The Indie Arena Booth team is proud to announce the showcase line-up for gamescom 2017, taking place from August 22nd – 26th in Cologne. With over 1.000 m² of games in hall 10.1., the Indie Arena Booth has become the world’s largest shared game developer showcase. It presents over 80 games from 26 countries and covers the whole spectrum from newcomer teams to AA indie publishers.
This year’s highlights include Frostpunk (11 bit studios), Nine Parchments (Frozenbyte), Serious Sam: I Hate Running Backwards (CroTeam), Dead Cells (Motion Twin), and EVERSPACE (ROCKFISH Games). Humble Bundle, Surprise Attack, Daedalic, Kongregate and Playdius will join the booth to present several titles from their publishing rosters. Impressive up-and-comers like Scorn (EBB Software), Black The Fall (Sand Sailor Studio), FAR: Lone Sails (Okomotive) and Lonely Mountains: Downhill (Megagon Industries) round out the tableau.
A novelty this year will be the Indie Arena Booth LIVE streaming studio. Streamers will be able to meet developers from the show floor and broadcast their games live from the Indie Arena Booth. The studio still has open slots available, so interested streamers, who will attend gamescom, can reach out to the Indie Arena Booth marketing team. Furthermore the IGJAM (biggest German game jam) showcases the highlights from 5 years of jamming and for the first time a Brazilian delegation presents indie games from the biggest country in South America.
The 5th anniversary edition opens a new chapter for the Indie Arena Booth. This year the team of award-winning German game studios (Hammer Labs, Rat King Entertainment and THREAKS) is going professional for the first time! This is possible due to financial support from the EU (Access to Market Funding), BMVI (Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure), BIU (the German Games Industry Association) and Games Germany Regional Funds and Networks.
Nonetheless the major share of sponsoring is covered again by generous industry partners. Long-standing supporters like German online-gaming powerhouse InnoGames, as well as the Amazon Appstore, game engine vendor Unity and prime gaming brand Razer have renewed their commitment. New allies, like the highlight video platform DINGIT.TV (this year’s GOLD sponsor), publishing house Kongregate, Shanghai-based publisher Coconut Island, games subscription service Utomik are joining the roster of high-class partners. Hardware giant ASUS will provide the showcase with high-end gaming PCs, which can be purchased at a special discount after gamescom. Premium business opportunities for attending developers will be provided by industry-leading matchmaking service MeetToMatch for the first time this year. To ensure a wide-ranging gamescom press coverage, the Indie Arena Booth collaborates with exclusive media partners GIGA Games, GAMONA, Spieletipps.de, GameStar and GamePro.
About Indie Arena Booth
Starting quite small, Oliver Eberlei secured a leftover area of 40 m² through hearsay shortly before gamescom in 2013. He decided to take the risky challenge to find nine other teams crazy enough to prepare something for the world’s largest consumer event in games. Together with his friend Sven he built a wooden arcade wall in his garden – completely selfmade.
Oliver continued to bring indies to the gamescom – and took the next leap to 300 m² in 2015. Expanding the team to streamline the workflow, adding members for marketing, PR, design and project management became necessary quite fast. A force of amazing volunteers functions as the backbone of the booth – this year the team has the help of 70 enthusiasts to lend a hand!
Though, in the light of all the glamour the team experienced with the booth, the project nearly wouldn’t have happened this year. Until last year all members worked their hands off in their spare time. Working pro bono and having their own projects to care for, the booth was on the brink of extinction. But just like in the beginning, the team used being in a bind to go even crazier by becoming professional. Numerous sponsors and partners support the booth and enable developers from all over the world to flock to cologne.