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First Playable, Italy’s main business event for the video game sector, is preparing to kick off its fifth edition on July 6 and 7 in Florence at the innovation hub Nana Bianca. The initiative, designed with the aim of accelerating the growth and consolidation of the Italian video game industry, is organized by IIDEA and the Toscana Film Commission – Fondazione Sistema Toscana and with the collaboration of ITA – Italian Trade Agency. This year, for the first time, representatives of the Ministry of Culture will also attend the event.
Senator Lucia Borgonzoni, secretary of state at the Ministry of Culture, said, “The fifth edition of the First Playable initiative promises to be an interesting moment of meeting and comparison, putting the spotlight on the Italian video game industry, a growing sector in which we as a ministry will continue to invest resources to help it develop and conquer new audiences and markets.”
“For the fifth year, Fondazione Sistema Toscana, together with Toscana Film Commission, is present at First Playable, the most important event in the video game sector in Italy,” said Iacopo Di Passio, president of Fondazione Sistema Toscana. increasingly important, with important moments of exchange and meetings between operators in the sector. Therefore, we can only be satisfied with the new edition of an event that promotes the development of the audiovisual and video game industry, combines art, tradition and innovation – which is why Tuscany was chosen – and offers young people broad and new job opportunities.” .
ITA – Italian Trade Agency provided hospitality for international entrepreneurs – 45 publishers and investors from 12 countries will be present in Florence this year – including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Poland , Mexico, Japan, Germany and Italy. More than 180 companies and freelance professionals in the production of Italian video games have already registered for the event, eager to present their prototypes to the industry’s leading publishers and investors.
In total, more than 500 industry professionals are expected for the conference, which promises to be extremely stimulating for the sharing of ideas and collaboration opportunities, as well as a leading appointment for the promotion and growth of Made in Italy in the video game sector. Through the platform Meet to Match – matchmaking partner of the event – more than 700 business meetings have already been organized, the perfect opportunity to network and lay the foundations for future collaborations with the main players in the sector at the international level.
The fifth edition of First Playable also includes the participation of three important game accelerators; Bologna Game Farm, Cinecittà Game Hub and Quickload, as well as the pre-acceleration program Zagarolo Game House.
The event will be enriched by eight workshops, which from the stage in the Nana Bianca auditorium will offer valuable technical insights on central issues for sector operators.
A particularly important moment at the conference will be the breakfast meeting in the company of Women in Games Italia, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and supporting women in the video game industry, sponsored by Fondazione VIGAMUS.
Finally, the long-awaited Italian Video Games Awards ceremony will take place on July 6 at Nana Bianca and will be broadcast live on the First Playable Twitch channel, which will highlight the immense talents and productions of the Italian video game industry.
The fifth edition of First Playable has been made possible thanks to the support of numerous partners, including: Unreal Engine and Google, Diamond Partner; Acer, AWS for Games, LCA, Maga Animation Studio and Tik Tok – Silver Partners – and Partners 34BigThings, Broken Arms Games and MixedBag. This year, IIDEA will also donate 250 Paulownia trees, in partnership with Treebu, to promote positive environmental impact.