Game Developer Conference Europe is drawing closer, with the Cologne-based conference scheduled to kick off on 19 August.

So it's time for the first round of sessions and talks to be announced, with highlights including Double Fine's Oliver Franzke speaking on platform diversity.

Equally of note, Nordeus' Nikola Cavic will lead a session entitled Top Eleven: Achieving Global Success via Emerging Markets.

No doubt Cavic’s talk will address Nordeus' success with Top Eleven - Be a Football Manager which recently reported having 11 million monthly active users spread across Facebook, iOS, and Android.

There's more

Other first wave speakers announced include Dontnod Entertainment's Sebastien Lagarde, Bigpoint's Nico Bouguerra,. Ubisoft Montreal's Steven Masters and Epic Games' James Brown.

GDC Europe 2013 is still a few months away, however, so more mobile and free-to-play talks will be added as the conference draws nearer.

If you're interested in reading more about the event, you can visit GDC Europe 2013’s official website.