The winner of the Nordic Game Discovery Contest’s debut season was announced during the final “wrap-up” session of NG17 on Friday, 19 May. After touring with six qualifying rounds at industry events all over Europe, the live-pitch competition concluded in Malmö, Sweden with two semi-finals and a nerve-wracking NGDC grand final.
In the end, it was Finnish TeamOcmo that took the stage in the Unreal Theatre to receive not only the coveted NGDC “Game of the Year” statuette and enthusiastic applause from their peers for their game Ocmo, but also a host of prizes; a round-trip ticket to Melbourne, Australia, courtesy of Top Global Round, a free booth at the upcoming EGX Festival in Birmingham, UK from GamesIndustry.biz, an Amazon Echo from Amazon Web Services, passes to the Champions League Final in Cardiff, UK from Nordisk Film Games, as well as a host of exclusive press coverage opportunities from prominent industry media and YouTube channels.
Check out the game trailer:
TeamOcmo’s journey began at the very first NGDC qualifier in October 2016 at the Northern Game Summit in Kajaani, Finland. The studio made a strong impression at the NGS and ensured their game’s place among NGDC semi-finalists at NG17. In Malmö last week, TeamOcmo battled three other contestants to win the second of two NGDC semi-finals. Last Friday, they continued their winning streak to land a spot in the NGDC grand finals.
In their final test, TeamOcmo pitched their game before a capacity crowd in the Unreal Theatre, and answered follow-up questions from the NGDC Finals jury, which included Japanese design legend Fumito Ueda.
TeamOcmo’s NGDC “Game of the Year” win and award ceremony concluded a fantastic Nordic Game Discovery Contest first season, and raises a high bar for the studios and teams to follow in the upcoming 2017-2018 tour. In addition, several new events can already be welcomed to the NGDC second season caravan:
DevPlay – 11-12 September, 2017 (Romania)
GameOn – 16–17 September, 2017 (Lithuania)
Athens Games Festival – 27-29 October, 2017 (Greece)
Game Factory – late November, 2017 (Moldova)
AzPlay – 29–30 November, 2017 (Spain)
Game Dev Camp – 24 November, 2017 (Portugal)
The full line-up of NGDC partner events and qualifying rounds will be announced very soon – and next year, the season finals will yet again be held at Nordic Game, namely NG18 on 23-25 May, 2018.
Learn more about the Nordic Game Discovery Contest, partner events and competing games here.
About the Nordic Game Discovery Contest (debut season)
Building on 14 years of running major successful events in the games industry, including several live-pitching events, selection processes and support systems, Nordic Game has created the Nordic Game Discovery Contest (NGDC) – an exciting, competitive challenge, where selected game projects are showcased at live-pitch events in several countries.
The Nordic Game Discovery Contest debuted at the Day Zero pre-event of the Northern Game Summit (6-7 October 2016) in Kajaani, Finland. The tour continued at Konsoll 2016 in Bergen, Norway and at Sweden Game Conference in Skövde, Sweden.
In 2017, the tour includes the following events:
Reboot, 20-22 April, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Nordic Game Jam, 21 April, Copenhagen, Denmark
Quo Vadis, 24-26 April, Berlin, Germany
Winners from Kajaani, Bergen and Skövde (as well as following stops on the premiere NGDC tour) earn a place in the Nordic Game Discovery Contest Finals at Nordic Game 2017, 17-19 May in Malmö, Sweden.
NGDC wild cards
Are you not attending our partner events? Fear not. Read more about online submission for a wild card seat at the NGDC Finals right here!
The Nordic Game Discovery Contest is sponsored by Nordisk Film Games, GamesIndustry.biz and Nordic Game Ventures. NGDC partner events include Northern Game Summit, Konsoll, Sweden Game Conference, Nordic Game Jam, Reboot Develop and Quo Vadis.
About GamesIndustry.biz
With over 100,000 registered industry users and 50,000 daily email subscribers, GamesIndustry.biz boasts the richest and most energised games industry community in the world. The GamesIndustry.biz Jobs Board is the heart of its offering, delivering the widest selection of games vacancies available globally. With full time editorial teams in the UK, Berlin, New York, Toronto and Toyko, GamesIndustry.biz ensures true global coverage, plus the fastest breaking news surrounding every aspect of the worldwide video games industry.
Learn more about GamesIndustry.biz at www.gamesindustry.biz.
About Nordisk Film
Nordisk Film is a leading Nordic entertainment company, distributor of Sony PlayStation products in the region and part of Egmont. Nordisk Film – Games is a new unit investing in Nordic game studios.
Learn more about Nordisk Film Games at www.nordiskfilmgames.com.
About Nordic Game Ventures
Nordic Game Ventures wants to grow great companies and secure future jobs while profiting from the greatest Nordic export industry success in ages, the games industry. Nordic Game Ventures is founded by ten Nordic games entrepreneurs and gamer entrepreneurs from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
Learn more about Nordic Game Ventures at nordicgameventures.com.
About the Nordic Game conference
Nordic Game is the leading games conference in Europe, and 2017 was its fourteenth year. Gathering over 2,000 games industry professionals in Malmö annually, Nordic Game is the one and only “home turf” meeting place for the highly successful game developers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
Learn more about Nordic Game 2017, 17-19 May in Malmö, Sweden at conf.nordicgame.com.
