There’s a solid line-up planned for this year’s Videogame Economics Forum (VEF). As financing in the gaming sector continues to be a major challenge, particularly in social gaming where Zynga’s problems seem to have complicated things for everyone, new financing models have now become all the rage. Crowdfunding has been at the center of this revolution, where companies such as game hardware startup Ouya have raised impressive levels of funding to fuel their development. As a result, the VEF organziers have put crowdfunding front and center on this year’s program with keynotes being delivered by Kickstarter’s Cindy Au, Head of Community and Game Developer relations and MyMajorCompany’s Director General Stéphane Bittoun.
Of course, crowfunding continues to be just one part of the potential funding puzzle for many startups, so there will be many VCs, angels, videogame publishers and distributors on the program and in attendance. A snapshot of some of the other program highlights include (but aren’t limited to of course):
- Overview of GREE’s Partner Fund by Jim Ying – VP, Developer Relations and Publishing, GREE Inc
- Getting an investor to say ‘yes’ by Guillaume Lautour – Partner, ID Invest, Alain Tascan – President & CEO, SAVA Transmédia, and Sébastien Doumic – General Manger, OUAT Entertainment
- ‘How we succeeded in raising €2 million’ by Charles Chistory – CEO, Adictiz
- Scaling up gaming as a service business by Justing Stolzenberg – COO & Co-founder, European Games Group
I will also be moderating what promises to be a really interesting and lively discussion on startup funding with those who either finance new game studios / projects or work to help them navigate their way through the process.
Last but not least, another big highlight taking place on day 1 will be the pitch project competition where startups pitch in 3 minutes or less their game to a panel of VCs, business angels and other investors. If you’ve already registered to attend and have a project that you’d like to pitch, you can do an initial test of your idea with Guillaume Latour from IDI Invest who will be holding a free masterclass for registered startups from 10h – 18h on Tuesday the 30th. If you’ve registered and this is of interest contact Jean-Romain Micol or Elodie Jacome at vef@magelis.org or 05 45 38 00 00.
If you’d like to attend, you can also still register and purchase a ticket here. We also have one free ticket to give away, courtesy of the generous organizing team. So if you want to win it, simply ‘like’ this article on our Facebook page (and make sure to friend us if you haven’t already).
Event details
Date & time: starting at 9h30 on May 16 – 17, 2013
Location: Cité internationale de la bande dessinée et de l’image, 121 rue de Bordeaux, Angouleme