The Global Mobile Game Confederation (GMGC) 2017 in Beijing recently concluded. It was one of the confederation’s biggest with a total of six stages which gave a way to interesting keynotes and panel discussions hosted by renowned industry leaders.
The conference tackled topics ranging from opportunities and challenges for virtual reality (VR), pan-entertainment, live streaming, to specific markets, and regions in the world. GMGC Beijing brought together 15,318 attendees, travelling from 38 countries and 6,200 companies from various industries.
The conference kicked off with G50 Summit, where David Song, CEO of GMGC, announced the formation of Global Traffic Alliance (GTA), followed by the VIP Dinner. Apart from the staple keynote speeches, partners track, VR Summit, and Indie Pitch Arena, this year GMGC also introduced two rounds of matchmaking sessions, for publishers, developers, and venture capital companies.
Throughout the day and the following day, the exhibition floor gave ample of opportunities to exhibitors and industry people to forge their businesses. Attendees experienced virtual reality devices at the VR pavilion and got a peek at how the future will be, at the VR summit.
The first day closed appropriately, with GMGC and Twitter + MoPub Official Party held at Drei Kronen 1308 Brauhouse in Beijing. The party became an avenue for all of our speakers, sponsors, and attendees to mix up and network with each other over snacks & drinks.
The Conference sessions at a glance:
On Building the Community:
Match Making
For the first time, GMGC rolled out an exclusive matchmaking session for game developers in Beijing. Over 60 international developers connected with more than 20 publishers and investors from across the world.
Indie Pitch Arena
Fifteen teams were selected from the pool of applicants to present their games on the stage. It was certainly a difficult task for the panel of judges to decide the winner as all presented highly innovative games. The games were evaluated and rated on the basis of user experience, content, features and modes, presentation, and originality. “Button Brothers” by Dixin Entertainment and”Beyond Fantasy” by Nuanxin Games have emerged as the champion and runner up respectively.
On Key Regional markets:
Southeast Asia
As a region, Southeast Asia is a segmented market. The dix largest markets – Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore require different market approach. For e.g. Third party payment options are required to succeed with low credit card penetration.
MENA
Despite being one of the largest languages spoken, less than 1 percent of the mobile appear in Arabic. First person shooting and soccer games are popular within the MENA region, and Chinese games that are appropriately localized are also well received.
Europe
Poland and Estonia are emerging in the industry, and can be considered as the stepping stones to the European market. While Germany, Finland and the United Kingdom continue to be the strongest markets in the region. In general, E-sports tournaments are increasingly popular in Europe.
On Technology:
VR
The Virtual Reality market in China has a larger potential than in the West, due to the large pool of suppliers. Mobile devices will be the future of VR while it continues to develop on the PC platform.
Live Streaming
Live streaming will be the next target for internet companies in China. In 2016, live streaming was a big hit, and investors are looking for niche platforms and projects that integrate with IP, entertainment, games and sports.
H5
Product performance, commercial models and interactive capabilities, of H5 games have become more stable. Distribution and user acquisition costs have increased, thus developing games for specific occasions or smaller segments of the markets would be a good point of entry.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a very effective alternative to some of the cumbersome and repetitive work. Entertainment is another area many internet companies will focus on, using artificial intelligence technology to create entertaining content.
Through this years’ congress, GMGC believes the gaming industry around the globe got even bigger and closer.
For more information, about GMGC in Beijing, visit Beijing.gmgc.info or log on to www.gmgc.info. View photos from GMGC through GMGC Facebook and watch events unfold at GMGC YouTube. To know more about the topics and speakers, hit GMGC Slide share.