Ten highlights from Nordic Game this week

Colin Campbell, Sunday, May 21st, 2023 9:07 pm

Nordic Game conference takes place this week in the lovely city of Malmo, in Sweden. It features a wide variety of speakers from around the world, addressing some of the most interesting and urgent issues in modern gaming. Here are ten highlights from the days ahead. 

AI Development Concerns

The first talk is by Andre Schenini Moreira (managing partner, FMA Legal), and it addresses a matter that’s top of mind for game developers and publishers right now – artificial intelligence. In The Use of AI Generated Assets and its Legal Implications Moreira will look at the current state of generative AI game development and will walk attendants through various legal potholes “especially in relation to IP ownership and liability”. You can read GameDaily’s interview with Moreira here.

Tackling Crunch

The game industry is notorious for demanding long hours from workers, leading to exhaustion, depression and illness. Even as companies have come to accept that crunch is self-defeating, many are struggling to reorient their cultures around their talent, instead of around deadlines. In Overcoming Crunch and Management Problems by Reviewing Your Approach to Well-Being, Kevin Scheepers, CEO of FlowMade will analyze the problem and suggest solutions. FlowMade has spent a decade offering “mental health and productivity solutions for game developers”.

Marketing games on TikTok

Abraham Lieberman is the founder of marketing agency Clicks Talent, which specializes in leveraging social media, and represents more than 100 clients. In his talk, The Top Secrets Of TikTok Marketing That No One Will Tell You, Lieberman will be exploring TikTok’s paid landscape, analyzing success measurement and ROI, and offering suggestions on how to select the right agency, marketing, or PR team.

Lessons in social gaming

Fostering “strong, meaningful and enjoyable social connections within gaming communities” is the theme of Victoria Gomes-Boronat’s talk on Harnessing the Power of Social Gaming. Gomes-Boronat is CEO of Lucio, a mobile gaming platform that matches players according to shared interests and experiences as well as geographic proximity. The talk will investigate how game designers can leverage Lucio’s learnings to “optimize gaming experiences and enhance social interaction for local economic growth”.

What is cultural interoperability?

Kate Edwards began her career as a cartographer, and has used those experiences to advise top gaming and tech companies on how to navigate cultural differences around the world. In Cultural Interoperability: The Biggest Challenge to the Metaverse (and Beyond), Edwards will speak on the difficulty of creating metaverse spaces that work internationally at a cultural and at a governmental level. You can find out more detail on this talk in GameDaily’s interview with Edwards here. 

Gaming for the planet

In Make Your Team and Your CFO Smile While Restoring Nature, Maria Wagner will speak on how game companies can take economically sensible action “in reducing their ecological footprint and raising awareness”. Wagner, who is co-founder and general manager of Games Forest Club says: “There are easy ways to begin with, which will also help you with hiring, player engagement and more mindful business decisions. Win-win for nature and your future revenue.”

Celebrating 20 years of Eve Online

Eve Online is one of the most spectacular and successful MMOs in the world, with 20 years experience in creating and managing a vast virtual world of space opera. In The Unexpected Turns That Led to a Titan: EVE Online, CCP Games’ creative director Bergur Finnbogason will look back at the “twists and turns” of the game’s first two decades. 

Learn about Africa’s gaming scene

According to a report by Mordor Intelligence, the African gaming market is set to grow by more than 12 percent annually between now and 2028. In Africa’s Emerging Gaming Scene, Maliyo Games’ founder Hugo Obi will “provide broad insight into what is happening in the market using the perspective of one of the leading gaming companies”. Nigeria-based Maliyo Games is best known for creating mobile games inspired by African stories and cultures, and has developed more than 50 titles to date. 

Living inside Horizon Forbidden West

Creating a Living World in Horizon Forbidden West by Guerilla Games’ lead living world designer Espen Sogn offers insights into one of the most successful and highly rated games in recent memory. Sogn’s talk will focus on “the thought processes and philosophy behind [making] a believable game world”.

Tips for effective user research

How important is user research, and what are the most effective methods? These are the questions that Laura Donahue will be tackling in It’s Dangerous to Go Alone: Do UX Research. Donahue is senior design researcher at Sutherland Labs, a design agency that seeks to “improve experiences for customers and employees”. The talk will bust myths about user research and analyze “the benefits of conducting user research and how to get the most out of each study”.

You can find the full schedule for Nordic Game conference here

Colin Campbell
Editor-in-Chief

Colin Campbell has been reporting on the gaming industry for more than three decades, including for Polygon, IGN, The Guardian, Next Generation, and The Economist.

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