Liverpool to host video game conference Develop

By Alistair Houghton on Jul 29, 09 05:40 PM

VIDEO game developers will be descending on Liverpool this Bonfire Night as a major industry conference heads north for the first time.
The organisers of Develop, a four-day annual conference held in Brighton, are holding a one -day spin-off event at the BT Convention Centre on Thursday, November 5.

It will run alongside this year's Liverpool Software City event, which aims to bring together software companies and investors.
Develop held its fourth annual event in Brighton earlier this month and attracted more than 1,000 developers.
Its organisers say the new Liverpool event will be more accessible to the thriving video gaming sector in the north.
Merseyside is one of the UK's leading video gaming hubs, with the sector employing 1,500 people directly, and The Mersey Partnership chief executive Lorraine Rogers says the arrival of Develop is another sign of the sector's success.
She said: "Liverpool city region has played a major role in the development of the UK games industry which is incredibly important to the region's growing knowledge economy.
"Having Liverpool host the Develop conference will showcase the depth of talent in our creative and digital sector to those involved in games development from across the world."
The region is home to many leading video game developers including Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's Project Gotham Racing creator Bizarre Creations, as well as many smaller developers.
Event director Andy Lane said: "With such an active and vibrant development community north of Birmingham it just makes sense to take the Develop conference to Liverpool.
"We want as many developers as possible to experience the passion and energy that we saw in Brighton. Develop in Liverpool is at the heart of a region that has long history of development excellence, so we're confident this will be a day fizzing with ideas and insights."
Ali Wynn, from the event's organising team, said: "The people who come to the Brighton event from the UK are mostly from the South East, but there's a large and growing community of games developers in the north and Scotland as well.
"We have been talking to companies such as Bizarre about doing something for the north as well. This is a launch event and we'll see how it goes."
Earlier this month the Daily Post revealed plans to set up a £5m National Games Academy in Liverpool to cement the region's place at the heart of the industry.
GamesIndustry.biz has more news of the Develop event in Liverpool.