TIGA signs up to support European Games Network event

UK development trade body TIGA has announced that it is to lend its support to the European Games Network trade show next September, with the body participating in the creation of a developer's exchange area at the show.

The developer's exchange is described as a dedicated forum for business for developers, and will consist of a mixture of open plan meeting areas, closed presentation rooms, private meeting rooms and demo areas.

TIGA will also be working to ensure that key acquisitions directors from across the industry will be present, with discussions currently underway to bring decision makers and investors from both private and public organisations to the exchange.

EGN, which takes placed from September 1st to 3rd this year, has been spearheaded by ELSPA, which represents game publishers in the UK; the announcement of TIGA's support gives the event a broad base of support from publishers and developers alike.

"This is an important step in building a stronger relationship between ELSPA and TIGA," according to TIGA CEO Fred Hasson. "It makes a great deal of sense for us to work together and we strongly support the idea of the industry creating, developing and owning its own events."

What's not clear is where this announcement will leave GDCE, the highly successful European Game Developers Conference which has taken place alongside the ECTS trade show on the other side of London for the past two years.

Although it's widely accepted that ECTS itself has been declining in both size and importance over the past years and seems likely to disappear in the face of competition from ELSPA's EGN and Game Stars Live events, GDCE - which also belongs to ECTS' parent company, CMP - has thrived and has become a key part of the calendar for many developers in the UK and around Europe.

No details of the conference this year have been announced, but it was widely assumed that it would take place opposite ECTS - which is scheduled for the same dates as EGN, September 1st to 3rd. If this is the case, then it will clash with TIGA's developer's exchange event at EGN, which would most likely detract from both events by forcing developers either to choose between them, or to travel across London in order to attend parts of both.

Neither of these are ideal solutions; it's to be hoped that ELSPA, TIGA and CMP can reach an arrangement that allows GDCE to proceed this year as the important fixture in the development industry's calendar which it has become.