Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2023

The leading games industry conference, Pocket Gamer Connects, returns to Finland again in 2023!

Over 1,500 games industry professionals will gather in Helsinki on September 12-13 to network, discover, pitch and learn from 200 of the world’s top experts.

Mobile, PC and console, blockchain, VR/AR and more will be covered, across unmissable conference tracks. Our speakers and panellists will share their expert insight into design and development, monetisation and growth, AI, blockchain and loads more.

The event is called Connects because that’s what we help you do; connect with the whole gaming industry, from students and indie studios to the media, international investors and publishers. We offer our MeetToMatch meeting platform free and unlimited to all delegates, so you can find that perfect contact and arrange to meet them in person.

We’ll be running a whole host of side activities and curated matchmaking events to cater to everyone’s networking needs.

• Investor Connector

• Publisher SpeedMatch

• The Global Connects Party

• The Very Big Indie Pitch (Mobile Edition)

• The Very Big Indie Pitch (PC + Console Edition)

• The Big Indie Zone

Join us in Helsinki for the return of the leading games industry conference! Book your tickets now: https://www.pgconnects.com/helsinki/registration/ 

Discount code for IGDA Finland members: IGDAFinland20 

GAME WAVE FESTIVAL 2022 - Special 20% discount for IGDA members!

Join Game Wave Festival 2022 with 20% discount on the ticket for IGDA members by using the code FINIGDA22!

GWF22 is an international hybrid games industry business event package that balances education, business and fun in equal measure. This year the event is taking place on November 28-29 in Tallinn, Estonia (Tallink Spa & Conference Hotel) and welcoming everyone to enjoy game development content in the luxury seaside resort. As a part of the program, IGDA Finland will host IGDA Finland Mentor Café to which you are most welcome to join as a mentor, a mentee or both!

If you are interested to join as a speaker, there is still time to submit your proposal:

https://www.gamewave.eu/

Welcome to Tallinn!

Welcome to Arctic Game Week 2022 - Skellefteå, Sweden May 25-28

For members of IGDA Finland and the Swedish Games Industry Association (Spelplan) Arctic Game Week has a special price for a business ticket of 1950 SEK (regular price is 2500 SEK). The ticket gives you full access to Arctic Game Conference, Fantastic Conference, Nordsken, Nordsken VIP-party and MeetToMatch.

Check out the full program at Artic Games Week 2022!

Get 20% off Nordic Game Conference 26-28 May in Malmö, Sweden

Nordic Game offers to IGDA members a very special 20% discount on conference passes for this year’s event, 26‐28 May, in Malmö, Sweden.

This is how you do it:

Hurry up, go to www.conf.nordicgame.com, push the “Register” button, check the “Organisation discount” box, choose "IGDA" from the drop down menu, and then enter the code CyGKk9mCR4 in the “Discount Code” box.

IGDA Finland Mentor Café at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki

Please sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe_T5Alg0Bxscc8Zf3SuSpcDb5HTdf-mJbF2QBYoCdl3CFH3w/viewform?usp=sf_link

The IGDA Mentor café is now being brought to Finland for the very first time - At Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki!

In the IGDA Mentor Café at PGC, games industry leaders will share their knowledge and expertise in short, 20 minute mentoring sessions.

Industry leaders share valuable knowledge, skills and advice in IGDA Mentor Cafés, “giving back” to anyone in the community who is seeking mentorship. Mentees will receive valuable advice and new connections to the industry! Topics can be related to anything in the games industry.

The IGDA Finland Mentor Café will be held on the 11th of September at 10AM and 11AM at the PGC Helsinki venue. Each Mentor Café session will last one hour.

The IGDA Finland Mentor Café team will match make mentors and mentees with each other and provide them with materials to get the most out of their session.

The IGDA Finland Mentor Café is sponsored by Game Analytics. A big thank you to Pocket Gamer Connects for providing the venue! 

Any additional questions can be sent to minna.eloranta@igda.fi.

4C Conference in Kyiv: Call for Speakers

The 4C Conference will take place in Kyiv 23th–24th of September and is now calling for speakers. The deadline is 23th of August.

4C’s motto is: Create. Craft. Communicate. Collaborate.

4C: Kyiv is a conference for those who drive change, not just adjust to it. Listed among participants and speakers are world leading video game specialists and experts. Our goal with this event is to create a meeting place for the most innovative and aspiring developers from across the globe. We won’t be talking about the state of the industry today — we’ll be discussing what the industry will be like in 5 or even 10 years.

The event is sponsored by Wargaming, an award-winning online game developer and publisher, and one of the leaders in the free-to-play MMO market. They’re best known for the mega-hit game World of Tanks.

Additional information: 4C Kyiv_Call_For_Speakers (PDF) & http://conf4c.com/

IGDA Finland goes Game Dev Days

It’s almost April, and that means Game Dev Days are here again. The Estonian game conference is held now for the fourth time and it brings together game development professionals from all over the world to the lovely city of Tallinn. This year IGDA Finland will be there to attend the event in full force: we are working on bus rides from several hubs bringing people all over the country to Helsinki, where we’ll board a ferry to our southern neighbor. The participating hubs for this event are Oulu, Jyväskylä, Turku, and Kotka.

The buses are not the only thing we have in store for participants. IGDA members can get 20% off of Standard conference tickets with the code "IGDAFIN542”. There are also special discounts for both ferry trips as well as hotel accommodation. Note that some of the hotel discounts are only available until 25.3.2016, so make your reservations on the double!

The conference is held on 8.-9.4.2016 at Original Sokos Hotel Viru.

Our ferry of choice (Tallink) leaves on Friday, 8^th of April at 10:30 AM. Join us for some international good times!

Discounts

Remember to use your IGDA discount for conference tickets: you’ll get 20% off of Standard conference tickets with the code "IGDAFIN542”.

We have plenty of partners to help you get there and rest well. To travel cheaper, use the promo code GAMEDEV to get 30% off of Tallink Silja ferry trips to Tallinn from Helsinki and Stockholm. Offer is valid for travel between 06.04.2016 - 11.04.2016.

Those traveling from farther away can also get discount tickets from OnniBus. If you prefer flying to the conference, airBaltic also offers discounts. Both of these partners use the code GAMEDEV as well.

Discount prices for accommodation are available at the following hotels:

Original Sokos Hotel Viru

Standard Single room 81€/night Standard Double room 86€/night

To book your room send an email including your personal details and promo code GAMEDEV to viru.reservation@sok.fi or book by phone +3726809300

Estoria Solo by Sokos

Solo King Single room 85€/night Solo King Double room 95€/night

To book your room send an email including your personal details and promo code GAMEDEV to viru.reservation@sok.fi or book by phone +3726809300

Tallink City Hotel

Standard SINGLE room 65€/night Standard TWIN/DOUBLE room 75€/night

To book your room send an email including your personal details and promo code GAMEDEV to hotelbooking@tallink.ee

Additionally, those who favor even cheaper options, we have a pre-booking for 12 beds at  Center Hotel at very low price.

1 Family room (4 beds) - 48 EUR/night

3 Twin rooms - 30 EUR/night

2 Single rooms - 25 EUR/night

We need to confirm this reservation by 25.03.2016 or the reserved rooms are freed up. Contact your hub representative if you are interested in taking part in this deal.

Contact information

Each hub will inform their members on bus schedules in their own channels. To find out more, contact the representative of your local hub.

Jyväskylä

Tuomas Roininen – tuomas.roininen@igda.fi Sasu Louke – sasu.louke@expa.fi

Oulu

Anna Salomaa – anna.salomaa@igda.fi

Turku

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/221379864882537/ Natasha Trygg – arsparietis@gmail.com

Kotka

Mika Turkia – Mika.Turkia@student.kyamk.fi

For those departing from Helsinki area, your contact person is Katri Laine katrilaine147@gmail.com. Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/838553366255862/

Games track on Nov 13th, Slush

Slush Games track will occupy the Black Stage on November 13th. Check out the Games track program.

At 11:30am 10 mobile game startups will hit the stage. Each one will have one lesson to share with the crowd from the first leg of their journey. After the learnings we'll involve Kristian Segerståle and Aki Järvilehto into the discussion. What will these two experienced game developers / business leaders have to say to the startups?

The startups: Gajatri Studios (Tiina), Headnought Games (Pauli), PlayRaven (Lasse), Fat Lemon Games (Jani), Rival Games (Jukka), Boomlagoon (Antti), Small Giant Games (Markus), Nonstop Games (Juha), Tuliotus (Sami) and SongHi (Daniel).

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Other gaming related events during Slush:

- Facebook's "Getting started with Parse ­- the new way to build" workshop at the Slush Basement on November 13th - 11:00am - 1.45pm. Facebook will organise four 20 minute sessions in a row. No pre-registration needed.

The workshop will focus on: - User acquisition using Facebook's Mobile App Ads - Growing your game using Facebook's social channels - Cross platform social integration with Unity

- Neogames & IGDA Finland game industry mingle at 5pm White Stage - meet other investors, publishers and developers. Snacks and drinks available.

- Official Slush party on November 13th from 9pm onwards

- Women in Games networking event on November 14th, at 5pm (Teatterimuseo)