Another year, as is tradition in Bilbao, the BIG Conference, heir to the Fun fair, opens its doors.
And talking about professionals is not a coincidence, it is in fact one of the keys to the Bilbao International Games Conference. “The event is dedicated to professionals, it is open to the public, but it is only for professionals in the sector and students,” explains the co-director of the congress, Alfonso Gómez, in an interview with La Vanguardia. “The BIG Conference is the natural evolution of the Fun
During these two days, big names in the industry, both national and international, will parade through the Euskalduna Palace. Among the most notable names is Katsuhiro Harada, producer and director of the Tekken fighting franchise. Another is Dinga Bakaba, creative director at Arkane Lion and responsible for games like Dishonored or the recently announced Blade.
The list goes on and on. Also attending the BIG Conference will be Anna Guxens, narrative designer of Baldur’s Gate 3; Tatiana Delgado, head of American Arcadia; the entire Deconstructeam team; David Erosa and Paco Ureña from The Game Kitchen; among many others.
As Alfonso Gómez says, one of the great novelties of this 2023 edition is that it recovers part of the essence of the Fun
And let's not forget the awards ceremonies. This Friday the Titanium Awards gala is celebrated, which are the official awards of the event. But there are others that are perhaps even more interesting: the Indie Burger Awards, a kind of anti-The Game Awards focused on independent video games. This gala will be held on the afternoon of Saturday, December 16.
But, beyond the presentations and the possibility of trying new games, another of the great attractions of the congress is meeting professionals from the sector. “We want to promote meeting spaces where ideas can emerge and hatch or, at least, that spark can emerge that ends with the development and publication of a new video game,” explains Alfonso Gómez.
The 2022 edition was attended by 1,000 professionals, figures that, with advance confirmations alone, have already been surpassed this year. “We don't know exactly what numbers we can expect because the event is open to the public and tickets are free,” he says. In the last edition, more than 700 meetings were held between professionals in the sector, another figure that the organization plans to exceed.
