Hey everyone, I hope you’re all having a great week.
I attended the 2014 edition of the Montreal International Game Summit on Monday and wanted to share my thoughts on the experience as it was my first time there.
First of all, the rookie mistakes
While I had a great time at the MIGS, truth is it was a really tiring day. As an indie studio, we are always looking for ways to save money and beforehand we decided I would not bother getting a hotel in Montreal for the two days of the event. So I basically scheduled all my business meetings on the same day (Monday) and decided I would come back to Quebec City in the evening.
Yeah… a great plan on paper but I soon realized what I had got myself into. Firstly, I woke up at 5:30AM and drove my way to Montreal, arriving there at around 8:30-9:00 AM (I am NOT an early morning type of guy). I basically had one hour before my first meeting and decided to just look around the event. After this sightseeing tour, the day went by in a flash…
When I wasn’t at a business meeting, I was busy talking with other indie studios, chatting with people from the industry or attending interesting conferences. That was the second rookie mistake… the fact that we decided (for budget reasons) that I would go alone.
There were so many interesting conferences, be it either art, business or programmation-related, that we missed out on. Every hour and a half, 6 or 7 new talks were presented to the public. That is completely insane! Some talks would have been very interesting and helpful for either Math or David, but were not for me. Next time, I think we would benefit as a team from going all together.
I finally ended my day at around 7:45PM and drove back home and arrived at 10:30PM. Still, even though I was really occupied… I still had time to take a selfie.
To exhibit or not
While alot of studios and other service agencies decided to host a stand at the MIGS, I honestly believe it wasn’t worth it for us. In fact, there were a couple of studios who presented their game, but most exhibitors were agencies, video games-related products sellers (like Occulus Rift) and business seeking employees.
It felt a bit like a melting pot of products and services, which in essence is not a bad thing, but it just wasn’t worth it for the cost of a stand. I will say this though, showcasing your game is probably the best way and the most natural approach to networking and making connections with other studios, members of the industry and the public.
Would I go again? Hell yes!
When it’s all said and done, even if I take into consideration the cost of the event and the ”rookie mistakes” we may have made, I would definitely attend the MIGS again without hesitation and I am honestly thrilled already for next year’s edition. Next time, we’ll just have a better plan in mind…
Some cool stuff…
Alright, so enough babbling from me. Here’s a couple of pictures I took from the event. Have at it! (Also shame on me for not getting the artists’ names for the last pictures, I’m sorry!)
Peace out!
-BEN