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Games Lift Incubator 2021: Preparing five Teams for the Challenges of the Games Industry

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Five up-and-coming game developer teams from Hamburg convinced the awarding committee with their project ideas, pitching their way into the Games Lift Incubator 2021. The incubator program starts on September 9 and aims to prepare the teams for the challenges of developing and marketing their games projects in the international markets – through start-up funding of 15,000 euros per team and an intensive three-month workshop and mentoring program under the guidance of international industry experts. With the support of the Games Lift Network, consisting of experts in marketing, pitching, business development, product development, and PR, the teams will further develop their ideas and concepts for marketable games projects. The teams will be provided with workspaces in the Hamburg co-working location “Code Working Space”. The Games Lift Incubator is organized by Gamecity Hamburg, the location initiative for the games industry, funded by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

A total of 17 teams and solo devs applied to be taken in into the second run of the Games Lift Incubator.

The five participating teams were chosen by the awarding committee, consisting of Anne Beuttenmüller (Director Marketing EMEA Niantic, Inc.), Ole Schaper (CEO & CTO Sviper), Wolf Lang (CEO Super Crowd Entertainment), Margarete Schneider (Project Manager Gamecity Hamburg) and Jens Unrau (Head of Department Media and Digital Economy at Hamburg’s Ministry of Culture and Media).

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The five teams and projects in the Games Lift Incubator 2021:

  • The Invitation by tool1
  • Monstersongs VR by Denise Koch
  • PROSPECTOR by Koriol Games
  • supernightshift by consider it
  • The Treepoids by SUPERNATURAL GAMES

Anne Beuttenmüller, Director Marketing EMEA Niantic, Inc, is impressed with the wide range of projects genres from Hamburg’s developer scene: “It’s great to see the versatility and high quality of this year’s Games Lift participants. The developers and teams bring a great passion for their game ideas and concepts. In the incubator, these five teams now have a unique opportunity to work on their skills and take away valuable tips for their further path into the industry. I am very excited to see the further development of our participants.”

The five projects in detail:

The Invitation is an action-packed multiplayer loot shooter set in a future scenario of Earth in the year 2081. The team tool1 also successfully applied for prototype funding by Gamecity Hamburg.

Monstersongs VR by Denise Koch combines a graphic novel with a playable VR rock musical that takes players into a colorful world full of monsters, puzzles, and music.

In the narrative sci-fi adventure PROSPECTOR by Koriol Games, players uncover the mystery of a planet where masks are essential for survival and the game’s heroes have to build important relationships through a novel dialogue system.

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In the mobile game supernightshift, the team consider it turns the city of Hamburg itself into a digital playing field in which the players have to find the best way through the city using different means of transport.  

The Treepoids by developer/designer duo SUPERNATURAL GAMES puts nature in the focus of an entertaining strategy adventure, with hand-drawn 2D graphics and lots of colorful characters on a mysterious island.

The workshop, mentoring, and coaching program of the Games Lift Incubator is put together according to the needs of the participating teams. In addition to game development topics, it covers areas such as marketing, founding a company, or project management.

In a public pitch event in December, the participating developers present the progress they have made in the incubator. Following the intensive phase of the program from September to December, the participants are supported for another year with individual coaching sessions and by an international PR agency specializing in indie games. In 2020, five teams went through the first round of the incubator program. The program is aimed at developers and founders who develop digital game ideas in Hamburg.

 

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Among many others, these industry experts have agreed to share their knowledge as coaches and mentors in the Games Lift Network:

Heather Chandler shares her experience from over 25 years in the international games industry, during which she worked as a senior producer on the hit game Fortnite, with the participants of the Games Lift Incubator in a workshop on producing and project management.

Simon Carless – is one of the best-known consultants in the video game industry and deals primarily with marketing and business development. For the Games Lift participants, he will hold the workshop “Perfecting your Game Hook & the 10 commandments of discoverability”.

Further information on the funded projects, the Games Lift Incubator program and the experts involved are available at https://www.gamecity-hamburg.de/incubator/.  

 

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More funding opportunities through Gamecity Hamburg

In addition to the Games Lift Incubator, Gamecity Hamburg also supports developers and games companies from Hamburg through its Prototype Funding program. Each year, a total of 400,000 euros are available for games projects from Hamburg, individual projects can be funded with up to 80,000 euros as a non-repayable grant. For the first time, there will be a second round of Prototype Funding in 2021. From August 30, developers, teams, and SMEs from Hamburg are called to apply.

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Nolimit City revisits the brutal factory life in Outsourced: Slash Game

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Nolimit City takes you back to the grind with its latest release, Outsourced: Slash Game. For those who thought their consumerist cravings were a safe indulgence, think again. Following in the footsteps of Outsourced, this new addition pulls back the curtain on the sweat and sacrifice lurking behind those everyday luxuries—this time with a dash of danger. Outsourced: Slash Game is the studio’s second venture into crash-style gameplay, the first being xCrash™ in Skate or Die – but this time it’s a standalone crash game!

In Slash Game, players have to make some cutthroat decisions as a laser traces the outline of their hand, increasing the multiplier with every pass. Players hit “stop” to cash out, locking in the multiplier when they feel the timing is right. After which, they will be shown the potential winnings if they wouldn’t have stopped. But here’s the catch: if players hesitate a second too long and the laser slips, all the winnings are lost. A live scoreboard displays the Top Win, Top Miss and Last Round, so that players can keep track of their previous rounds.

Outsourced: Slash Game is not a familiar Nolimit City slot to some players but could cause some excitement with an increasing multiplier and a maximum payout of 1,500x the base bet. Outsourced: Slash Game, unlike Nolimit City’s high-volatility slots, is rated as ‘Medium Volatility’ but don’t let that fool you as it still includes the risk of losing your hand.

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Per Lindheimer, Head of Product at Nolimit City, said: “Get back to work, will you? We’re bringing players back to the unrelenting factory floor of Outsourced with an all-new twist. Slash Game is a standalone take on our crash-style games, and it’s packed with plenty of heart-stopping moments (and maybe a few hand-stopping ones, too). We’re thrilled with how it turned out and we hope that our fans will be too!“

‘Outsourced: Slash Game’ will be available to all Nolimit City partners on November 5th, 2024.

The post Nolimit City revisits the brutal factory life in Outsourced: Slash Game appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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The mobile gaming market is growing and attracting new companies. GAMIVO is the latest example

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Usually, consoles and PCs come to mind when discussing the gaming industry. The mobile sector is often treated as a child of a lesser god, even though it generates almost as much revenue as console and PC combined. Some companies can see this potential. For instance, the e-commerce platform GAMIVO has recently entered the mobile market, allowing players to buy in-game items cheaper.

Back on course

The entire video game industry has evolved incredibly, but the most spectacular has been the growth of the mobile sector. It expanded from 36.9 million dollars in 2016 to 93.2 billion in 2021. Unfortunately, the gaming market suffered from a decline that stemmed from the overoptimism of the pandemic era. As a result, the mobile gaming industry revenues dropped to 92.2 billion in 2022 and to 90.5 billion in 2023. Recent information has indicated this was a necessary correction rather than a long-term trend.

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The latest Newzoo report, issued in August 2024, shows that the industry is on the right track again. According to analysts, the mobile sector will generate revenues of $92.6 billion, representing +3.0% growth year-on-year. It’s nearly half of the entire gaming industry.

Billions of players

Revenues are crucial, but they only show part of the story. To fully understand the size and potential of mobile gaming, it’s necessary to consider the number of players, which constantly grew even when revenues dropped. Newzoo estimates that it will reach 2.8 billion in 2024. It means that almost twice as many people play on mobile devices than on PCs and consoles combined. Currently, every third person on Earth plays on mobile devices, and there’s still space for further growth.

“There are emerging markets where smartphones and mobile networks can expand, providing new potential players. Furthermore, this type of entertainment has a low entry barrier because most popular games are free and don’t require high-end devices,” explains Mateusz Śmieżewski, the CEO at GAMIVO.

One hobby, different habits

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GAMIVO is an example of a company that has recently joined the party to get a piece of the mobile pie. “We examined the mobile market for a very long time, trying to find a suitable place for us. It’s essential to understand that mobile gaming and mobile gamers differ from their PC or console counterparts. You can’t do the same things you do with PC and consoles and hope to replicate your success,” said Mateusz Śmieżewski.

Studies confirm this observation. Average PC and console players spend about 2.1 hours a day in virtual worlds. It’s half an hour more than mobile gamers. However, things get interesting when we take a look at playtime per week, which is the same for mobile and console (5.4 hours) and slightly longer for PC (5.7 hours). Moreover, typical PC and console owners play 2.6 and 2.7 days a week, respectively, while mobile players play 3.4 days per week.

Those statistics prove that PC and console players are more dedicated, spending more time in games’ worlds once they enter them. However, mobile gamers prefer shorter but more frequent sessions. They play while commuting or have a short amount of free time.

“Mobile players are more willing to uninstall games and give another title a chance. Hence, the gameplay has to be captivating and designed to provide quick but intense sessions.

Furthermore, even though the average weekly playtime is identical to PC players, many mobile players don’t think of themselves as gamers,” clarifies Mateusz Śmieżewski.

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Another major difference regards the way in which revenue is generated. PC and console games traditionally represent the premium model, where players buy the game. Most popular mobile releases are free and generate revenue with microtransactions. Almost all titles allow players to spend their real money on virtual coins, crystals, and other items that can be used to unlock additional content or reduce cooldowns.

Entering the mobile market

Those contrasts and nuances scare most companies from the mobile market. Let’s see how GAMIVO has coped with this.

“We decided to launch a new product category dedicated to mobile gamers. Our model allows them to top up in-game accounts cheaply. As a result, they can save up to 30% on buying virtual items, upgrades, and other content. The GAMIVO offer includes the most popular mobile titles, such as Genshin Impact and PUBG Mobile, and still extends,” describes Mateusz Śmieżewski.

“We dedicated a lot of time to research and analyses. Also, the development process required a lot of work to provide GAMIVO customers with safe transactions and a user-friendly environment. The first reactions are very positive, confirming our belief that our decision was right and there is still more space in the mobile game market,” concludes the GAMIVO CEO.

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Arizona Department of Gaming Reports $43.9 Million in Tribal Gaming Contributions for the First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2025

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The Arizona Department of Gaming (ADG) announced today $43,926,346 in tribal gaming contributions to the Arizona Benefits Fund for the first quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. This amount represents an
approximate 3.6 percent increase when compared to the same quarter of FY 2024.

The Arizona Benefits Fund receives 88 percent of tribal gaming contributions, providing significant dollars to support instructional improvement in schools, trauma and emergency care, tourism, and wildlife conservation throughout the state.

FY 2025 Qtr 1 Total: Tribal Gaming Contributions to the Arizona Benefits Fund.

“We are pleased to report yet another increase in the first quarter of the FY 2025, reflecting steady growth in the state’s tribal gaming industry,’ said Jackie Johnson, Director of ADG. “This growth highlights the continued strengtht
of the partnership between the state and our Arizona tribal partners. Notably, cumulative tribal contributions to the Instructional Improvement Fund have now surpassed $1 billion, demonstrating the significant and ongoing impact of tribal gaming on education and communities across Arizona.

Per the Arizona Tribal-State Gaming Compact, Tribes with casinos also contribute a percentage of their Class gross gaming revenue to cities, towns, and counties. Currently, there are 25 Class Il casinos in Arizona, which ADG
regulates in partnership with Arizona tribes. Since FY 2004, approximately $2.3 billion in cumulative contributions
have been received by the state and its cities, towns, and counties.

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