GDC Europe 2013 breaks attendance records, returns next year

Organizers of 2013 Game Developers Conference Europe have announced 2,250 attendees across at least 56 countries enjoyed the conference and exhibits for last week's show in Cologne, setting an attendance record for the largest game development show in Europe. Showing the depth of European and international presence at the show, almost 15 countries sent more than 25 attendees to GDC Europe 2013, including host country Germany, the UK, Holland, Finland, Sweden, Poland, and Italy. In addition, more than 25 countries had at least 10 game developers and businesspeople attending - including Turkey, Spain, Ireland, with strong U.S. and Canadian presence and those from even further afield like Australia and Brazil. Organizers have revealed that the conference will return to Cologne, Germany on August 11-13, 2014. It's once again co-located with gamescom, the leading European interactive entertainment consumer trade show, set to take place August 13-17, 2014 - gamescom itself also reported record numbers last week. In its fifth year, GDC Europe 2013 (full Gamasutra event coverage) welcomed close to 130 national and international speakers and more than 75 exhibitors and sponsors. The conference featured more than 90 lectures and panels on the best practices in game development across five Main Conference tracks (Business, Marketing & Management, Design, Production, Programming and Visual Arts) and three summits (Free to Play Design & Business Summit, Smartphone and Tablet Games Summit and Independent Games Summit). VIP and All Access pass holders to GDC Europe and those with GDC Vault subscriptions will be able to access the complete talk video recordings in the coming weeks, with all of the slides and many of the talk videos also available for free to everyone in the near future via gradual roll-out on GDC Vault. Hot topics included virtual reality games, cinematic game experiences, next gen consoles and the definition of next generation game development. International challenges and opportunities, publishing and marketing in mobile games, free to play and community management were also popular themes. There were many talks that the attendees buzzed about on-site and on social media, including: Oculus VR co-founders Palmer Luckey and Nate Mitchell discussing a path forward for better VR games; Ubisoft's Far Cry 3 director Patrick Plourde's debut of the new JRPG 2D sidescroller Child of Light, in development by a small team; Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls developer David Cage's compelling talk on the future of cinematic games and why developers must learn from the film industry; celebrated industry vet Don Daglow's talk about next gen challenges and how to think beyond graphics; and Microsoft's Kevin Perry's talk about designing monetization for Age of Empires Online. For additional information on GDC Europe, please visit the official website. Official photos from the conference can be downloaded from the GDC Flickr account, and for coverage from the event coverage visit Gamasutra's full GDC Europe 2013 microsite. Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech.