Canada's largest gaming expo is back in Edmonton this week, aiming to spotlight Alberta's growing video game industry. Game Con Canada (GCC) returns for its fourth year from June 19-21 at the Edmonton Expo Centre, preceded by the North American Game Industry Summit (NAGIS) from June 18-19.
A New B2B Focus
The biggest update to GCC is the introduction of NAGIS, a business-to-business experience designed to strengthen the North American games and technology ecosystem. According to the NAGIS website, the summit brings together studios, publishers, investors, and technology partners to create partnerships, fund video game projects, and unlock the potential of Alberta's video game industry.
For Chris Meilleur, CEO of Meibel Consulting and GCC, NAGIS is an opportunity to capitalize on GCC's exponential growth over four years. "Despite how fast we've grown, we're still trying to convince big-name companies and IPs that Canada has an audience that is worth bringing their stuff down for," Meilleur said. "But now we have metrics, an economic impact report, and a platform for Alberta to speak from with a unified voice."
Notable Participants and Guests
Some studios attending include Devolver Digital and Edmonton's Arcanaught Studios, developers of the next Knights of the Old Republic game. Notable speakers include Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield and video game industry legend Nolan Bushnell. "Something like 80 per cent of the companies coming in are representing some of the biggest IPs in the world," Meilleur added. "They probably wouldn't have come to GCC for another two or three years, but they're coming now because of the B2B elements of NAGIS."
Game Con Highlights
Game Con Canada features demos of new and trending games, multiple tournaments, a cosplay contest, a community coin collection game, panels with celebrity guests—including Daredevil star Deborah Ann Woll and rapper YDB (son of the Wu-Tang Clan's ODB)—and an area for painting miniatures, among other activities.
Warhammer Expansion
Marc Belisle, vice-president of Meibel, is particularly excited about the expansion of Warhammer-based activities, including an all-new miniature-painting area and Canada's first Warhammer 40K Grand Tournament. "It's funny because we've been working with the Warhammer team since the beginning, and they're still with us," Belisle said. "As soon as we start planning a new GCC, they're the first ones to call us and say they want to be involved."
The event has drawn national sponsorship from EB Games and includes game demos from Nintendo. Belisle feels the best parts of GCC reflect a love for gaming as a hobby, such as a scale-model castle for table-top roleplaying.
