Gamescom Asia: We want to give Southeast Asian developers a platform to shine
Project director Daria La Valle on unifying a fragmented market, and what 2024 attendees can expect from the show
Gamescom is continuing on its mission to build a global brand of international events, with its Asian show due to take place in Singapore this October.
Between a very successful inaugural Gamescom Latam earlier this year, the original trade show returning to Cologne in just a few weeks, and Gamescom Asia from October 17 to 20, 2024 will mark the first year with all three events taking place in full force.
While Gamescom parent Koelnmesse only acts as co-organiser for the Latam edition, it is fully behind Gamescom Asia, with project director Daria La Valle telling us that the event wants to be a platform for Southeast Asia "to come together." The German Games Industry Association is also behind the wheel, as the owner of the Gamescom brand globally.
La Valle has worked for Koelnmesse Singapore for the past decade, and has lived in the city-state for 15 years. She started working on Gamescom Asia in 2019 and so experienced the arduous journey leading to this 2024 edition.
COVID-19 hit the year the event was due to debut, with Gamescom Asia then delayed to 2021.
"It was a rough time, if I have to be honest," La Valle laughs when asked about how it was to experience this behind the scenes. "I remember by the time COVID hit in February 2020, we had already sold half of the show floor, we had several publishers on board, it looked really promising, still with eight months to go to the show in October 2020.
"Then we all know what happened: the pandemic hit. We had to press the brake really hard and like many other event organisers we decided to pivot online. Of course we had an advantage being in Singapore because the internet infrastructure is really good here. But at the same time, we didn't want our very first Gamescom Asia to be only online."
Koelnmesse also put together a series of webinars at the time, under the name Gamescom Asia's Games Market Bootcamp, with each session delving into a single Southeast Asia market, plus Australia and India.
"Because we realised that there were a lot of people in the gaming industry outside our markets who didn't really know what was going on," La Valle explains. "People are more familiar with China, Korea, Japan, but Southeast Asia was pretty much a question mark. And Southeast Asia is not one market, it's quite fragmented."
Singapore has produced some renowned indie games, like Battlebrew Productions' Cuisineer or Andrew and Adam Teo's Ghostlore. The Cat Quest franchise is also made in Singapore, with the third entry due next week. But beyond its bustling developing scene, Singapore was chosen as this fragmented market's home for various reasons.
"People are more familiar with China, Korea, Japan, but Southeast Asia was pretty much a question mark. And Southeast Asia is not one market, it's quite fragmented"
"It's kind of a neutral ground in a way, as English is the first language," La Valle explains. "So it's easy for everyone to communicate, especially for the B2B side of the industry. [We have] very good government support, a stable government, excellent internet connectivity [and] infrastructure as well. And it's very well connected; we are a hub in terms of transportation, so everybody can travel very easily.
"Singapore is also the APAC headquarter of several International gaming companies. Ubisoft, Riot Games, Bandai Namco, Level Infinite, Netease – they all have big offices here, so it made sense."
Building on 2021's foundations, organisers put together a hybrid Gamescom Asia for 2022, "the very first large-scale event to take place during the pandemic," La Valle says, with each of the 2,000 attendees tested for COVID daily; an impressive feat.
Initially, the event was B2B only, until last year when a consumer show was added and "finally we had the full scale Gamescom Asia that we had dreamt of back in 2019," La Valle smiles.
"It was what we wanted and more actually," she says when asked how the 2023 edition compared to the team's original vision in 2019. "We smashed the target that we had in terms of number of visitors [and] industry support. It was a very good showing for us. Right now, we are the only event in the region that is both B2B and B2C, and has a regional flavour that is not just a national event."
Gamescom Asia 2023 gathered over 34,000 visitors from 67 countries, and 136 exhibitors. This year, Koelnmesse is expecting 40,000 attendees and over 150 exhibitors at Singapore's Suntec Convention & Exhibition Centre.
"One thing that we took away was the interest in the indie developers community that we had at the show," La Valle says. "This year, we are almost tripling the space given to indie developers within the consumer side of the show, [from] 30+ games to 80+ games."
Also planned on the B2C side is Capcom, first major publisher to be confirmed as an exhibitor, which will be holding a Street Fighter 6 esports event among others. La Valle says the show will also be debuting a section for independent artists, as well as a cosplay competition. And there's more to be announced.
On the B2B side, Shawn Layden has been confirmed to keynote, with La Valle noting that publishers and in particular developers are Gamescom Asia's biggest audience segments when it comes to the trade show.
"So it's all about them to be honest, on the B2B side," she continues. "About 40% of our attendees are developers and there's another close to 20% that are publishers. So the main areas in the B2B side are the exhibition, and a three-track conference that focuses on game development, business strategies, marketing, and so on.
"On top of these two main areas, we organise a few activities to match developers with publishers and investors. Because one of the things that we want to do with Gamescom Asia, the objective of the event, is to bring together Southeast Asian developers, give them a platform to shine, kind of a springboard to meet publishers and investors from all over the world. And vice versa for publishers and investors from overseas to come here and find the next big hit game made in Southeast Asia."
Gamescom Asia's Invest Circle will return this year, a speed networking session for developers, publishers, and investors.
"Within one hour, publishers and investors can meet as many developers as they can fit in short form meetings, maximum five minutes. Last year we had about 250 attendees total, then we [brought] them to a bar nearby to continue those conversations casually over a drink or two.
"In a similar vein, we do a pitch competition. We have a panel of judges – again, they are publishers, investors – [who] select the best ten pitches. The best ten games will come on site at Gamescom Asia, the developers will pitch their game, and eventually the top three will win a cash prize as well."
In addition to her role at Koelnmesse, La Valle was recently elected to the executive committee of the Singapore Games Association. We ask her about the challenges developers meet in the city-state.
"I think one of the biggest challenges when bringing games from Southeast Asia overseas is localisation. That's the main challenge, adapting elements of our culture, adapting our languages, all the different languages, to a Western audience, or a Chinese audience, or an American audience. And vice versa, for games coming into this region.
"Sometimes people think that Southeast Asia is a block, but it's not," she reminds us. "We always talk about 'Southeast Asia', but actually it's Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Brunei. So the fragmentation of the industry, that's one of the biggest challenges."
This fragmentation is what gives such a big role to Gamescom Asia, as a place where these different markets can meet.
"Going back to what I said earlier, we want to be a place for the industry to come together, from Southeast Asia, all the devs, the publishers, to come here and meet the world and vice versa, for the world to meet our industry, our talents. That is why we are here."
She concludes: "I think we are getting there, cementing that position in Southeast Asia, and the rest of the world; that would be our objective. And of course growing the show to maybe double or even triple the size that we are now."