Develop:Brighton 2018 attracted record number of attendees

19 July: Today, Tandem Events, organisers of Europe's leading game developer conference Develop:Brighton, announced record attendance figures with a nine per cent year on year increase.

The conference and expo which included sessions from industry visionaries such as Sony's Shuhei Yoshida, Haden Blackman and Andy Wilson from Hangar 13, EA's Jade Raymond, Bossa Studios' Chet Faliszek, Rami Ismail from Vlameer and Mike Bithell had 2,369 attendees over the three days, the most in its 13-year history.

Delegates were able to hear from more than 120 speakers across 107 sessions and eight tracks; the most number of sessions ever at a single Develop:Brighton, thanks to an extended three-day format.

Brand new sessions for 2018 included Develop:Research, a new one-day track highlighting the value of University research and development to the games industry, and Roundtables, a series of sessions discussing topics such as diversity in the games industry, the importance of mental health, dealing with social media trolls and making gaming accessible.

Alongside the conference, 32 exhibitors made up the Develop:Brighton expo which included companies such as Hangar 13, Jagex, King, Bossa Studios, Epic Games, Sumo Digital and PlayStation.

"I'd like to thank all our speakers, sponsors, exhibitors and attendees for making this year's Develop:Brighton such a success," commented Andy Lane, managing director of Tandem Events. "For 2018, we strived to create a conference and expo that was more diverse, had more content and explored more of the topics that are at the forefront of games development. We are pleased with positive comments we've received this year, and for 2019 we'll continue to push forward and create a conference that brings the game development community together."

Develop:Brighton will return to the Hilton Brighton Metropole from Tuesday 9 to Thursday 11 July 2019. Call for speakers will open in January 2019.