The annual conference and expo held in Brighton, UK has seen its popularity grow in the time since it was inaugurated. This year, the organisers of Develop: Brighton have announced record attendance figures, with a nine percent year on year increase.
The event included sessions from industry, including figures such as Shuhei Yoshida of Sony, Haden Blackman and Andy Wilson of Hanger 13 and Jade Redmond of EA, among several others such as Michael Hampden of Sony London Studios, who addressed on the topic of virtual reality (VR).
The 2,369 attendees at Develop: Brighton were able to hear from over 120 speakers across 107 sessions and eight tracks, which equated to more sessions than had ever been at a single Develop: Brighton event, which was possible due to an extended three-day format.
A new track introduced at Develop: Brighton for 2018 was Develop: Research, which aimed to highlighted the value of University research and development to the videogame industry and also featured a series of sessions on areas such as diversity in the videogame industry, the importance of mental health, dealing with social media and making videogames accessible.
In addition, 32 exhibitors were present at the Develop: Brighton Expo, including companies such as Hanger 13, Jagex, King, Bossa Studios, Epic Games, Sumo Digital and PlayStation.
“I’d like to thank all our speakers, sponsors, exhibitors and attendees for making this year’s Develop:Brighton such a success,” commented Andy Lane, managing director of Tandem Events. “For 2018, we strived to create a conference and expo that was more diverse, had more content and explored more of the topics that are at the forefront of games development. We are pleased with positive comments we’ve received this year, and for 2019 we’ll continue to push forward and create a conference that brings the game development community together.”
Develop: Brighton will be returning to the Hilton Brighton Metropole from 9th-11th July, 2019. The calls for speakers will open in January 2019. Further news on Develop: Brighton, keep checking back with VRFocus.