New national conference to embrace Asia Pacific
The Game Developers? Association of Australia (GDAA), the governing body for the Australian electronic game industry, today announced that the industry conference Game Connect:Asia Pacific will be held in Brisbane on November 30-December 2, 2006.
The news comes after one of the most successful E3 efforts in the history of the GDAA and with all business and financial indicators signalling an excellent year ahead for the industry. Already deals worth $A7.2m have been signed since the tradeshow, with an estimated $A95m worth of deals expected over the next two years.
Evelyn Richardson, GDAA President and CEO, said the Game Connect: Asia Pacific theme reflected Australia's business role in the region, with collaborations and deals with Asian companies at an all time high.
?This is about embracing the Asia Pacific and recognizing it as a powerful business environment from which Australian companies can leverage for global growth, building strategic alliances and growing our core skills base,? Richardson said.
Richardson said the conference venue would rotate each year among the key game cities, with 2006 being held in Brisbane.
Queensland Minister for Small Business, Information Technology Policy and Multicultural Affairs Chris Cummins said the Beattie Government was proud to be a major sponsor of the inaugural conference.
Game Connect: Asia Pacific builds on the former annual industry conferences which were supported by the GDAA, but takes the format in a new more business-focussed direction.
At the same time, the conference is designed to provide local developers with networking opportunities and to share knowledge and best practice.
The Conference is backed by leading international game companies such as Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Autodesk.
Richardson said the Game Connect: Asia Pacific program has been developed by Conference sub- committees which include Program, Expo, Education and Skills, PR and Media, Awards, and the GDAA Board, and is designed to suit the changing business environment in which our game companies now operated.
?The Conference will provide delegates with powerful information, tools and contacts designed to support them during this period of unprecedented transition with the shift to Next-Gen, global consolidation, and escalating development costs,? said Richardson
Just hope they charge a realistic admitance price over the AGDC
Any word yet on where in Brisbane this will be held? Interested to see how much it will cost and who they can get to speak at it.
At the Brisbane Convention Centre. Click on the "Find it on Sumea Maps" button and it'll take you to the location.
AGDC was pretty good. I hope this new conference goes beyond it and its not a lame duck