I attended the Nordic Game Conference, which is very business oriented and not so much about creation/creativity, but none the less I attended some interesting key notes, I will refer a few of them here, with some key words. I did my very best to spread the word about the PM Studio at the conference, everyone seemed interested, something similar does not seem to exist in the Nordic region :)

The most interesting talk was from the Arab advisers Group on 'the emergent Arab market':

- Online games have more users than Pornography in the Arab world

- ubisoft Campus Casablanca is the only game education in the region

- There are almost 400 Million people in the region (the 6th largest economy on the world)

- Free online games have become very popular within the last 3 years

-Travian is the only MMO in Arabic and probably that's why it is so popular

- Other free online games have been translated, like Farmville, but the translation has been so bad, no one wants to play them! 

- Weather conditions similar to the Nordic region (due to warm/cold weather people spend a lot of time inside)

Basically Dr. Samer Abbas encouraged anyone producing online games to enter the region, because there was lots of money to be made.

Guillaume de Fondaumiere, from Quantic Dream on movies and games suggested 'new' (?) ways of collaboration within the 2 industries:

- Join up from the beginning

- 2 truly complementary experiences

- Sharing talent across the board (art, actors, directors)

- Cross-shared revenues, so everyone is interested in success

Kristian Segerstråle, Playfish: Lessons for Game Entrepreneurs:

1. What makes you successful today will make you fail tomorrow (look 3-5 years ahead)

2. Game ideas are not circulating like manuscripts in the film industry, people get too attached to one idea, that should never be killed, which leads to the famous: Kill your darlings.

3. More ideas = Less afraid of failure

4. Keep pleasing the early adapters (otherwise followers have no one to follow)

Social Games Panel led by Jónas Antonsson: Are social games the new black? 

- Jump in now because in 2-3 years the audience will demand higher quality and it
will be more expensive to produce

- First quantity; than quality

-Not a product, but a service

- Release when it's 25 % ready and keep expanding

Posted by Andrea