After a five-year hiatus, video game enthusiasts and creators will once again be able to attend the most prominent gaming culture event in the Baltic States, “GameOn.”
The event is scheduled to take place on October 18-20 at LITEXPO, aiming to attract a record number of participants. In addition to games, the event will also focus on the rich gaming culture and its creators. The organizers have ambitious plans to make “GameOn” the largest gaming culture event in Central and Eastern Europe within the next five years.
Video Game Enthusiasts Have Grown Up
According to Gediminas Tarasevičius, director of the Lithuanian Game Developers Association, organizing the event alongside LITEXPO, the entire gaming market has grown significantly over the past five years, and games have become an integral part of the culture.
Tarasevičius highlights that the video game industry is thriving due to the maturation of Generation Y, who grew up playing video games, making games an inherent part of their culture and life. This presents new opportunities for an event like “GameOn.”
“We see a rapidly growing gaming industry in the region – from Finland in the north, Lithuania and Poland in Central Europe, to Romania and Croatia in Southern Europe. We also see the potential to become the strongest and largest regional event, uniting players and creators. There are no such events within a 1,000 km radius of Lithuania. Smaller events with up to a thousand attendees are held in Latvia and Estonia. The closest major event takes place in Poznan, western Poland. Therefore, we have all the opportunities to become a regional event, with visitor numbers expected to reach 50,000 over the next five years,” shares Gediminas Tarasevičius, director of the Lithuanian Game Developers Association.
Meanwhile, the Vilnius city development agency “Go Vilnius,” which also contributes to the return of “GameOn,” emphasizes that video games are an important part of Lithuania’s and Vilnius’ economy and innovation.
“The game development industry is among Vilnius’ top priority sectors, creating significant value for our city and overall technological growth. According to data from the Lithuanian Game Developers Association, this sector has grown rapidly in recent years – the number of employees has increased by about 56%, the number of game development companies has grown by 21%, and the average salary in this sector has increased by 27% and is more than twice the average salary in Lithuania. We are pleased to see so many companies and creators developing unique and innovative projects here in Vilnius, and we hope that the ‘GameOn’ event will further strengthen the game development industry community and inspire the creation of new products,” says Dovilė Aleksandravičienė, head of “Go Vilnius.”
A Comprehensive Immersion into Gaming Culture
According to Tarasevičius, during “GameOn,” LITEXPO will transform for three days into a space of entertainment, intrigue, knowledge, exciting encounters, and inspiring conversations, engaging participants of various ages and interests. He states that much attention is paid to the tastes and expectations of Lithuanian gamers when organizing the event.
“We want to dive as deep as possible into gaming as a cultural phenomenon – to provide an opportunity to meet creators whose games are played by hundreds of millions worldwide. Games have never been just entertainment, and ‘GameOn’ aims to interestingly show their strong impact on human culture and each individual’s understanding of the world. This is the foundation on which we will build the concepts of all our future events,” says Tarasevičius.
He notes that the event program will be diverse and plentiful from the beginning to the end.
“Those who experienced the first “GameOn” event cycle will recognize many elements. However, as before, each new version of ‘GameOn’ will open unique, unexplored, and increasingly intriguing worlds and underworlds of gaming culture to visitors. We will showcase the free, bold, and always connected future of digital entertainment, centered around the curious and creative individual who changes the world,” shares Tarasevičius.
LITEXPO representative Roberta Dudutė, head of the exhibition organization department, emphasizes that visitors are in for a truly extraordinary event.
“This is one of the largest and most anticipated events in the Baltic States for gaming enthusiasts, creators, and industry professionals. This year, we return renewed and ready to create an even more impressive event than before. Visitors can expect unconventional stands, many speakers, and various activities. We plan to have more than 100 exhibitors at the exhibition,” listed Dudutė.
She also revealed that “GameOn” visitors will once again be able to enjoy a symphony orchestra concert performing compositions of video game soundtracks.
Although the 2019 “GameOn” event attracted 17,000 visitors, they expect almost double that number – up to 30,000 this year.
Most of this year’s “GameOn” event program, which will take place on October 18-20 at LITEXPO, is planned to be announced by the end of August on the gameon.lt.
The global gaming market’s current value is estimated at 282 billion dollars. In recent years, some of the most successful series have been based on video games, such as “Fallout” and “The Last of Us.”
GameOn.lt info.
info@gameon.lt