The 5th annual Game Developers Conference Europe (GDCE) drew hundreds of European game developers to discuss the future course of the industry. The three-day event in London witnessed more than 700 participants, double the number of last year’s attendance. GDC Europe is committed to delivering an equally compelling event to the European game development community in 2006.
The conference followed this year’s GDC theme, Future Vision, focusing on development for the next generation of games and exploring resources, tools and technologies to equip developers. The various workshops, panels and keynotes featuring internationally recognized industry leaders were organized to establish an environment conducive to learning and networking.
The event kicked off with a day dedicated to mobile games, a continually growing sector creating new opportunities for developers. John Cahill, Yahoo! Games, led the summit with a speech addressing mobile strategy and ways to utilize the tens of millions of online gamers to drive the adoption of mobile games.
Phil Harrison, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), spoke about the next-generation of games in a casual interview-style keynote. The Sony executive touched on the PlayStation Portable and expanded on the advantages of the development environment of the PlayStation 3.
In another keynote focused on next-generation games, Chris Satchell, Microsoft
Corporation, remarked on games and their place in pop culture. As a special treat, Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi discussed the development process of We Love Katamari and shared his philosophies with a sizable crowd.
"The GDC brought industry-leading speakers and timely topics, combined with global and local relevance, to our audience here in Europe," said Jamil Moledina, director, Game Developers Conference Europe. "We are committed to the European game development market, and are excited about receiving positive feedback from this year’s conference."
For more information about GDC Europe, please visit www.gdceurope.com.