft Romania),
- Andreea Medvedovici-Per (Executive Director of RGDA, Vice-President of EGDF, Co-Founder of Women in Games Association Romania, BizDev manager of KillHouse Games).
On the same day the acclaimed speaker Johnny Monsarrat, an icon among MMO game developers, will have his lecture on games utilizing AR technology. But what comes after Pokémon GO in AR Gaming? Johnny will share his vision of what’s to come. Another interesting topic will be covered by Martin Mittner of Tiny Hydra. In his talk, Martin will explain how Custom Tools can help save dozens of hours of work and avoid bottlenecks during the game development process.
The second day will also involve startups competing for the Golden Ticket to the Digital Dragons Accelerator. It's a program for ambitious developers from outside Poland who get a chance to claim up to 70 000 euros for the development of their project and an opportunity to enter the acceleration program for young development studios. The winners will be announced on the last day of the conference.
Additionally, the organizers have planned a prestigious award ceremony for the best Polish and foreign games for September 8. Among the local projects competing for statuettes we will find Cyberpunk 2077, Ghostrunner or Carrion, while foreigns ones feature titles such as The Last of Us Part II, Ghost of Tsushima or Half-Life: Alyx.
The third, offline day of Digital Dragons is a unique opportunity for live meetings. It will be devoted mainly to the long-awaited networking and business meetings between developers, publishers, distributors and other game industry professionals. It's also a chance to learn about development opportunities in renowned game studios. On September 9, the promoters invite you to the Krakow Technology Park for face-to-face business meetings. It is worth mentioning that the number of tickets for this part is limited.
Additionally, on the third day, you can expect three more discussion panels. The first one will be dedicated to indie productions and how the pandemic affected the game development process. The main theme of the second panel is female professionals in gamedev and e-sports. The last panel of this year's Digital Dragons conference will be devoted to HR in gamedev.
The complete programme of lectures and panel discussions is now available on the official website.
Participation in panel discussions and lectures is free of charge and requires only registration. Those wishing to arrange business meetings with other conference participants and take part in a special offline day on 9 September should look into the paid tickets offer.
- Regular Pass – free registration allows online participation in lectures, panels, Q&A sessions, the Digital Dragons Awards gala, recruitment meetings, and give access to prepared job offers,
- Business Pass – 260 PLN (approx. 60 EUR) – allows arranging business meetings with the event’s participants,
- Business Pass + Networking Day – 386 PLN (approx. 90 EUR) – this ticket, besides allowing you to arrange business meetings, lets you take part in the networking meeting in the Kraków Technology Park scheduled for September 9. Only 150 tickets available.
Get your ticket to the leading game industry conference in Europe
Partners:
Małopolska Region is the main partner of the event. The regional authorities implement a number of projects that serve the innovation and economic development of Małopolska and its attractiveness to investors. Małopolska is a perfect location for conducting business, especially based on new technologies.
SoftServe is the Gold Sponsor of the event. It is a team of over 600 people experienced in areas such as VR, AI, Machine Learning, Big Data, as well as core software development, Experience Design, DevOps, and many others. The company is present in five locations in Poland - Wrocław, Gliwice, Białystok, Poznań, and Warsaw. SoftServe is more than technology and ideas - it is a place where talented and ambitious people can develop their passion!
PixelAnt is a Gold Sponsor of the event. Together with Sumo Group, it works on some of the most recognizable high-end AA+/AAA game brands (like Forza Horizon, Hitman, and Sackboy) and collaborates with some of the biggest partners in the gaming industry (Microsoft, Sony, Nvidia, AMD, Intel, WB). This year the company is launching its own IP based on the Unreal Engine. Nothing is impossible for this brand!
Kraków Technology Park (KPT) has contributed to the development of proper conditions for the development of entrepreneurship for 20 years. For 10 years it has managed the Technology Incubator for IT start-ups. The KPT inspires the start-up community by organising numerous events including workshops, hackathons, and conferences that help to verify business concepts. Besides these, it runs KPT ScaleUp acceleration programme. Companies may count on the support of seed funds, tax reliefs offered by the Polska Strefa Inwestycji (Polish Investment Zone) programme, and preferential office space rental conditions. The KPT is particularly focused on Industry 4.0 and the video games industry. It is the leader of the hub4industry consortium aiming to provide comprehensive support for companies wishing to implement Industry 4.0 solutions. The KPT also organises Digital Dragons – the leading games industry event in Europe. The KPT also works with the international EIT Digital, which aims to drive the digital transformation in Europe.
