Transmedia is back: Why the next hit game IP might start as animated microdrama

• The Marseille summit brought together 260 professionals to explore the future of animation, games and transmedia storytelling.
• AI, representation, microdrama and Roblox were among the key themes, with speakers from Ubisoft, CD Projekt Red, The Gang and more.
• The event highlighted growing crossover between animation and games, with southern France positioning itself as a hub for creative industries.

Amid glorious April sunshine, Marseille, one of Europe’s oldest cities, hosted a summit that brought together animators, filmmakers, game developers, artists, and more.

Now in its fifth year, Cartoon Next is a transmedia event focused on the future of animation and digital content. But for anyone working in games, it’s a valuable room to be in.

The Cartoon organisation is a European body that runs five international networking and co-production events each year, all centred on animation and digital storytelling. Cartoon Next, held annually in Marseille, brings together creators, producers and technologists to explore where the wider entertainment industry is heading next and what innovations international professionals should be aware of.

Across a series of keynotes, focused workshops and discussions, the event offered a window into adjacent industries that are often moving quickly on key topics such as AI, platform-native content and new audience behaviours.

Games and AI join the mix

The latest edition, held last week, saw 260 professionals from 105 companies gather at the World Trade Centre. Games were a significant part of the mix, with several panels and keynote talks bringing in games creators. There were 46 speakers and project experts, with familiar companies including The Gang, Ubisoft, CD Projekt Red and NAK3D represented.

Many of the animation projects shared during the pitching sessions were transmedia in form: worlds designed to extend across short films, features, games, and even books and podcasts.

Here are six things we took away:

1. Transmedia is back at the centre of the conversation

If the idea of transmedia storytelling ever drifted into the background, it’s firmly back on the agenda. We knew this ourselves after the popularity of our Beyond Games summits in Helsinki and London in the last year, but it was great to see the energy in France too.

Cartoon Next is built around the cross-platform storytelling concept, and it showed. There was a series of on-stage pitches, and many of the projects presented were designed from the outset to exist across multiple formats, including animation, film, music, games, and beyond (rather than being adapted from one to another later).

That mindset is increasingly shared across the industry. Animation creators are thinking about how their worlds could translate into interactive experiences, while games companies are continuing to explore how their IP can extend into TV and film. Speakers from studios, including Ubisoft, discussed how those ambitions are becoming a more formalised part of their strategy.

For games professionals, none of this is new. The industry has been talking about convergence for years. But what stood out here was how embedded that thinking feels in the animation world, and how much openness there was in a traditionally linear sector to discuss the roles of games.

2. Representation remains a structural challenge for games

One panel at Cartoon Next opened with a striking statistic: while players are close to gender parity, leadership in games remains overwhelmingly male.

The session, featuring Kelly Vero (NAK3D) and Ruth Lemmen (Womenize!), focused not just on the gap but on what can be done about it.

A recurring theme was visibility. Vero discussed her great career but spoke about the lack of visible role models, and how that absence shapes who feels able to enter (and stay in) the industry. Her recent book, Breaking Through Bytes, aims to address that directly by spotlighting women across technical and creative fields.

Meanwhile, Lemmen highlighted the ongoing work of Womenize!, a long-running initiative designed to support women and underrepresented groups through networking, mentorship and recruitment opportunities. Despite more than a decade of effort, she noted that meaningful change remains slow.

The discussion avoided easy answers, but one point came through clearly: representation is more than hiring; it requires visibility, support structures, and ensuring people see a place for themselves in the industry.

3. AI has moved from taboo to talking point

If AI once felt like a subject to be completely avoided in creative circles, that no longer seems to be the case.

Sure, there were challengers to AI, tackling issues such as climate and the impact on artists. But a number of studios were openly discussing if, when and how to use it.

Across Cartoon Next, artificial intelligence was often positioned as part of the creative and production toolkit. Several stage sessions addressed it directly, and two thoughtful roundtables asked what skills future creatives will need.

A Japanese animated microdrama project (Tokyo Epic) discussed its use of AI in the production pipeline, and one pitch openly acknowledged using tools like Midjourney to generate early visual mock-ups.

There was still some scepticism, but the tone has clearly evolved. Rather than being dismissed outright, AI is now being actively interrogated. For an event focused on the future of storytelling and how technology of all kinds fits into that, it felt like an important step.

4. Microdrama is emerging as an important mobile-first storytelling format

One of the more intriguing trends on display at Cartoon Next wasn’t strictly game-related, but it’s part of the transmedia dialogue (and something we’ve seen at some of our own events, including PGC Helsinki).

Microdrama, a video format built around short, serialised episodes designed for mobile consumption, is rapidly gaining traction as a new form of digital storytelling. Typically structured around fast-paced narratives and frequent cliffhangers, these bite-sized stories are designed to hook audiences in the same way as short-form social video on platforms like TikTok.

Japanese studio Tokyo Epic spoke about their plans. In a session titled “Animated Micro Dramas are becoming a booming trend and a new format”, COO Hayato Inoue and CMO Olivia Papini outlined how the company is producing anime-style microdramas at scale (using AI tools to accelerate parts of the production pipeline).

The model is already seeing success in Asian markets and is now being explored more widely, including expansion into Europe. And while it sits closer to film and animation than games on the surface, the underlying principles (short-form engagement, episodic retention, mobile-first design) will feel very familiar.

5. Roblox cements its place as a vital part of the games ecosystem

The scale of Roblox is no longer up for debate, and it was a big topic of conversation at the Marseille convention, both on and off stage. What stood out at Cartoon Next was the calibre of talent building for it.

Swedish studio The Gang, which specialises in creating branded experiences on the platform, shared how it’s working with partners to deliver increasingly sophisticated, immersive activations. Their presence underlined how Roblox has evolved from a UGC curiosity into a serious production environment for studios and clients.

That theme carried over into broader conversations throughout the event. In meetings with developers, including Eliza Jäppinen, Roblox repeatedly came up as a platform offering genuine reach, viable monetisation, and a growing ecosystem.

This tallies with what Matthew Ball outlined in his “The State of Video Gaming in 2026” report, where Roblox was fêted as a huge part of the games industry today. 

6. Southern France and Europe in general is investing in creative ecosystems

Cartoon Next’s location isn’t accidental. The event is hosted in Marseille as part of a broader effort to showcase the strength of southern France’s creative industries, particularly across animation, games and digital storytelling. Local and regional bodies are actively supporting the sector, with funding, infrastructure and education all designed to support long-term growth.

That ecosystem was on full display. Across the wider Region Sud, a network of studios, schools and production companies is steadily expanding, supported by public funding and initiatives aimed at nurturing both established businesses and emerging talent. In games specifically, regional funds are helping support new studios, while national and European collaboration continues to play a key role in scaling projects.

One standout example is Cross The Ages, a Marseille-based studio building a multi-format IP spanning games, books, animation and collectables. There’s an esports element, a fiction element, and a collectable card game already available. As CEO Sami Chlagou outlined on stage, the project brings together writers, developers and artists to create a universe designed to exist across multiple platforms from the start.

More broadly, the message from organisers and speakers was clear: Europe (and France in particular) remains a global leader in animation, with growing strength in games and interactive media. That position is being actively encouraged by region trade bodies and cross-industry collaboration.

Where the real connections happen

The conference brought together animators, game makers, film makers, brand experts, and more. Taken together, these themes – UGC platforms like Roblox, the ongoing challenge of representation, the growing role of AI, the resurgence of transmedia thinking, and emerging formats like microdrama – painted a picture of an industry in flux, but also one full of opportunity.

A large part of the event’s stage time was given over to the pitches, project work from studios that could present their in-progress work on stage and receive instant feedback from three experts (as well as feedback from the audience via a dedicated app).

But as ever, the most valuable part of Cartoon Next wasn’t on stage. Across a packed few days, the real impact came from the people: conversations between sessions, new connections formed over coffee, and ideas exchanged more informally over cheese, wine and views across the city. It’s in those moments that collaborations begin and future projects quietly take shape.

As the Cartoon platform continues to grow – with the next stop being September’s Cartoon Forum for animated TV series – events like this remain an important meeting point for a set of industries that are increasingly overlapping, and increasingly collaborative.

Pocket Gamer Connects is a media partner of Cartoon.