Serbia at World’s Biggest Gaming Industry Fair in Cologne for the First Time

For the first time, Serbia will have its National Stand at Gamescom, the world’s largest gaming industry fair, held in Cologne from August 23 to 27, the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia (CCIS) announced.

Within this leading business platform dedicated to the gaming industry, nine companies, organized by the Serbian Games Association (SGA), and with the support of the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia (CCIS) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), will present themselves: Two Desperados, Art Bully, Gamebizz Consulting, Spring Onion Studio, Digital Asset Tailors, Onyx Studio, Fortuna Esports, as well as the studios Shosha Games and Phobos.

These are companies that not only produce games, but also engage in e-sports, produce trailers, animations, characters and graphic elements for domestic and foreign clients, engage in consulting work in the fields of marketing, monetization and business development in the field of gaming. Under the slogan THE NEW FRONTIER OF EUROPEAN GAME DEV, the focus of the Serbian Games Association (SGA) will be on the affirmation of high-quality local talent, original games created in Serbia, as well as quality services that can be interesting to global players, the SGA says.

– The CCIS supports the presentation of the Serbian game developers at the biggest global fair, because we have recognized the importance of the gaming industry within the fast-growing IT sector. What makes this industry especially important is the fact that many professions work within it that we don’t associate directly with information technologies, such as psychologists, screenwriters, music and visual artists, designers and others. The potential of the gaming industry of Serbia, which is already a regional leader, is also shown by the data that, last year, the 15 biggest local gaming companies had an income of as much as EUR 150 million, and video games produced in Serbia were played by over 100 million people worldwide in 2022 – said Mihailo Vesovic, the director of the Sector for Strategic Analyses, Services and Internationalization at the CCIS.

Last year the fair had 265,000 visitors from as many as 100 countries, 1,100 exhibitors from 53 countries and 230 million views of online content during the fair. Alongside GDC conference in San Francisco and the Tokyo Game Show in Japan, this is one of the three key global events for this powerful industry that, a few years ago, surpassed the total value of the film and music industries combined, and many times over.

Until now, Serbian companies have visited the fair individually and sometimes exhibited at it, but what is particularly important is that this year, for the first time, Serbia has an organized presence, the SGA adds.

The Serbian gaming industry employs around 2,500 experts from the widest variety of fields, and this year alone, 330 new employees are needed. More than a half of all the games are original intellectual property, and there are more and more providers of services which are specific to the gaming industry, the CCIS says in its press release.

Privredna komora Srbije

Asocijacija Industrije Video Igara Srbije Beograd

EBRD Evropska banka za obnovu i razvoj Beograd

Two Desperados doo Beograd

Art Bully productions doo Beograd

Gamebiz consulting doo Beograd

Spring Onion doo Beograd

Digital asset tailors doo Beograd

Onyx studio doo Beograd

Shosha games doo Beograd

Phobos doo Beograd

Fortuna e-sports doo Beograd

Mihailo Vesović

Gamescom

gaming fair Cologne

video games