EMA, MESA Launch GameSupply Conference

The Media and Entertainment Services Alliance is teaming with the Entertainment Merchant's Association to create a dedicated event for those who play a role in video game supply chains, like retailers, distributors, publishers and other service providers. The GameSupply event, slated for February 11th in Burbank, CA, claims to be the first specifically dedicated to video game distribution, and hopes to offer a forum for knowledge-sharing and best practices around supply chain issues. The event promises speakers from Activision Blizzard, Best Buy, Microsoft, Play N Trade and other key retailers and game publishers, and admission is open to members of either MESA or EMA and their guests. "The interactive entertainment market has its unique supply chain challenges of integrating the manufacture and distribution of both hardware and software, controlling game development and inventory costs, and the realities of an extremely short product lifecycle," says MESA chief strategist and GameSupply conference chairman Devendra Mishra. "The purveyors of the newest form of mass-market physical and digital media entertainment are increasingly looking to collaborate with the various stakeholders in the areas of best practices, sales and operations planning, production, sales and marketing, retail execution and loss prevention, B2B connectivity between trading partners, and sustainability of the environment."