Digital Dragons 2023 opens for Indie Showcase and speakers

28 December 2022

Preparations to the 2023 Digital Dragons Conference are underway, and the dates and venue have been announced: one of the most important B2B events for the European gamedev sector will be held at the ICE Kraków Congress Centre on 15 and 16 May 2023. The Krakow Technology Park (KPT), organiser of the Digital Dragons 2023, is opening a call for speakers, while independent game developers are already welcome to submit their works to the competition designed especially for them.

Digital Dragons is a key business event held in this part of Europe designed for the entire gave development sector. This makes it a forum not only for the developers but also investors, publishers, and major gamedev studios in search of talent. Early Bird tickets will start selling in January.

Last year’s post-pandemic conference was a spectacular success. It attracted 2100 people representing over 600 companies from nearly 40 countries, notably the United States, Canada, countries of the South America, and even places as distant as the Republic of South Africa, Thailand, Japan, and the Philippines. Digital Dragons conference is a real holiday of the games sector that the Kraków Technology Park pays particular interest to: we continue to develop the range of services provided for it, making Kraków the ideal destination for the development gamedev studios.

Łukasz Słoniowski, Vice President of the Kraków Technology Park

Digital Dragons will make a comeback to the ICE Kraków Congress Centre in 2023. This year we count on an even greater buy-in from foreign participants and media. The bar was set particularly high at the last year’s conference. Together with our Programme Council, we are working intensively on the conference programme. We have opened call for speakers and are looking for the best experts in the sector already as we speak. We are also working on an extensive offers portfolio for indie artists, whom the Digital Dragons Arena will now give an opportunity to present their projects not only to participants but also to potential investors and publishers via the Digital Dragons Arena.

Anna Krampus-Sepielak, head of the Digital Dragons

Call for Indie Showcase continues

The Indie Showcase, a review of independent game productions, has been a permanent element of the Digital Dragons. To gain an opportunity of presenting your project at an international conference, fill in the registration form available on the organiser’s website by 15 March. We invite participation of PC, console, mobile, and VR game developers from all over the world.

Indie Showcase participants can count on broad media interest and promotion in the sector. The competition rules and regulations envisage three main prizes, with the champions furthermore winning the title of the Best indie Games and computer equipment worth €4000 from Conference Partner, AMD. Additionally, the participants choose their favourite game and name their winner through the Community Vote.

Last year’s winner, capturing the title of the Best Indie Game, was Sucker for Love: First Date (developed by Akabaka and published by DreadXP). The community voted for Hamster Playground developed and published by We Dig Gam.

Digital Dragons Arena – five minutes for investors, publishers, and the media

Young game development teams will have an opportunity to present their projects to publishers and investors from all over the world at the Digital Dragons Arena. To access it, let the organisers know by filling in a form on their website.

The Digital Dragons Arena is a marketplace: space for young game development studios seeking business partners that doubles as an opportunity for representatives of VC funds, business angels, publishers, and media to meet attractive teams with large potential.

The submitted projects will be winnowed by the Digital Dragons Accelerator and Incubator teams. The selected studios will be invited to the final presentation session preceded by a pitching workshop. The Digital Dragons Arena is the only hybrid part of the conference, and therefore can be participated in both physically at the venue and remotely.

Call for speakers

Every year, the conference is an opportunity to meet the sector’s experts who participate in its creation. This year is no different. The just opened call for speakers invites everyone eager to share their knowledge and experience with conference participants. The organisers have slated multiple thematic paths: Game Design, Business and Marketing, Art in Games, Programming and Technology, Team Management, Mobile and F2P. The first call for speakers closes on 15 January.

For the speakers, participation the conference is a perfect opportunity to promote and build the image of the company they present brandishing their personal brand at the same time. The networking aspect cannot be forgotten either. The developers of the most attractive presentations will present themselves to thousands of people from hundreds of businesses, among which – depending on their preferences and needs – they’ll be able to find investors, partners, and new staff. They will also participate in the conference’s greatest attractions, notably the grand Digital Dragons Awards Gala, and the club event after its close.

The Digital Dragons Conference is one of the elements in the complex offer that the Kraków Technology Park has designed for the gamedev sector. It comes together with incubation and acceleration programmes for young studios, and training programmes, notably the Digital Dragons Academy earmarked for university students. Moreover, KrakJam 2023, a weekend game development marathon, will run at KPT headquarters from 3 to 5 February.

Krzysztof Szeremeta

koordynator ds. promocji branży gier at Krakowski Park Technologiczny

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