Indie developers have another reason to gather on the West Coast.
Google has revealed that it is throwing the Indie Games Festival in San Francisco on September 24. The company came up with this concept after listening to feedback from its indie partners. The event has a number of core goals. Google wants developers to meet their fans as well as influential people from sites like YouTube. Studios can also use this as a chance to get feedback from players in real time. And this is also a chance for developers to talk about improving discoverability on the Google Play app market. Mobile gaming is a $36.9 billion business, which makes up the bulk of spending on both iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":2003716,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,games,mobile,","session":"D"}']In a message to developers, Google Play games strategic lead Jamil Moledina talked more about some of the other opportunities.
“This is a great opportunity for you to showcase your indie title to the public, increase your network, and compete to win great prizes, such as Tango devices, free tickets for Google I/O 2017, and Google ad campaign support,” Moledina wrote. “Admission will be free, and players will get the chance to play and vote on their favorites.”
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In March, Google introduced its Indie Corner initiative to help promote games from smaller studios. These moves come from the company as it works to keep smaller developers happy with Google after years of iOS getting most indie-developed games first.
The huge size of the gaming market on mobile makes these kinds of relationships crucial because it’s possible that one of these studios could end up building the next Minecraft, Clash of Clans, or Candy Crush Saga. Google recognizes this, and it’s doing what it can to ensure its platform is welcoming to that kind of development.
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