Game Developers Conference returns to Europe in 2005

The Game Developers Conference Europe, whose future was cast into doubt recently by the cancellation of partnered trade show ECTS, is set to run again this year at the end of August with a special focus on next-generation development.

GDCE 2005 is set to run from Tuesday, August 30th through to Thursday, September 1st at the Le Meridien hotel in London, and will be organised by the CMP Game Group events team behind the Game Developers Conference.

The event will this year be backed by TIGA, the Independent Games Developers Association, which last year threw its weight behind a rival event - the European Developer's Forum, which was partnered with the EGN trade show.

It was widely expected that GDCE would not run this year after CMP announced that it was shutting down its games-related operations in Europe, including the ECTS and SCoRE trade shows, and the decision to continue running the successful event is likely to be a popular one with European developers.

"Tiga is delighted to be working with CMP as the premier sponsor of the Game Developers Conference Europe," commented Ian Baverstock, chairman of Tiga - and, of course, business development director of key UK developer Kuju Plc.

"Bringing the experience of the team behind the world's leading game developer conference to GDCE is just what our members were hoping for," he continued, "and we look forward to supporting this event as it brings high quality sessions covering the issues that matter to our members to Europe this August."

For his part, Game Developers Conference director Jamil Moledina believes that it's vital for the conference to have a presence in Europe.

"European developers are an essential element of publishers' global strategies as we stand on the brink of next generation console announcements and the launch of titles that will define their impact," he explained. "It is therefore incumbent upon us to apply our tried-and-true GDC methodology to deliver our industry leading forum to this critical market."

Further information regarding, and registration for, the conference will be available at the beginning of June.