Israel Gaming Conference

I guess September-October is the "Conference" season... over the last weeks I've attended four: IBC,  the Journey event, our Gemini-MS event, and the IGDA Gaming event (see below). And next Friday I'll be at the Rosh Pina TV and Film festival (which I am sure will be a very different kind of event... primarily the location)

So here's a bit from Thursday's event - 

The State of Game in Israel, a view from Jerusalem

It really seems like a real "gaming" industry is starting to form in Israel.

• The event was fully booked (over 200 attendees)
• New faces - I met many new people who don't make it to the "regular" industry conferences and events (probably because they're too busy playing video games...)
• The entrepreneurs here seem very excited about the field (well, I guess that when you get paid for playing video games its a no-brainer)
• But - many people seemed to be light years away from the "market knowledge"
  • i.e. understanding the complexities of the US market, and how developed and competitive it is
  • and lacking the knowledge of how to approach and pitch to the various players within the value chain
  • (there were a handful of true experts though - who were glad to share their knowledge)
• There are dozens of content (game) developers (i.e. those that develop the games themselves) - It really surprised me to see so many of them in Israel. It seems like a very tough space (image below), and I haven't been convinced that Israel has a competitive advantage in developing the games / content (I could even argue that we have a disadvantage in developing the games - such as culture, marketing capabilities, industry experience, etc)
• There were however several interesting gaming technology startups (such as Primesense - a Gemini company) who took advantage of the great learning and networking opportunity
• And finally - Its always great to get a chance to head up to Jerusalem (unfortunately I don't get too many such opportunities) It always feels like I've landed in a different, refreshing country - only 45 min. away from Tel Aviv

Below a photo of a "natural born" Guitar hero at the event, picked randomly from the crowd to demo the game... Its was easy to see why this game is so addictive - and became such a hit

Tags: IGDA, Israel, Gaming, Conference, Jerusalem