Looking Ahead: GC Asia

Q: Why did LMI look at Singapore for the place to set up a consumer and business event?

Jorg Zeissig: Well it started in 2005 - we had a lot of contacts in the industry that weren't just in Germany or Europe, so we thought about doing something not only in Germany but also another key market, and Asia specifically.

So we took a closer look at the region and identified a couple of locations which have some ties to the games industry, and good locations for hosting an event. Finally, for several reason, we picked Singapore to host the event and create a spin-off of the Games Convention brand in Asia-Pacific.

We then created the concept in 2006 and put together the first event in 2007, calling the whole thing GC Asia.

Q: How's it grown since 2007?

Jorg Zeissig: Well, looking at that year we had 70,000 public visitors to the show, and about 80 exhibitors. Last year we had 92,000 visitors and over 100 exhibitors.

Meanwhile we also had the conference - because the concept has two parts, the public and business areas - and we do expect the public area to grow again this year, with four days of the show as opposed to three days last year.

And on the business part, we're looking at raising the quality of the speakers this year, not just having more of them - that's not going to bring in more attendees. This year the conference will definitely be of even higher quality as we bring in DICE to the event as well - that will take place on the first day of the conference, while the second day will be the regular multiple-track event, similar to the past.

We have four tracks on the second day, focusing on mobile development and iPhone development, as well as production and technology tracks which will have some really good stuff in there - for instance the Ubisoft guys will talk about the making of Assassin's Creed. Things like that are really important to the business in the region in terms of learning how to build a business from scratch.

There will be a business development track as well, on how to run a business - not just being creative, but how to make money. And the fourth track will be art and design, so there will be a couple of good games that have been developed in the region but the art and design was not that perfect - so people will step in those sessions and listen to what the big names will have to say.

Q: We recently spoke to Joseph Olin about the DICE Summit link-up - how much extra will that bring in terms of conference attendees, do you think?

Jorg Zeissig: Well I hope that we'll now be targeting a slightly different audience now - we're thinking about an additional 200 people, minimum, to attend GC Asia this year, because they'll also be there for the DICE Summit.

It's a slightly different track system, and different level of person we're speaking to - that's really the senior executive level. We do have, for example, the senior VP of Sony Worldwide Studios out of Tokyo, Kobayashi-san, and Chris Taylor will be there, the chief creative officer of Electronic Arts... they're really good names, and there will be two more to come, so we're got five or six top people speaking and sharing their knowledge with the audience.

Q: Has the development of GC Asia been hit by the changes with Games Convention in Germany?

Jorg Zeissig: We had to have some changes in Leipzig because of the decision taken by the industry [to move to Cologne], but what we had to learn from that is that the online business is the fastest-growing part of the business - in Europe anyway - and we learned a lot out of Asia-Pacific.

So basically we turned the whole thing around - first we learned from Europe and created a spin-off into Asia-Pacific, and now we've gathered a lot of experience in Asia-Pacific in general and can learn from the business model, especially in the mobile and online spaces, and bring that back into Europe for GC Online.

This year Korea was the partner country for GC Online, and I definitely believe we can bring in many more countries if the business is good for them in Europe. There are a lot of Chinese companies looking into business development opportunities in Europe, and they definitely will do for that in the coming years once we put them on the right path.

Q: There are a lot of events taking place around the year these days, but in particular the middle of September, with GC Asia, TGS and GDC Austin all happening very close to each other. Does that concern you?

Jorg Zeissig: It certainly concerns us, but the question we always ask is: "What does the industry want?" When we decided on being very close to the Tokyo Games Show it was because we wanted to offer the international audience a round-trip possibility.

So an industry person from, let's say the US or Europe, can have it all within one and a half weeks basically - travelling to Singapore for GC Asia and then making another stop over in Tokyo the week after makes complete sense. And on the way back, if they book a return flight via Singapore they have watch the Formula One race the weekend after...

But for the region you're right, it's a bit of a trouble point. You'd probably have to decide whether to go to Tokyo or Singapore - but again, we have a complete difference in terms of the concept we're driving. The concept in Singapore is very much business-oriented - it's in English, and is international in a total sense, whereas Tokyo, although it attracts a lot of media, is a very Japanese-centric event.

That's why I feel there's not really a conflict of interest - we have a different target audience, we have a different audience attending, as well as doing business, in Singapore.

So it's up to the industry to decide whether it's the right timing or not - the only conflict we have, which is a real one, is the clash with Austin GDC, as we kind of cut out the North American continent in terms of mobile and online development.

That's something we seriously have to think about, maybe getting rid of that conflict for next year.

Q: Will we see GC Asia used as a platform to bring the national associations together more this year?

Jorg Zeissig: We'll definitely take that forward. The thing is that it's not always something we have to announce in public, but it's something we might do to bring those guys into Singapore and have a meeting behind closed doors.

Then we could take the opportunity from the event in 2007 when we brought those associations together, find an understanding of what we can do in the region in order to drive the business forward.

Is it about ratings systems? Or is it about outsourcing and co-production, and generating terms and conditions for the entire region? Or simple things like having a region-wide directory?

Things like that will be brought together on an agenda - I've sent out invites to 13 association presidents, and so far seven or eight of them are in. We'll have a gathering, but it's not really for the public.