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Pocket Gamer Digital NEXT and Beyond Games round off a year of digital conferences in style

1250 attendees from 70 countries and 680+ global companies came together for a full week of learning and networking

Pocket Gamer Digital NEXT and Beyond Games round off a year of digital conferences in style

Last week’s Pocket Gamer Connects Digital NEXT combined with Beyond Games was the place to be for games and creative professionals across the world. Running from Monday, November 15th to Friday, November 19th collectively, professionals gathered virtually to discuss all things gaming and make valuable connections.

With 70 countries from across the world represented at the latest edition of Pocket Gamer Digital NEXT last week, our 1250 attendees were highly representative of the state of the games industry today. We are living at a time where games are expanding far beyond the usual market hubs to a more international and diverse industry than ever before. More than 680 varied companies from all corners of the world were in attendance, including businesses such as LEGO Ventures, Supercell, Jam City and many more.

As with many PG Connects conferences, we saw a high proportion of publishers and developers with 70% of attendees being game makers. For anyone looking to expand their network and make key connections that can take their career in games to the next level, there is no better place to be than PGC events.

For those looking to gain expert insights about the future of the games industry, the PG Connects provided 14 tracks and 130 speakers at the top of their fields to learn from.

These first three days were packed with options of unmissable talks, seminars and panel discussions shedding light on the most pressing topics facing the games industry today. We discussed everything from advertising insights to international opportunities, new markets, company culture, industry visions and values and much more.

What makes PG Connects events so high-value for industry professionals is the unparalleled networking opportunities

Some of the highlights included:

  • How to Stand Out as an Indie Through Collaborative Work with Diogo Vasconcelos of Nerd Monkeys
  • How do Happy People Make Good Games? with Erik Pöntiskoski of Dodreams
  • Gamifying Sign Language: Using Educational Games to Teach KSL in Kenya with Denis Odera of Usiku Games

A big part of what makes PG Connects events so high-value for industry professionals is the unparalleled networking opportunities. In particular, our facilitated matchmaking in the form of fringe events can help open doors and connect you with publishers, investors, monetisation experts and more. This edition, we had The Digital Big Indie Pitch for indie publishers and investors, Publisher SpeedMatch and of course Investor Connector. Angry Cat Studios’ Csaba Bak said "As an indie developer, Investor Connector is one of the best events you have to attend! We love it! Practice your pitch, listen to the pro speakers, learn a lot, check out for publishers/investors, and for many kinds of services!"

And the kind words don’t stop there...

Some feedback from attendees

Here is some of the feedback we received from attendees of this conference. There is nothing quite like the experience of being part of one of these conferences to understand what the fuss is all about!

An additional two days of insights and networking

PG Connects Digital NEXT gave all ticket-holders access to the second-ever Beyond Games conference taking place over the following two days. At this virtual conference, we got to discuss everything in the realm of interactive media with professionals from a number of creative industries coming together to discuss how we can work together as the world becomes increasingly interconnected and the spaces between entertainment realms converge. We got to have an additional 400+ attendees and 90 speakers leading the conversations on new and emerging technologies and fields.

These two days were filled with insightful discussions across 10 themed tracks. We discussed Transmedia Trends, Web 3.0, Blockchain Basics, Mapping the Metaverse and much more. Some incredible talks this year included:

  • The Future of Immersive Storytelling & How Technology is Blurring the Lines Between Live Action Film & Gaming with Jack Attridge from Flavourworks
  • The Power of NFTs & Blockchain: Can this Technology Generate a Social Impact? with Tano Bevacqua of MUSURE
  • Avatars & Self Expression in the Metaverse with Teddy Pahagbia of BLVCK PiXEL

This forward-thinking event gathered top-tier talent spanning industries from fashion to film to VR to discuss how we can come together to take our individual industries and businesses to the next level with cross-discipline collaboration.

More than 680 companies from all corners of the world were in attendance, including businesses such as LEGO Ventures, Supercell and Jam City

With a completely free meeting platform accessible 24/7 to all attendees, countless conversations and connections were made by those in attendance.

A fantastic end to the year

Steel Media CEO Chris James said: “Last week's PG Connects Digital Next and Beyond Games double header was a fantastic way to bring our digital conference series to a close with over 200 engaging speakers offering insight and vision on the games business today and the next steps into our glorious future for our industry.

Over the last 20 months we've effectively run 9 PG Connects Digital conferences and 2 Beyond Games and connected around 13,800 delegates from over 7,000 companies and 90+ countries.

I'm super proud of the Steel Media team who's worked so hard to create the best digital event experience possible. I'm also supremely grateful for all our incredible sponsors, partners and delegates who've enabled us to deliver them and the 2,000 plus speakers who've graciously shared their time and insight.

We've learned a lot from the digital experience, some of which we'll be bringing to future hybrid events. For now though, our main focus is on delivering the market-leading live events which made our name, starting with PGC London in January 17-18th. We hope to see you there!”

Don’t want to miss out on your opportunity to join us on our big return to London?

PG Connects London is already open for registration and tickets are being booked daily -- be sure to secure your spot at the highly anticipated mobile gaming conference at the best possible price and save up to $435 before our Early Bird sale ends.

Looking ahead to the rest of 2022? Check out our events list for 2022 and pencil them into your calendar so you don’t miss out.

Marketing Executive