2024 is coming to an end. Before the winter break, it is essential to reflect on what has been accomplished and the contributions Excaliber has made to the growth of the video game industry in Italy.
The year began with a major event: Rome Video Game Lab. Promoted by Cinecittà and Fondazione Musica per Roma and organized by Q Academy with the support of Excaliber, the sixth edition of the festival was held at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome from January 25 to 28. Over the course of four days, Excaliber managed the following activities.
- B2B meetings, with 18 Italian game development studios and 34 national and international buyers. More than 200 business meetings were held over two days.
- The Indie Showcase, which featured 20 Italian development studios alongside a delegation of 5 UK-based studios promoted by Games London.
- A talk program featuring 27 national and international speakers, including distinguished guests such as Nobuko Toda (renowned composer), Adrienne Law (Senior Writer at Larian Studios), Benoit Clerc (Head of Publishing at Nacon), Natalie Watson (Producer at Half Mermaid Productions), Jerzy Zalewski (Lead Narrative Designer at Teyon), and many more.
- The Steam Sale, held during the festival week, which highlighted over 170 products from Italian and international indie studios. The promotion received national visibility in Italy on Steam’s homepage and generated over 2 million impressions.
- Thematic articles, written by four journalists: Alessandra Contin (La Stampa, Italian Tech of Repubblica), Carlo Terzano (Startup Italia), Fabrizia Malgieri (Corriere della Sera), and Federico Ercole (Il Manifesto, Dagospia).
- The Best Applied Game Award, an initiative to promote the best applied games created by Italian game development studios. Nostalgici Anonimi by Hufu Interactive Storytelling won Best Applied Game 2022, while MagNet: Missione Magna Grecia by Digital Lighthouse won Best Applied Game 2023.
On the occasion of Rome Video Game Lab, Excaliber presented the results of the first Survey on Italian Game Developers Abroad. Over 100 Italian professionals working in more than 80 companies across 18 foreign countries participated, providing significant insights into their role in the industry and their contributions to prominent indie and triple-A productions in the global video game industry. The full survey is available on the Excaliber website at this link – only in Italian language.
Throughout the year, Excaliber supported the Red Bull Indie Forge project, created by Red Bull to uplift Italy’s independent game development scene. Specifically, Excaliber assisted in selecting the project’s international jury, defining the content for live streams produced with the support of RoundTwo, spreading the call for entries among development studios, liaising with partners, and organizing various phases of the project. This included the participation of the five finalists in free exhibition spaces within the Indie Dungeon area at Milan Games Week. Over 50 development studios applied to Red Bull Indie Forge, with The Crazy Hyper-Dungeon Chronicles winning the Jury Prize and Dino Path Trail earning the Audience Award.
Between April and November, Excaliber participated in several major national and international industry events, supporting and facilitating the participation of various development studios. Highlights include the Games Finance Market at the London Games Festival, First Playable in Florence, the renowned Gamescom in Cologne, Selected Indie 80 at the Tokyo Game Show, and the unmissable Milan Games Week. During these events, Excaliber engaged with hundreds of developers, publishers, and investors, significantly expanding and strengthening its network of contacts.
Starting in the summer, 18 articles and interviews were published on the Excaliber website to showcase activities and highlight productions from both Italian and international indie studios. The reception of this initiative has been overwhelmingly positive, and it will continue into 2025 on a weekly basis. The main goal remains to tell the stories of developers and particularly original projects. These articles, along with all other news distributed by Excaliber, are not only published on the website but also shared with a mailing list of hundreds of industry operators and journalists, which continues to grow every month.
The initiatives just described represent only a portion of what Excaliber has accomplished in 2024. Many others have been curated and will be unveiled throughout the upcoming year. These include supporting studios in the development of their games, launching localization services for international products (beginning with the Italian translation of No Case Should Remain Unsolved by South Korean developer Somi), organizing webinars in collaboration with companies such as Steam’s Business Team, and promoting Italian-made games at third-party initiatives like the PixElated Festival and RES, among many others.
Now it is time to take a well-deserved rest as we look forward to 2025, which promises to be a year full of exciting developments. Follow Excaliber through the newsletter, website, and social channels to stay updated and become part of this ever-growing network – all united by our shared passion: video games.
Happy holidays and see you next year!
