DINGA BAKABA AND KATSUHIRO HARADA LIGHT UP FIRST DAY OF BIG CONFERENCE 2023

Bilbao International Games Conference :

The Bilbao International Games Conference has just closed its first day with the Titanium Awards, which have crowned The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom as the best game of the year and The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, by Deconstructeam, as the Best Spanish Independent Game of 2023. In addition, the BIG Conference honored Dinga Bakaba, director of Arkane Lyon, and Katsuhiro Harada, director of the Tekken saga, with Honorary Awards for their careers in the video game industry.
 


Katushiro Harada, responsible for the Teken saga, has come to Bilbao to collect the Honorary Award of the BIG Conference 2023 for his contribution to the history of videogames and to talk with Antonio Santo, director of the event, about his career.

Dinga Bakaba told his point of view as director of the studio behind the games Dishonoured 2 and Deathloop in an interview with Antonio Santo. The speech have been focused on the importance Bakaba gives to the world in which the action takes place and the importance of teamwork. "Thinking about what I enjoyed when I was a child in the games is the possibility of visiting new worlds, meeting new people... the same as in the books but with a higher degree of involvement".
David Erosa and Paco Ureña, from The Game Kitchen studio, explained the challenge of developing the sequel to Blasphemous. In their presentation they talked about how difficult it is to accuratelly manage the public’s expectations, something that can easily be the downfall of independent studios. "With Blasphemous 2 we had to change everything to keep it the same. This is the biggest challenge of all."

Irina Moreno, from Chibig Studio has revealed the keys behind the strategy for Mika and the Witch's Mountain's Kickstarter campaign. "Spoiler: no, we don't have a million euros in the bank account" she clarified after revealing the €1,300,368 figure that the campaign managed to raise.
 

Callum Underwood, co-founder of the startup IndieBI, explained how to analyze and interpret data offered by stores to optimize video game sales. "Appearing in the section of most anticipated titles on digital distribution platforms is essential to be noticed in an increasingly competitive market".

Alejandro Camarero, from Keplerians, told of his experience developing horror games on mobile platforms. "If you make video games you have to find the point between doing something fun and doing something you're good at." The studio has just released the latest chapter of Ice Scream and the PC and console version of Evil Nun.

Okuda San Miguel, the Spanish multidisciplinary artist, has unveiled his new video game project, Rainbow in the Darkness. "Rainbow in the Darkness shares the same values as the rest of my works, we seek to send the message of love, diversity, inclusion and freedom" he said about this project in which Bliss Pictures and Factory of Dreams will be involved.
 

The latest installment of the Zelda saga, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, has won the award for Best Game of the Year at the Titanium Awards at the BIG Conference 2023. The Titanium Awards gala also handed out awards for Best Game Design, also for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom; Best Narrative Design, for Alan Wake 2; Best Art Direction, for Hi-Fi Rush; and Best Sound Direction, for Hi-Fi Rush. The Titanium Awards also recognized the Best Spanish Independent Game of 2023, which went to The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, by Deconstructeam. In addition, the winners of the BIG Indie Contest were announced. Laika: Aged Through Blood, by Brainwash Gang, won the award for Most Innovative Game, Barraka, by Zomorro Studio, won the award for Best Basque Videogame and Bugs N' Guns, by Blinkshot (u-Tad) won the award for Best University Videogame.

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About the Bilbao International Games Conference 

The BIG Conference picks up the baton from the Fun&Serious Game Festival, which started in 2011 in Bilbao. With the slogan of "celebrating video game culture and video games as culture," for years, it attracted tens of thousands of people and the most prominent names in the international video game industry with a proposal that mixed professional presentations with activities aimed at the general public: from the fun for the whole family of the Fun Zone to the congress for indies Games Industry Forum, passing through the Titanium Awards or esports competitions. After the pandemic hiatus, with a purely virtual edition and another semi-presential one, the festival became an exclusive event for industry professionals and it changed its skin with a brand that reflected this new strategic direction.