In the beating heart of San Francisco, the Moscone Center has opened its doors to the exhibition part of the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the annual event that represents a point of reference for the video game industry in the United States. The conference, which runs until March 22, is the meeting place for industry professionals, including programmers, artists, producers, audio experts, game designers and investors, who come together to exchange ideas and projects in line with future prospects of the market.
This year, the event program stands out for its breadth, offering more 700 sessions which include conferences, panels, tutorials and round tables. These sessions will feature renowned industry experts and will focus on key topics related to video game development, such as Audio, Marketing, Design, Production & Team Management, Development and Graphics. The growth of the event is evidenced by the presence of over 400 exhibiting companies(a significant increase compared to 330 in the previous edition).
The current edition is expected to surpass the 2019 record of participants, which had approx 29,000 visitorsthe. The international pavilions also include Italy, as well as countries such as Spain, France, Germany, Brazil, Switzerland, Canada, India, Chile, Turkey and Wales.
Games in Italy: l’Italia alla Game Developers Conference
Italy stands out with a delegation of 16 companies in the collective pavilion “Games in Italy”. The latter is organized by ICE-Agency in collaboration with IDEA. The inauguration saw the participation of institutional figures such as Davide Corriero (Console d’Italia a San Francisco), Alessandra Rainaldi (Director of ICE-Agency of Los Angeles) e Davide Mancini (Developer Relations Manager di IIDEA).
The participation of Italian companies in the Game Developers Conference 2024 is supported by a package of services that includes a 55m2 ICE-IIDEA collective stand, equipped with a video wall and attractive graphics, a collective catalog and a market analysis on the video game sector in USA. Furthermore, to further emphasize the Italian presence, the event was held on March 19th Spritz & Games at the 54 Mint restaurant, which welcomed around 120 guests, including investors, publishers, developers, startups and other sector specialists, as well as the Italian delegation.
“We are happy to promote the Made in Italy video game sector at the GDC: a young and brilliant boutique industry which today has just 200 companies and around 2400 employees, but which is growing rapidly thanks to its young talents and different forms of support public including international promotion and the tax credit system,” he explains Alessandra Rainaldi, Director of ICE-Agency, Los Angeles Office,. “The advent of AI and the various technological developments on display here at the GDC open up new challenges but also further opportunities for collaboration at an international level for our young companies, especially in the USA, where Italy, although in 14th position and with a market share of 1%, also boasts collaborations with important players such as Microsoft and Sony”
