Second edition reunites some 40 speakers and 30 media from across North America
Montréal - November 10, 2005 - Alliance numériQC, Québec's digital and multimedia industry network, is proud to announce the success of this year's Montréal International Game Summit (MIGS) held from November 2 to 3, 2005. The second annual gathering of gaming industry professionals surpassed all expectations, attracting more than 750 participants from Québec, Canada, the United States and Europe, along with more than 30 media from across North America, and over 55,000 visits on the official MIGS website.
"We are really proud of this second edition, which was a total success on all fronts. We knew we had a top notch event, and this year's turnout is a testament to the growing interest from professionals in our industry," said Gilles Bertrand, general manager, Alliance numériQC. "The success of this year's Summit proves once again the importance of such an event at an international level. I am thrilled to announce that the 2006 edition of the MIGS will be held on November 8 and 9, 2006."
This year's MIGS reunited more than 40 speakers from North America, Europe and Asia. Highlights include the Summit's kickoff keynote by Warren Spector, president and founder of Junction Point Studios, which presented different issues related to the creation of video games. Other keynotes presented include Hideki Konno from Nintendo, who shared the company's lessons learned with Nintendogs, and Neil Young, vice-president and general manager, Electronic Arts. Eric Zimmerman, co-founder and CEO of GameLab also gave a nod to the growing popularity of online multiplayer games, surprising his audience with a massive multiplayer game of rock-paper-scissors.
The Québec video game industry
Québec is home to over 50 companies involved in development, publishing, software production and services, representing a workforce of over 3,000 professionals. Several industry leaders have selected Montréal for business. On the development side, these include A2M, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Gameloft, Jamdat and Airborne Entertainment. Autodesk, Avid/Softimage and Alias Montréal work in middleware solutions, and Babel Games Services works in specialized services. Québec City is also home to for a number of important industry players, such as Beenox/Activision, Humagade, Sarbakan and Ubisoft.
Alliance numériQC relied on contributions from a number of partners to help make this year's event a success: the event's main partner, Autodesk; Microsoft; A2M; Electronic Arts; Nintendo; Beenox/Activision; AGEIA; Avid/Softimage; Alias; Ubisoft; High Road Communications; IGDA Montreal; and ACM SIGGRAPH Montréal. The 2005 MIGS is also supported by government partners, including Canada Economic Development, Canadian Heritage and Québec's Ministère de la Culture et des Communications, Telefilm Canada and Québec's Ministère du Développement économique, de l'Innovation et de l'Exportation.
To present a comprehensive and exciting event for the participants, the Montréal International Game Summit relies on the support of its advisory board. Board members from local companies including A2M, Beenox/Activision, Digital Fiction, DTI Software, Electronic Arts, Gameloft, Jamdat, Sarbakan, Ubisoft, and Jason Della Rocca from IGDA worked hard to gather Montréal's best industry leaders to take part in the event.
About Alliance numériQC
Alliance numériQC - Québec's digital and multimedia industry network - aims to support and accelerate the growth and competitiveness of its industry in recognition of all its stakeholders. Its activities are mainly centered on SMBs with concrete programming focused on business development, skills development and government relations.
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Contacts:
Nathalie Bergeron
High Road Communications
(514) 866-6776 ext. 249
nbergeron@highroad.com
Anne-Julie Gratton
High Road Communications
(514) 866-6776 ext. 243
agratton@highroad.com
