Tradeshow Poznań Game Arena ended on October 18th but we couldn’t deny ourselves to make a brief summary. On the one hand this event, which attracted more than 66 thousand attenders this year, is an excellent entertainment and on the other hand it is a great meeting place for people from the games’ industry. Developers and marketers share their experience and thoughts during Game Industry Conference. They can also present their products directly to clients and other exhibitors so PGA is a great opportunity to meet people and clients, too. What attracted us the most during this year’s edition? Let’s take a look at pros of PGA 2015 according to the player and the exhibitor.
Player: 5 pros of PGA 2015
Daniel, experienced player, Game Developer at Professor Why S.A.
1. Genius cosplays
Poznań Game Arena 2015 has been dominated by amazing cosplay show-off which created the whole spirit of the event. This year’s edition was my third but never before have I spotted so many wonderful cosplays in one place! The accuracy handcrafted costumes was truly impressive but even more fun was the acting as all cosplays were completed with gestures and facial expressions. Some of the disguisers were very talented and expressed their characters with significant realism.
2. Rise of the Tomb Raider preview
That’s my favorite thing about PGA – the opportunity to discover awaited games before they are officially released to public. This year the newest game of the Tomb Raider series was presented to participants and I couldn’t help myself not to try it out!
3. Even better Indie games
PGA attracts not only the giants like Microsoft Xbox but also independent video games and applications developers’ studios. In my opinion they add new value to the tradeshow: on the one hand they present new quality of games and on the other they realize a wide audience that Polish game industry is growing. I was pleased to visit many Indie developers’ stands and in fact it wasn’t so obvious to guess which stands were Indie and which belonged to global brands.
4. Testing most recent hardware
As you surely know, hardware is as much important to the players as the game itself so PGA 2015 attracted people who wanted to test most recent products. As for me the most important were: HTC Vive, Oculus, Logitech and Thrustmaster steering wheels. There was also a large selection of gaming computers and laptops so it was nearly impossible to get bored. Self-testing hardware is not always possible outside the tradeshow so PGA was a great opportunity to do that!
5. Game Industry Conference lectures
The conference was intended to be addressed to PGA exhibitors but in practice access to the lectures was possible almost for everyone so clever participants willingly used this option. The conference program was very interesting although, as usually, there were also some less engaging speeches.
Exhibitor: 5 pros od PGA 2015
Hania, exhibitor at PGA, Marketing Manager at Professor Why S.A.
1. Direct contact with players
Tradeshows are the best way to reach people directly. So Poznań Game Arena 2015, as the biggest game tradeshow in Poland attracting more than 66 thousand people, was an opportunity not-to-be-missed.
2. A great opportunity to present the game
It’s pretty obvious advantage of the fair but in the case of game like Professor Why™ Chemistry it is the most important thing. The thing is that not everyone after reading our game’s description is able to understand its features, especially the Augmented Reality technology mode. The tradeshow is the best way to present our game, dispel any doubts and answer all questions. This year we hosted many PGA’s participants on our stand and we were able to provide them with all information they requested for. We were pleased to see how many of them were so excited about out game and the AR technology!
3. Receiving feedback before game’s premiere
At the tradeshow players enjoy the previews of new games and the producers await players’ feedback and observe their reactions while testing new games. While Microsoft is not necessarily interested in collecting singe player’s feedback, Indie developers just can’t wait to do so! PGA’s visitors are the best game testers we can imagine so this year we decided to show them our newest title – Professor Why™ The Challenge of the Cristal Eye. Thanks to feedback we received from players we were able to add some cool features to our product. We got so inspired that after coming back from PGA we immediately got to work so check out all of our ideas in practice. You can’t miss our new game’s premiere which is planned for the end of November this year!
4. Exchanging experience with other Indie exhibitors
Game Industry Conference is a great way to gain valuable knowledge but I personally believe that we learn much more from our and other people’s experience rather than from theory. Therefore, during Poznań Game Arena I interacted with other exhibitors to exchange our opinions and experience what provided me with new ideas and inspirations.
5. Observing the players in their natural habitat 😉
The gaming industry is very dynamic so analyzing the market from behind our desks is not enough – it is crucial to go out to people, talk to them, watch how they play and how they use hardware. Game developers simply need to spy on players’ behavior. PGA is perfect for that – developers can physically meet with their clients (see point 1), see who the players really are, what they say and like. These observations give a wider angle of view of gaming industry what is essential in the developers’ daily work.
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Regardless of which side of the interface you represent: the player or the developer, events such like Poznań Game Arena should have a permanent place in your yearly schedule. For whole 3 days the gaming world mixes with the reality, creating a whole new dimension which you should find out for yourself.