Below: Marjaana Auranen and Sahin Cengiz from Finnish studio Red Stage Entertainment awarded Game of the Year for Skábma – Snowfall at Slagthuset in Malmö, Sweden during the 2023 Nordic Game Awards at NG23 Spring.
Wrapping up an incredible NG23 Spring
Nordic Game celebrated its twenty-third edition with another string of records broken, as games industry participants from across the globe gathered online and in Malmö, Sweden for NG23 Spring on 23-26 May.
We look back at another incredible Nordic Game week in May:
Summit successes
The excitement kicked-off at Slagthuset with two summits on Tuesday, 23 May: the Games Capital Summit hosted by industry guru Jason Della Rocca and the Executive Summit, hosted by Dirtybit CMO Anette Ståløy and Phantom Gamelabs CEO Sonja Ängeslevä.
Each event reached new levels of investor and industry participation respectively, and the feedback afterwards was unambiguously and enthusiastically positive.
Stellar speaker program
From 24-26 May, more than 2000 participants at Slagthuset in Malmö and over 300 online pass holders participated in this spring’s conference program. The NG23 Spring live stream and recorded talks garnered over 11,000 unique views.
The NG23 Spring speaker program featured 169 speakers from 33 countries, with industry experts and studio leads presenting current trends, best practices and lessons learned in game development.
Topics ranged from team management and influencer marketing to AI, sustainable design, Web3 and the Metaverse, as well as best practices in workplace conduct and DEI.
Your safety and well-being
Safety and well-being was a top priority for the organisers, as Nordic Game continues to work to ensure that all participants, volunteers and staff have a safe and secure experience at our events.
Initiatives at NG23 Spring included dedicated safety staff in the venue, as well as a revised and expanded Code of Conduct, with acceptance prominently displayed on all event badges. Learn more here.
Biz dev hits new heights
Business is one of the three main pillars of the Nordic Game experience, and the MeetToMatch matchmaking and meeting platform yet again played a central role at NG23 Spring.
The pace was hectic in the MeetToMatch meeting area, lounge and meeting points around the venue, as well as online: 3328 confirmed meetings were held, up over 15 per cent from last year’s record.
A lively show floor at Slagthuset and on Discord
With dozens of Expo booths and over 60 games in this year’s Developer Showcase, exhibitors were in high gear at NG23 Spring.
The action began on Tuesday, 23 May with our debut Publishers & Investors Day and continued throughout the week with booth events, pitching competitions, as well as a string of networking and social activities, including a game jam and Developer Showcase virtual exhibition on our Discord.
Honoring the best of the best
NG23 Spring also presented the Nordic Game Awards, celebrating the best games from the Nordic region in 2023. On-stage at Slagthuset and streamed live to thousands of viewers online, the evening was hosted by Pixel.tv legend Thomas Bense, joined by David Bateson, the voice of Agent 47 from the popular Hitman series, and members of the Nordic Game Awards jury.
A highlight of this year’s show was a nail-biting jury tiebreaker, with Skábma – Snowfall, a game from Finnish Red Stage Entertainment inspired by the legends and folklore of the Sámi people, awarded the Game of the Year title.
Celebrations galore
Since NG23 Spring could in all likelihood boast the highest concentration of metal heads of all games industry conferences worldwide, participants were happy to not only celebrate Metal: Hellsinger winning two Nordic Game Awards, but also to headbang to World of Sickness performing live at the Nordic Game Party.
On top of that, Best Technology Award winner Really Interactive, creators of Virtuoso, showcased what creating music in VR can feel and sound like. And for those who couldn’t get enough of the Nordic Game musical goodness, Ste Curran guided a vocal audience through a repertoire of maraoke songs rewritten for the games industry.
Nordic Game in November & next May but most of all – thank you!
Next year will mark a milestone, Nordic Game’s twentieth anniversary! Mark your calendars now for NG24 Spring, live from Slagthuset in Malmö and online from 21-24 May, 2024. If you can’t wait that long – understandable 🙂 – our next event will be NG23 Helsinki in late November during Slush week. Passes will go on sale this summer.
We would sincerely like to thank all of our speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, partners and pass holders in Malmö and online for making NG23 Spring another wonderful Nordic Game experience. See you again soon!
Join our exhibitors, sponsors and partners
Nordic Game would not be celebrating double editions annually without the enthusiastic participation of thousands of talented game developers from the Nordic region and across the globe for nearly two decades. Thank you!
We’re also tremendously grateful for the unwavering support of our exhibitors, sponsors and partners. Many of them have already signed-up for our upcoming events, but we’re always ready to welcome new partnerships.
Contact us here for some great opportunities on exhibitor, sponsor, group and partner packages for our next event and beyond.
About the Nordic Game conference
Nordic Game is the leading games conference in Europe. Gathering thousands of industry professionals in the spring and autumn each year, Nordic Game is the one and only “home turf” meeting place for the highly successful game developers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
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