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PG Connects Advent Day 11: Gram Games, Rovio and friends on why company culture is fundamental

Brand new addition for Connects 2018 conference series joins packed 12-strong track programme

PG Connects Advent Day 11: Gram Games, Rovio and friends on why company culture is fundamental

We're running a 'PGC London 2018 Advent Calendar' throughout December. Every day, an informative conference-related update full of karma, karma, karma, karma, karma chameleon.

A studio's game is only as good as its team. It can have the best play experience around but if it has long-term plans then it'll typically only fully achieve them by ensuring sustainability is built at the core of the company. Some of that will mean financial considerations, of course, but much of it comes down to the quality of the working environment. 

The Culture Club is a we've-kept-this-one-super-quiet-until-now brand new addition to PG Connects London 2018 (January 22nd-23rd) that specifically focuses on the issue of building a studio dynamic that enables a team to work to its full potential.

In that spirit, we've deliberately targeted the expert minds we felt would deliver the wisest wisdom for a compact but hard-hitting series of sessions that ought to both highlight the issues and offer practical solutions to what is too often an overlooked element of a company.

  • Erin O'Brien will kick off proceedings by running through how Gram Games's famed approach to prototyping and the studio's very production process both bleeds through to and results from the company culture
  • Anette Staloy will share the importance of 'remembering coffee with your squats', a uniquely practical illustration of how Dirtybit singularly focuses on team culture to underpin success
  • Former IGDA executive director Kate Edwards will deliver essential insight into the need for – and the obvious benefits from – better diversity and inclusion in the mobile games workspace
  • Rovio's Mark Sorrell, now head of the publisher's London studio, will deliver – in inimitable style – the playbook on how companies can achieve family-friendly game development

A full schedule for PGC London 2018 will follow soon. For now, anyone wishing to join us can still do so at Mid Term ticket rates (bonus: use code PGBIZ10 for an additional 10% off) – but only for another day or so.

Reasons to come

  1. We're Europe's largest dedicated mobile games industry event
  2. We've been running the Connects international conference series since 2014 – that's 13 events in the UK, North America, Finland, India… and every one has been bigger/better than the last
  3. For London 2018 we'll have 2,000+ delegates from every corner of the industry – indies, dev studios, publishers, c-level executives, investors, service providers, hardware manufacturers, students, media and more
  4. Full international representation with over 55 nationalities in attendance
  5. 950+ companies ranging from the biggest names to promising start-ups
  6. More than 120 speakers with some of the finest minds delivering the sharpest insight
  7. A 12-track programme consisting of 45+ hours of content, from classic topics monetisation strategies, market overviews and indie success stories to newcomers influencer marketing, blockchain/ICOs, company culture, and eSports
  8. Brand new dedicated workshop sessions for essential practical knowhow
  9. A bustling expo area showcasing the latest unmissable – and often undiscovered – talent
  10. 3 x Indie Pitch competitions set to unearth 'the next big thing'
  11. More than 5,000 business encounters through our bespoke meeting system
  12. Networking-tastic options, from arranged encounters to a fully restructured scheduling to the renowned Global Connects after-party, everything is centred on you making the connections that matter
  13. Our very latest addition at the end of day two, Mobile Games Awards
  14. Full access to associate conferences XR Connects and PC Connects taking place alongside PGC (more tracks, more speakers, more networking)

With three boys under the age of 12, former Edge editor Joao has given up his dream of making it to F1 and instead spends his weekends transforming his living room floor into a venue for hosting increasingly complex Scalextric tracks. When in work mode, he looks after the production (aka the behind-the-scenes magic) of Steel Media's series of conferences.