GDC Online 2010
Building Iconic Online Games Summit to include a keynote from Firaxis.
Costa Mesa, Calif. – Sept. 28, 2010 – Firaxis Games, celebrated developer of Sid Meier’s Civilization V, will deliver the keynote at the Building Iconic Online Games Summit, hosted by GameSpy Technology at GDC Online, in Austin, on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010. The Summit is a dedicated day of talks and tutorials aimed at helping development studios of all size better realize the value of online features in creating enduringly successful games.
At this full-day event, industry leaders who’ve come, seen and conquered the online frontier will share their strategies for building the next iconic online game. Firaxis Games will present an in-depth look at its integration of user-generated content in Sid Meier’s Civilization 5. Industry leaders Sean Ryan, General Manager for NewsCorp Games, David Perry, CEO of Gaikai, Susan Wu, CEO of Ohai, and Brandon Beck, CEO of Riot Games, will offer experiences and strategies in approaching game design and monetization in a post-retail world. The Summit will also provide real-world use-cases on making it all work, such as harnessing the explosively engaging power of user-generated content, implementing flexible in-game commerce solutions to un-cap the revenue pipe, and sharing game data in ways that encourage users to celebrate and collaborate.
“The games that people play for years, and remember forever, now have one thing in common: a killer online experience,” Todd Northcutt, Vice President, GameSpy Technologies said. “Whether you’re running a start-up indie studio or a AAA publisher, it’s time to lay big bets on the true power of online. You can excite players with dynamic data, turn players into collaborators, and run a profitable and flexible business built entirely in-game.”
Recently IGN Entertainment announced a residency and support program for independent developers called Indie Open House. Attendees will be able to learn more about the initiative and find out more about the tools and tech another recent program, GameSpy Tech Open, offers.
To see the full agenda for the day, please visit www.poweredbygamespy.com. For more information on Indie Open House, please check out www.ign.com/indieopenhouse/
About IGN Entertainment
IGN Entertainment, a unit of News Corporation, is the leading Internet media and services provider focused on the video game and entertainment enthusiast markets. Collectively, IGN's properties reached more than 37.8 million unique users worldwide June 2010, according to Internet audience measurement firm comScore Media Metrix. IGN's network of video game-related properties (IGN.com, GameSpy, FilePlanet, TeamXbox, Direct2Drive and others) is one of the Web's leading video game information destinations. IGN also owns the leading men’s lifestyle website AskMen.comand provides technology for online game play in video games. IGN is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices across North America, Europe and Australia.
About GameSpy Technology
A division of IGN Entertainment, GameSpy Technology is the leading provider of online services to video game developers. Founded in 1997, GameSpy has provided its connected gaming technology to the best-selling, most innovative games in the industry. Its various services—social, cloud, commerce, data and mutliplayer—are designed to make games more fun by helping players share their experiences. GameSpy’s technology is accessible on every gaming platform and has been utilized by more than 900 titles to date, including landmark games like Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption, Nintendo’s Mario Kart Wii, and THQ’s WWE: Smackdown vs. Raw franchise.
Contact Information
Kristen Sharbaugh
IGN Entertainment, Inc.
ksharbaugh@ign.com
Sibel Sunar/Hiro Ito
fortyseven communications
sibel@fortyseven.com/hiro@fortyseven.com