Casual Connect is a professional conference created to support the mass-market game community by gathering top developers, publishers, distributors and others involved in related industries for networking opportunities and useful lectures created by a board of industry members. Catch a look at the latest speakers at http://europe.casualconnect.org/content.html.

This year Casual Connect will offer nine different tracks in four lecture halls with 170 speakers. Among others, featured speakers include: Andrew Sheppard, CEO, Gree International Entertainment; Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO, CCP; Petri Ikonen, Creative Director, Electronic Arts; Baris Ozistek, CEO, Netmarble EMEA; Tommy Palm, CEO, Resolution Games; Stephen Jarrett, VP of Game Design, King; Clark Stacey, Co-Founder & CEO, Wildworks; Wilhelm Taht, Executive Vice President, Games, Rovio Entertainment; Ryan Chaply, Esports Program Manager, Twitch; Barbara Medvedieva, Product Owner, Murka; and Michael Fuller, VP Global Digital Business Development, Hasbro.

Showcases

The Indie Prize Showcase receives more than 1,000 game applications during the year. Developers from more than 50 countries have already submitted their games for the international Indie Prize scholarship and the organizers expect even more.

Thirty judges will select the best 120 games that will be invited to Casual Connect to showcase the games at Indie Prize alongside with the world’s best indie developers. Further information on the Indie Prize Showcase can be found at http://www.indieprize.org. The full list of participants will be announced on Jan 9th, one month before the conference.

Besides Indie Prize showcase area with independent developers Casual Connect offers a Premium Dev Showcase for established developers. More Information at http://europe.casualconnect.org/developers.html

Networking

Along with access to networking parties and educational lectures, Casual Connect attendees get access to the Pitch & Match meeting system. This system will allow attendees to make their own connections at Casual Connect. Indie developers are able to pitch to publishers about their games, publishers can connect to promising studios, and tools and services companies will be able to find interested clients. http://casualconnect.org/emails/FAQ.html

And last – but not least: Parties

The ultimate combination of networking and fun: Casual Connect will offer three parties: The Badge Pick-Up Party and two official Casual Connect parties at the end of the first two conference days supported by official sponsors. These parties are free and only available to conference attendees.