XP Gaming Inc, the organisers of the XP Game Developer Summit, have announced major partnerships, speakers, and a wide range of topics with video game industry leaders including Ubisoft, Behaviour Interactive, AMD, AWS, Gameloft, and Certain Affinity for the upcoming conference to be held at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto, April 20 & 21st, 2023.
Founded in 2019, XP Gaming Inc is a world-class events provider, committed to connecting and growing the Canadian video game and esports industries through dedicated business conferences (XP Game Developer Summit Toronto and Vancouver), recruitment (XP Game Jobs), and education (XP Gaming Education) initiatives.
The XP Game Developer Summit fosters new and unprecedented business-building opportunities by delivering premium business-to-business experiences that bring together industry organisations, investors, world-class speakers and subject matter experts. Through XP Game Jobs, the company supports industry recruitment by connecting job seekers and recruiters with Career Day events as well as through a proprietary job platform. The XP Gaming Education initiative helps future professionals understand their career prospects and post-secondary academic options in the gaming and esports industries.
The XP Game Developer Summit is Canada’s premier business-to-business video game conference. Known for its global networking opportunities, world-class speakers, exclusive panels, and masterclasses; the summit is designed to support Canada’s $5.5 billion video game sector.
“The XP Game Developer Summit couldn’t exist without the support of these industry titans.” says Jason Lepine, founder of XP Gaming, “They’re part of the very foundation of the Canadian video game sector. And for smaller studios, it’s incredibly important to be able to connect with these industry pillars and learn from them.”
These industry leaders will join over a dozen publishers and international investors who will be at the XP Game Developer Summit to share their knowledge. AAA, AA, and indie studios can pitch their projects, get the support they need, build their network, and learn from some of the top companies in the industry.
Getting funding and finding the right publisher are common challenges familiar to many game studios. To help studios address those challenges, XP Gaming is bringing in experts from around the world as part of this year’s series of panels and masterclasses.
“I’ve met hundreds of Canadian developers who really want more opportunities for the global video game industry to gather in Canada.” says Jason Lepine, “We made it our mission to bring the industry here. We met with publishers and investors, globally, who see the incredible possibilities of the Canadian video game market and invited them to Toronto for the XP Game Developer Summit. They’re excited to connect with Canadians and explore the vast business opportunities available here, and we’re excited to have them.”
For developers, it is critical to understand what publishers are actively investing in. To that end the XP Game Developer summit will host a panel of international publishing and investment experts to explore that topic and help answer the key question, “What are Publishers Investing In?”.
We made it our mission to bring the industry here
Jason Lepine
Internationally renowned game industry entrepreneur and funding advisor, Jason Della Rocca, will present his masterclass titled “Are you Venture Investible?” to teach studios business strategy and investment preparedness. Dedicated game venture funds now manage over $6 billion of capital and this class will provide the tools and insights to access those funds.
The annual “State of the Canadian Game Industry” panel will return, hosted this year by Carl-Edwin Michel, Founder and CEO of Northern Arena, and the creator of the Canadian Game Awards. In what has become an annual tradition, Jayson Hilchie, President and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESAC), will join the panel to provide his valuable insight into the current and future state of the Canadian video game sector.
Some highlight sessions and topic tracks for XP Game Developer Summit Toronto 2023 include:
- How The Rise of AI/ML Will Impact Your Reality
- USD: Future of Virtual Collaboration?
- A Closer Look at The Latest Features in Unreal Engine
- Working With Colleges and Universities On Applied Research
- Post Crypto Winter – The Future of Blockchain Gaming
- Data-Driven Gameplay Experience Design
- Introduction of the Grant You Have The Right To Have
Confirmed speakers, panellists, and industry thought leaders include:
- Jayson Hilchie, President & CEO at ESAC
- Kendryx Linscott, CMO at Women in Games International
- Kristian Roberts, Managing Partner at Nordicity
- Samuel Bass, Evangelist at Epic Games
- Lucie Lalumiere, President at Interactive Ontario
- Jason Della Rocca, Co-Founder at Execution Labs
- Damon Baker, VP Partnership & Portfolio at Kepler Interactive
- Carl-Edwin Michel, Founder of Canadian Game Awards
- Chloe Giusti, Senior Strategic Partner at ID at Xbox
- Russell Ng, Developer Advocate at Unity
- And many more
To see the full list of speakers and topics, visit the XP Game Developer Summit website.
To help foster Canadian gaming industry connections and discover new business opportunities, preeminent event platform provider, MeetToMatch, will be on-hand to deliver targeted networking and business-to-business experiences.
In addition to the incredible speakers, panel discussions, masterclasses, and networking opportunities, the XP Game Developer Summit also features:
- A Business Lounge for networking
- An Esports Lounge for people looking to learn about the rapidly growing space
- Canada’s largest game showcase.
The XP Game Developer Summit is the centre point of a perfect storm of game industry events. In partnership with XP Gaming, the Level Up Showcase takes place April 19th and will feature games designed by post-secondary students from across Ontario. On April 20th, Interactive Ontario is hosting the IO Connect Evening Networking Mixer for Interactive Ontario members (XP Game Developer Summit Business Pass and VIP Pass holders get complimentary access). Additionally the Canadian Game Awards will celebrate Canada’s spot on the world stage as a leader in interactive entertainment on April 20-21st (XP Game Developer Summit VIP Pass holders get complimentary access).
Tickets and exhibitor spots are available now on XPGameSummit.com with seven pass options available, ranging from $60 for a single-day Game Showcase Pass up to $600 for an all-access VIP Business Pass.
Visit the XP Game Developer Summit website to learn more and register for the XP Game Developer summit.