The games industry was buzzing with excitement and collaboration as speakers and attendees from around the world gathered for the 23rd Nordic Game Conference from May 23rd to 26th, making it a huge success.

The first signs of success came already on the day before the conference started, where Nordic Game had organized two summits – Games Capital Summit, and Exec Summit. Both were filled to the brim with VC investors and industry leaders respectively, and the feedback afterwards were ambiguously positive.

More than 2,000 attendees visited the live event, while another 300+ participated online. 11,000+ unique viewers watched the live-streamed talks and sessions from the main theatre at the Slagthuset venue, via streams and the NG Discord. 169 speakers from 33 different countries discussed current trends, best practices, and interesting learnings from game development to team management and influencer marketing. Topics such as AI, sustainable design, Web3, and the metaverse, as well as good conduct practices, were debated throughout the show by industry experts and game studio leads.

Safety was also a huge focus area for the organizers, and this year the measures to ensure that all participants at NG23 Spring would have as safe an experience as possible was expanded on many different fronts, including having professional and independent safety teams walking the conference halls, as well as obligatory sign-off to the NG Code of Conduct visible on entrance badges. As of this date, no incidents were reported to the conference’s independent whistle-blower function.

Business high as usual

Business is one of the three major pillars Nordic Game is built on, and the meeting system MeetToMatch played a very important part of NG23 Spring. They reported some record-breaking results, with the major one being this: During the conference days, 3,328 confirmed meetings were held, compared to 2,850 last year.

Networking and celebrations

The conference also once again hosted the Nordic Game Awards, celebrating the best games from the Nordics in 2023. Winner of Best Nordic Game after a tiebreak live on stage was Skábma – Snowfall, a title inspired by the legends and folklore of the Sámi people.

Since NG23 boasted the probably highest concentration of metal heads of all gaming conferences worldwide, the attendees were happy to not only celebrate Metal: Hellsinger winning two awards, but also to headbang to World of Sickness performing live. On top of that, the developers of Best Technology Award winner Virtuoso showcased what creating music in VR can feel and sound like. And those who still didn't get enough shredded their vocal cords with Ste Curran and Maraoke songs rewritten to be about the gaming industry.

Next year will mark Nordic Game Conference's 20th anniversary, and it will happen at Slagthuset in Malmö and online from 21-24 May 2024. If you don't want to wait that long, the next event is going to be NG Helsinki, during the Slush week end-November 2023.

Impressions from NG23 Spring can be found on flickr. More photos will be added shortly.

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