2020 has been what you might call an 'unusual' year - not least because it saw the hugely successful Pocket Gamer Connects series of international events for the global games industry make the move from the real world to the online realm.
When we launched with Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #1 in April, (as a rapid response to the mass cancellation of industry events) we were delighted to end up hosting about 1,100 attendees from 60 countries. However those numbers grew even further with each subsequent edition, from the summer's sophomore outing to a Helsinki special in September and last week's fourth edition continued that trend to round out the year in fine style.
Doubling up!
Over the five days of November 9 to 13, we welcomed a total of more than 2,100 games industry professionals to Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #4 and its two new fringe events, Games Jobs Live and the Games Investment Summit in association with Enthusiast Gaming. Overall engagement for the latest event nearly doubled from where we started the series just seven months ago.
It was our biggest ever digital event with 1,550+ games industry professionals attending the Connects seminars and doing business via the live meeting system. And we welcomed another 580 participants to the new fringe events too.
Around 700 companies were represented, of which 69% were game makers (publishers, developers or indies). Attendees from 71 countries (including four new territories), with a strong showing from the Middle East to reflect our ‘Marvellous MENA’ focus and partnership with Jordan's Gaming Lab and the King Abdullah II Fund For Development.
Best figures ever
Chris James, CEO of event organisers Steel Media said, “Despite Q4 being totally rammed with rearranged game events and an element of Zoom-fatigue setting in, Pocket Gamer Connects has finished the year incredibly strongly with one of our best digital events and some of our best figures ever! With over 260 expert speakers, five fabulous fringe events (including two Big Indie Pitches, Pub/Dev Speed Match, the IGDA Mentor Lounge and Investor Connector), plus the Jordan Gaming Lab’s App Challenge and Careers Week full of activities for job seekers, it was certainly one of our busiest! And that’s before you take into account the Games Industry Investment Summit and sister event Pocket Gamer LaunchPad that took place as part of the week of EGLX Digital streams and esports challenges!”
Chris went onto stress the efforts made to make the show generally representative, “The variety of content and activities was matched by the diversity of the speaker and delegate line-up, as we continue in our mission to support new voices and unite the entire industry.
I want to say a huge thanks to the team who worked so hard to put this together and everyone who supported us at this (or indeed any and all of our PGC events this year), we couldn’t do it without you!”
Normal for now
We'll be back next year with much more great content as we look forward to a brighter 2021. Hopefully, this 'new normal' is just the 'new normal for now' and we look forward to Connecting with you in person when we can return to live events (currently planned for Q2). We'll bring you much more news about next year's exciting plans for both online and real world events soon.
In the meantime, the next event in the series is Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5, kicking off proceedings February 8-12 2021. Tickets are now the most affordable they will ever be, thanks to our Super Early Bird prices. Book now to save up to $390!
