This year Pocket Gamer Connects (PGC) celebrates its 10th anniversary. The event arm of Pocket Gamer – a subsidiary of Steel Media Ltd – PGC is about to host its first conference of 2024 in London, UK. Filled with exhibitors, speakers and more, as with most modern events, PG Connects London also contains an XR contingent. So if you love VR, AR and MR, then here’s what you’ll find next week.
PG Connects London 2024
The conference is a great place to connect and network with professionals not only from the UK but all over the world. Alongside the expo and talks, the event also hosts The Big Indie Zone where indie developers can showcase their games. And then there’s the Publisher Speed Match which helps publishers meet developers. Whilst the Investor Connector helps developers find expert investors, so there’s lots going on.
Expo
The show is split across three floors, with the expo being held on two of them. There are over 70 exhibitors to visit spanning mobile, PC, XR, AI, console and Web3. So there’s plenty to keep attendees busy. Where XR is concerned, you’ll find the following companies in attendance.
- DragonfiAR – A studio that creates games & apps for VR/AR, mobile and web.
- Xsolla – A global video game commerce company from Los Angeles, California.
- Integrated Reality Labs – A specialist in real-world massively multiplayer games.
Sessions
The second major reason to head to PGC London is the speaker sessions. These can range from individual speaker sessions to panels covering a wide range of industry topics. Experts will share their knowledge of investment ideas, influencer promotion, disruptive technologies, user acquisition and much more.
You’ll need to plan your time wisely as there are over 42 hours of content from 200+ speakers across 29 tracks. Single sessions tend to last around 20 minutes, with expert panels averaging 40-50 minutes. For XR fans, you’ll want to look out for the ‘Virtual Visions’ track, as this will feature talks from leading insiders.
- Monday 22nd
- 3:50 pm Track Room 4 – Spy on your players! Analytics rules. – Serg Kharchenko from CM Games.
- 4:10 pm Track Room 4 – Designing for VR: Bringing Further Immersion to Sniper Elite – Jordan Woodward (Rebellion) discusses how the studio brought its iconic Sniper Elite Franchise to VR.
- 4:30 pm Track Room 4 – Non-Visual Access to Virtual Reality? How VR works when your eyes don’t – Chris Hainsworth (Blind Burners) and Paul Shelley (Independent Sound Designer).
- 4:50 pm Track Room 4 – Building for (Virtual) Reality – an nDreams Story – nDreams CEO Patrick O’Luanaigh shares his expertise, experience and successes from over a decade in the VR sector.
- 5:10 pm Track Room 4 – VR Reality-Check: Hardware & Software Growth in the VR Sector – Panel featuring Jon Hibbins (Psytec Games), Bobby Thandi (XR Games), Rhoda Campbell (Trade & Invest British Columbia), John Clark (Curve Games) and Lirui Ding (Transcend Fund).
- Tuesday 23rd
- None.
And that’s all the XR we know about at PG Connect London 2024. The conference runs from Monday 22nd through to Tuesday 23rd January. Tickets are still available for a variety of prices depending on your current working circumstances. For instance, if you’re a student then a ticket costs £60 GBP. Whereas a Developer/Publisher ticket retails for £826.
Will you be attending PGC next week? Let us know what you’re looking forward to in the comments below.
