Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS)’s Post

IPs should always have a multiplatform strategies.

Gameboy was the breakthrough for gaming in the 20th Century after Space Invaders and Pacman dominated the industry and that caused the rise of AAA studios, the need to get technologically advanced every year and a rat race among which EA stayed the most greedy. Then came Among Us in the second decade of the 21st century when the graphical advancements were at an all-time high, studios pouring millions to be the next big thing, it got popularity mid-pandemic as a social game which it was barely intended to be, paving the way for the indie industry and proving that gaming is not all about high-end graphics, billions of dollars and overworked workers controlled by the Corporate even in this era but its a mean of doing something you enjoy even if it isn't perfect. The Graphic is taken from an article on visual capitalist called "50 Years of Video Game Industry Revenues, by Platform", designed by Clayton Wadsworth. The article contains info about the fall and increase in revenue of the game industry throughout the years.

games made in Germany The independent Games Department will be abolished and integrated into the Department for Culture and Creative Economy. Through the integration, the new paper is called "Cultural and Creative Economy; Games". Even if existing projects such as the Games Promotion or the German Computer Game Prize are continued, the lack of autonomy threatens to significantly limit the ability to operate for Games projects in the future - especially since May last year the promotion has been suspended and currently both the new Promotion Policy and a solution for the additional 33 Millions of Euro support budget are pending in the budget of the Minister of Culture for 2024. The game association of the German games industry is therefore criticizing the current decision. more about this decision here: https://zurl.co/DjGL

Do you have recent research regarding video games? Are you working on an innovative digital project? Do you have a never-been-seen-before demo you want to share with like-minded people? Applications for DiGRAAustralia 2025 are now open! DiGRAA2025 are not accepting extended abstracts of research and findings surrounding the world of digital and physical games. DiGRAA2025 will also include an "experimental track" in which demo games, technological advancements, and physical projects can be displayed and shared with the diverse gaming community here in Australia. To apply, prepare and submit an abstract or descriptive statement using the DiGRAA2025 "traditional" or "non-traditional" template provided. Accepted submissions will be asked to present either in-person or online (note: online presentations must also provide a recording in case of technological difficulties). DiGRAA2025 will be held in Adelaide, South Australia. Applications must be submitted by Friday 4th of October. Decisions on applications will be released by Monday 4th November. DiGRAA2025 will be from Wednesday 5th to Friday 7th of February. For more information, see the DiGRAAustralia website: https://lnkd.in/g6_MUvHe

Call for Papers: Beyond Play hosted by Zentrum für Medien-, Kommunikations- und Informationsforschung (ZeMKI) der Universität Bremen invites submissions that explore the transformative power of digital gaming in deeply mediatized society, how gaming shapes mediatization, digitalization and datafication of society and how games and gaming are conversely shaped by the same processes. ”This conference call hence builds on the premise that to understand the significance of digital games and gaming in a deeply mediatized society we need to look beyond play, i.e., the contents of games and the interaction with games alone. We call to go beyond reducing games to mere playing, examining their placement and connection within digital media environments as gamevironments to research how our communicative practices and their contexts transform through games, as well as how these games are reshaped through communicative practices. A perspective that goes beyond play indicates that researching games and gaming also allows for insights into the deepening of the mediatization and datafication of society.” Submit by June 15. https://lnkd.in/gMf6YiMk #CallForPapers

At the E-sport and video games initiative report hearing, Thierry Breton highlighted the crucial role of the European gaming ecosystem in global innovation and urged the EU Commission and the EU Parliament to unite in fortifying this "sector of European excellence." While the Video Games Industry gears up for increased scrutiny from policymakers in the near future, our experts Monty Aal and Sevara Irgacheva (she/her) delve into the power-ups and pitfalls of policy trends that could shape the industry's journey ahead: https://bit.ly/3y4ryOD #Esport #VideoGames

Celebrating indie multiplayer games. Hazelight's It Takes Two has gotten to 16 million copies at between $30-40 per copy. (Update) To be fair its probably had 30-50% free downloads from GamePass and PS Plus. It's still very healthy. Do the math. This is a roughly Double A budgeted independent title that was published by Electronic Arts across PS4, Ps5, XB1, XSX/XSS, Switch, and Steam (Win) in 2021. Indie multiplayer titles don't need investor hype bubbles to succeed. They just need good IP, good concepts, good gameplay. This si why publishers keep chasing games as a service. Because they are really trying to get at these organic multiplayer hits that grow and sell for years. No web3, no metaverse, no generative AI, just good games. This is part of the future of games, cross platform, cross device, cross play, cross save, on cloud stores. No web, no crypto, no blockchain, no generative AI, no nonsense. Just Good Games. And the core concept? Two people going through a divorce inhabit avatars magically and have to work together to escape and beat the game. Togetherness. Cooperation. ----- GamesIndustry: : It Takes Two moves 16m units | News-in-brief. The cooperative adventure reaches the sales figure three years after launch." GamesIndustry: https://lnkd.in/gPE_AGVU ----- Twitter: "Today is not only the three year anniversary for #ItTakesTwo… The game has now sold over 16 MILLION units!!! Mind-blowing that over 30 million fans have now played it, love you all so much. What a way to start off a very exciting year… " Twitter: https://lnkd.in/gfGzQ6J5 #gameindustry #multiplayer #indiegames #gamedev #longtail #gaas

The Scottish Government has given its backing to the creation of a national games strategy, recognising the enormous commercial and transformative potential of games. This will make Scotland the first part of the United Kingdom to have a strategy in place supporting the rapidly evolving games ecosystem. With the support of the national Techscaler network and CodeBase, the goal of the strategy will be to create a more successful games ecosystem in Scotland and ensure the country can support the sector more effectively as it continues to grow and evolve. https://vist.ly/z7e4

Electronic Arts (EA) has added 4 new patents to our accessibility patent pledge and open sourced a photosensitivity analysis tool called IRIS, which automatically analyzes and identifies frames within videos that could potentially impact players who experience photosensitivity. IRIS has the potential to help millions of players around the world who experience photosensitivity. We’re really thrilled to be making all of this tech and IP available, for free, as part of our ongoing commitment to accessible gaming and inclusion in video games. Github 👉 https://lnkd.in/dhQfqwS8 🎮 Automated Player Control Takeover- auto— detects when a player stops interacting with the game and converts their player-controlled character to a system-driven character resembling the player’s gameplay style. 👩🏫 Adaptive Gaming Tutorial System— allows players to receive custom guidance for in-game commands and techniques which can help reduce their particular barriers with playing the game. 🗺 Route Navigation System— enhances cognitive and visual accessibility by generating navigation routes and displaying navigation aiding lines for those who find it difficult to navigate through large game worlds. 🏆  Animated and Personalized Coach for Video Games— through an animated and personalized coach, players receive in-game and out-of-game insights to improve their performance—making it easier to implement insights and ultimately, maximize their enjoyment of the game. Want to know more about the pledge and the latest additions? Check out our accessibility portal: https://lnkd.in/dH-k-ZjS SEED (Electronic Arts) #weareea

As I promised in my last time, here is a #CopenhagenGamingWeek post as well as Tomorrow’s Awesome Games Showcase. We are repeating the success of CGW and TAGS in 2025 so read along for more info.🎉👀🎉 It is truly great to be a part of planning and co-organizing TAGS again with Niels, Dajana and Regő. 👏♥️ People are already super excited about next year. Beyond that it is also awesome to see and feel the support and we have a lot of improvements for 2025🎯🤩 Copenhagen Gaming Week and TAGS is being held at Bella Center from the 13th to the 15th of February 2025. It will be bigger and better and the ticket prizes are cheaper as well, so bring your family and friends! Shout out to the Jakob from Blackbox Media, Jakob from Wonderful Copenhagen and Andreas from Bellagroup who is leading CGW, keep kicking ass!💪💪 The most important part of this post for developers: If you have a game you want to showcase, go submit it today, link to the website is in the first reply!🛫🛫 Looking back at Copenhagen Gaming Week and TAGS 2024, for a first time event, it went above and beyond my expectations.⭐🤯 TAGS had 39 games, split between 13 groups of students and 26 up and coming games. It was amazing to experience all the joy, excitement and passion from all the developers  as well as the intense 3 days where over 12.500 people attended CGW.👧👨🖥🎮👦👩 The picture is of all the developers showcasing their games and me being proud of them all. 😍 If people ask me what I’m most proud of with TAGS 2024, it is that a 100% of the showcasing developers, said they would recommend other developers participate, which is just awesome beyond words.🤩 But there is so many more bright spots worth mentioning, this time I will stick to three of the winners from TAGS. The Up and Coming Grand Prize winner, CinderCat Games, with their game “Glum: A Wicked Misadventure”, managed to secure funding from several angel investors, which deserves a standing ovation. They are working full time on making Glum the very best it can be. Shout out to No, Thea and Sebastian! 🤩 The Up and Coming Runner-up, One Cut Games, with their game “Soul Surge”, successfully got the Innofounder grant and are working on an updated and polished demo. If you get the chance to hear their pitch, do it, I’m telling you they are worth keeping an eye on. Shout out to Kim! 🤩 And finally one of the shared Student Grand Prize winners, Hairington Games, with their game, “Corporate Cut: The Hair-Raising Adventure of an Office Employee”, is being launched on Steam! So set an X in your calender for October 25th and try out Corporate Cut. Shout out to Anna! 🤩 I can’t wait to see what Copenhagen Gaming Week and Tomorrow’s Awesome Games Showcase 2025 brings of highlights and I hope to see you there! 👏🗣📣 So go submit your game if you haven't already. The deadline for submitting is the 15th of November at midnight CET. 📅 #dkgame #dkmedier #dkkultur #dkpol