With €400 billion in revenue in 2024, the gaming market has established itself as the most successful form of media enter- tainment. Recent commercial hits (MINECRAFT MOVIE), critical successes (THE LAST OF US) and fan favorites (ARCANE) have proven that gaming worlds also translate well into film and series – the curse of mediocre adaptations from previous decades seems to finally be broken.
In Europe this trend hasn’t arrived fully yet – even though a wealth of exciting gaming worlds awaits adaptation, while the series industry could learn much from the gaming world’s techniques for reaching, retaining and exciting loyal audiences.
In several sessions, we explore the possibilities of skill and knowledge exchange, the lure and challenges of IP adaptations and the opportunities for true co-creation.
Networking Breakfast & Introduction Talk
What a great day to kick off the day: Join us for a relaxed networking breakfast where games and series industry meet, network and mingle. Have a coffee and chat about the intersection of both industries, followed by a small and open fish bowl session.
Co-organised with:
Nordisk Film & Nordisk Games
SYNERGIES FOR GAMES & SERIES
Current Trends & Future Developments
Compared to other forms of adaptations, the translation of stories between games and series is only slowly gaining steam, with a slew of recent successes that show the potential of combining both forms of storytelling. But why are gaming worlds so interesting for IP adaptations? What are the narrative trends underlying this development? And what current developments will be mainstream in the next few years?
David Daubtiz (Narrative Lead, Ubisoft) shares in his keynote an insider’s view of how both industries can learn from each other.
WORLD BUILDING, ADAPTATIONS...
...and the Challenges of Navigating IP
Recent adaptations of video games into drama and animation series have achieved major success – Fallout, The Last of Us and Arcane not only captivated existing fans but also leveraged strong pre-existing world-building to reach entirely new audiences. While adaptations are one way to go, the creation of original ideas with cross-media realization in mind or developed as or developed as media-agnostic story worlds offers new and innovative ways of tackling the challenge of co-creation.
Highlighting the challenges and opportunities of IP adaptation while also discussing new and innovative concepts for creating IP as an asset for companies, the panel spotlights the current state of collaboration between the games and series industries: What makes a good IP adaptation? Is there a playbook for adapting stories and worlds between different media? And why is the games sector such a fertile ground for the latest wave of successful adaptations?
COMMUNITY BUILDING, INTERACTION...
... and Iterative Designs
Strong engagement from loyal fans, building lasting relationships with your audience, allowing agency through interaction – it is no wonder that in certain regards games have figured out some of the problems that series and film industry are struggling with. Based on the question how innovation can look like in a disrupted industry, a panel of experts from series and games explore the ways that both industries can learn from each other. What opportunities for knowledge and skills exchange exist? And are concepts like community building and retention, world building and iterative designs to (co-)creation possible?
IP BUILDING IS WORLD BUILDING
New Approaches to Developing Stories, Brands & Characters
How and why to create IP and brands that act as strong assets for companies? What are ways for developing IP as an asset for companies and creatives and what are possible ways to approach this challenge? Creatives from various backgrounds talk about their vision and philosophy behind creating story worlds that easily travel between different media.
Co-organised with:
Creative Europe Desk NRW & Mediengründerzentrum NRW
GAMES & SERIES is taking place in cooperation with our main funding partner: