gamescom asia is finally back in full force this 2023 at Suntec Convention & Exhibition Centre, Singapore! It has only been the first day of the world’s biggest videogame convention, yet there are already a number of highlights to mention. Here are all the notable gamescom asia 2023 day 1 highlights we got to experience.
Early on, the venue was quickly filled with games industry folks that ranged from developers, media representatives, and leaders. It was the ultimate gathering for those involved in the gaming space. Booths were filled with indie titles, developer studios, and geek-related merchandise! We spent most of our day sitting through different talks from prominent players in the industry as they each present some of the most burning conversations in the gaming space. Pinay esports talent and events host Mika Fabella acted as the emcee for the day’s conference lineup. Here’s what we were able to catch:
Games at the heart of pop culture
To kick things off, Chairman of the Board of the German Games Industry Association Lars Janssen took the stage to provide some opening remarks. Despite the compromises that were made when the pandemic first hit, gamescom asia continues to get bigger each year. For this year, the record number of registered atendees have reached 320,000 that come from 116 countries. They were met by about 1,227 exhibitors from 63 countries.
One of the key goals of the event is to provide the definitve place for games industry networking. Janssen further emphasizes that gamescom asia is a significant time given that Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam are one of the fastest growing regions when it comes to the global games market. Southeast Asia is considered to be the games market of the future.
“Games are at the heart of pop culture. Gaming events have to properly reflect that,” said Janssen.
The growing importance of gaming
Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA)’s Assistant Chief Executive Justin Ang went up next as he discusses what gaming has become in both its scale and cultural significance.
In just Singapore alone, the games industry has been a huge contributor to economic growth with SGD5.2 billion in profits back in 2021, a 120% increase from 2020. This is thanks in large part to the growing commitment of players, creators, and developers to expand gaming in whatever shape or form. This positions games to be at the forefront of tech advancement such as generative AI, software engine development, and hardware improvements.
“Good IPs transcend platforms and format to grow new users and deepend fan engagement,” Ang says in reference to other industries such as film and TV utilyzing games development tools to create their own products.
Beyond just technical innovations, Ang states that games can be a medium that promotes cultural awareness. Titles like Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Ghost of Tsushima, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage are great examples of this.
Generative AI in gaming
A panel discussion on the growing impact, legality, and moral implicatioons of generative AI in gaming was held with Symbol Zero’s Rafael Brown, Mojang Studios’ Nickole Li, The Bureau’s Alexis Argyriou, and City-Yuwa Partners’ Arata Nomoto. It was a lon conversation about the infinite possibilities and positive of using technology to improve development cycles while also painting a picture of the equally infinite possible ways it can go wrong.
This has been a hot topic that spans beyond video games. The global workforce has been on and off about what this could mean for job security or skills enhancement. If there was one thing the panel all agreed on at the end is that 5 years down the line, we’re all still going to talk about how to use it responsibly in games development and elsewhere. This is an ever growing piece of software that only gets better by each day that passes. New questions will be raised, new features will be revealed, but one thing’s for sure, algorithms can only go as far until human nuances come into play. Games are special because they all start from someone’s personal idea, not from a line of code.
Proper communication in games development
Ubisoft Game Director Bill Money showed up to talk about how their studio promotes proper communication when it comes to game dev. Everyone knows how jam-packed a Ubisoft title is. There are multiple systems and gameplay features that all work side-by-side and ideally, in harmony with one another.
Ubisoft Singapore worked on variious stealth elements of Assassin’s Creed Mirage. Given that it was a title that’s meannt to harken back to series roots, stealth took more centerstage when it comes to gameplay design. Nearly all the tools Basim used in Mirage was a product of Ubisoft Singapore’s hardwork which was all determined by how well everyone understood one another.
Money emphasizes transparency and collaboration across the 42-man team consisting of both Singaporean and Filipino programmers he handled in Mirage’s development. Their team created the “Glory and Effort” system wherein each gameplay feature would be graded based on how heavy the worlkload would be to conceptualize, create, and implement that into the game. This enables the whole team to see what needs more work, who needs help, and what needs to prioritize. It becomes an internal game to see how many more can the team increase the grade of each feature in order to lower its priority in the process. The Glory and Effort system became so successful that team members started to look forward to meetings in order to work together to solve a problem.
“The more you try to engage people creatively, the better they will be motivated to do the work and offer up unique solutions of their own,” Money said.
And that’s about it for what we were able to catch in gamescom asia 2023 day 1. There’s already a lot more to look forward to in the coming days. Stay tuned to our coverage across our socials and here in the website to know more.