BSG-Go! at the Game Industry Conference 2024

06 November 2024

This year’s GIC placed a strong emphasis on empowering women in gaming through a special “Women in Games Day,” supported by the BSG-Go! Interreg project.

Technical details

BSG-Go! at the at the Game Industry Conference 2024

Poznan, 24 – 27.10.2024

The Game Industry Conference (GIC), held alongside the Poznan Game Arena, serves as a prime meeting ground for the Polish game industry. With over 79,300 attendees and more than 220 exhibitors, this event remains a central hub for gaming professionals and enthusiasts alike. The Polish game sector is thriving, now with over 500 studios and more than 15,200 game developers, excluding the additional layers of talent in outsourcing, quality assurance, and localisation services.

This year’s GIC placed a strong emphasis on empowering women in gaming through a special “Women in Games Day,” supported by the BSG-Go! Interreg project. This initiative featured an engaging lineup of workshops, talks, panels, and networking events, all designed to inspire, connect, foster mentorship and elevate women in the industry.

A centerpiece of these efforts was the Women in Games Breakfast, an annual roundtable and networking breakfast founded in 2018, which already proved in the past a great success but topped this year with approximately 150 interested participants. This event allowed women in the game industry to connect and discuss strategies for career growth, from salary negotiation to mental wellness. In partnership with BSG-Go!, Suvy Kiviniemi from Metropolia UAS offered personal mentoring session during the breakfast.

Career development workshops were also instrumental in advancing BSG-Go!’s mission of mentorship support. Allan Kirkeby from Dania Academy led a session focused on mapping leadership and mentorship skills. The approximately 40 participants used a skills matrix tool to identify strengths and areas for improvement, fostering self-assessment skills critical to both leadership and mentorship roles, which are not only relevant in the game industry.

Another workshop, led by Maria Simó Alonso from SYBO, focused on building structured mentorship programs. Alonso shared her own mentorship experiences, encouraging attendees to understand the nuanced distinctions between mentoring, coaching, and training. These sessions provided practical advice, tools, and resources for attendees at all stages of their careers to either become or better support mentors within the industry.

Through BSG-Go!, GIC expanded its focus on helping women build confidence, foster mentorship networks, and grow their careers in game development—a field that has historically seen lower female representation.