Game Developers Flying Flag For Wales
Eight companies flying to San Francisco For annual gaming conference
An eight strong delegation of Wales’ leading games development and software companies is heading to San Francisco for the game industry's largest annual gathering alongside Creative Wales, thanks to Welsh Government support.
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) brings the game development community together to exchange ideas, solve problems, and shape the future of the industry across five days of education, inspiration, and networking. Attendees include programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, and business leaders.
The GDC Expo also showcases the latest game development tools and services from leading technology companies such as Epic, Google, Intel, Nvidia, Oculus, Sony, Amazon and Microsoft.
With the UK games industry worth an estimated £7bn in 2020 - an increase of +29.9% from 2019 - the Welsh Government is fully committed to helping Welsh companies trade internationally as well as supporting inward investment opportunities.
Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport, Dawn Bowden said: “We have been engaged with and proactively supporting our ever-growing games industry in Wales for a number of years through initiatives like the Digital Development Fund, trade support for key international conferences, and the Wales Games Development Show.
“It is a key sector within creative industries which offers well paid sustainable jobs, which is why we are keen to see it grow and expand in Wales. With representatives attending from across the globe, this event is an opportunity for Welsh businesses to promote themselves and, alongside Creative Wales, to show potential investors what Wales has to offer.”
Richard Pring, Founder & Director of Wales Interactive said: “Ever since going on the inaugural trip seven years ago the Welsh Government GDC Trade mission has become a key date in our calendar and after a two year hiatus we are really excited to be back!
“Not only in that time has it has created hundreds of business and networking opportunities for us, but it has given us the chance to showcase top Welsh talent and Games on the world stage year after year!”
Jason Veal, Managing Director at Sugar Creative said: “The importance of Creative Wales’ trade missions in the growth of Sugar Creative cannot be understated. It has enabled us to foster and develop relationships with our development partners internationally and enabled Sugar to compete on a global stage.
“The partnership’s and relationships developed at GDC thanks to the guidance and support of the Creative Wales team have been instrumental in Sugar’s growth not only in regards to us as a company, but also our reputation globally as a leader in immersive storytelling and XR development.”