Sold-out at the first DevGAMM in Serbia
DevGAMM FTW! marked our first edition in Belgrade, brought to Serbia in partnership with the Serbian Games Association.
The conference turned out to be an immediate success with a full ticket sold out right before the event took place on September 29-30, 2026 at Hilton Belgrade.
From lectures and workshops to live pitches, game demos, mentoring, publishing meetings, and late-night conversations, the first DevGAMM FTW! in Belgrade brought multiple sides of the game industry together under one roof.
We got over 700 attendees from 54 countries, which is made this DevGAMM the most international one. Over 60 speakers shaped the conversation, and 700+ meetings were registered via MeetToMatch. See the infographics for more.
01.Lectures & Content
More than 30 talks ran across the Scorewarrior Hall, Epic Games Hall, and Connection Hall throughout the two conference days.
The program officially opened on September 29 with remarks from DevGAMM and the Serbian Games Association.
Among the featured sessions were:
- Jonathan Rogers, Grinding Gear Games – The Seasonal Model of Path of Exile: Content Formula, Marketing, and the Move to Two Games
- Alex Nichiporchik, tinyBuild – SAND: Raiders of Sophie Postmortem
- Aleksandar Marković, Supercell – Recent Bets & Outcomes from Supercell’s Clash Royale
- Danis Kuchin, Devolver Digital, in a fireside chat with Katya Prikhodko – How We Can Make a Game Stand Out In a Crowded Market
- Jane Skullman, Arrowhead – Beyond Content: The Product Strategy Behind Games Players Love for Years
- Debora Russo, Embark Studios – Readable Chaos: UX/UI Lessons from The Finals
- Mikhail Greuli, Massive Entertainment – A Ubisoft Studio – Bringing Fire and Ash to Pandora in Avatar: From the Ashes
- Michał Ostapowicz, CD PROJEKT RED – Doubt, Curiosity and Team Calibration: Why Good Leaders Ask “Stupid” Questions
The program also included several panel discussions, including:
- Greenlit or Ghosted: What Publishers Really Want in 2026, featuring Fury Studios, Square Enix, Skystone Games, and others
- Castles, Trains & Taverns: Indie Games Made in Serbia, spotlighting Serbian indie studios
- Where Bad Stories Go and Why Not to Heaven, featuring experts in narrative design
The tinyBuild Hall was dedicated to practical and hands-on sessions led by professionals from Nordeus, Unity, tinyBuild, SpacexAI, 8bit, and other companies.
Workshop topics ranged from building games with AI and understanding the psychology behind the “almost there” effect to Unity 6 graphics, multiplayer prototyping, Niagara VFX, AI-assisted daily operations, and career development.
Roundtables offered a more intimate format for open discussions, experience sharing, and questions.
Each non-recorded session was limited to 10 attendees, allowing participants to discuss topics including:
- Marketing That Works – what actually drives visibility, wishlists, and sales
- Making More With Less – practical approaches to running lean teams
- Breaking Into New Markets – adapting products, communities, and LiveOps to regional audiences
- The New Publishing & Funding Reality – changes in deals, investment, and market expectations
- Leading Distributed Teams – maintaining communication, culture, and performance across remote teams
02.Networking & Fun
The corridors of Hilton Belgrade and beyond were buzzing with the conversations. MeetToMatch areas registered over 700 meetings across all conference days, and we hope they were new beginnings for new business deals.
The week started one day before the official conference program with the JetBrains GameDev Day Watch Party.
Hosted at Hilton Belgrade on September 28, the free event brought together the local gamedev community and conference attendees for an extra day of content, talks, and networking.
The Business Garden created extra comfort for our high-level attendees, for conversations in a more relaxed setting under the kind Serbian sun.
The Expo Area was a real buzz. The spot was crowded with attendees playtesting games, interacting with company representatives, enjoying the interactions, and learning about new opportunities.
Thanks to Xsolla, GamesFarm, eGamesLab, tinyBuild, Kleos, Mad Head Games, 8Bit for making it such an enjoyable event.
Mentors Corner gave attendees access to 20-minute one-on-one consultations with experienced game industry professionals.
The mentors covered areas including Game Trailers, Project Management, Game Design, PC Marketing & Self-Publishing, UX/UI for Games, Funding & Pitch Review, Game Audio, and more.
The format created space for focused conversations and direct professional feedback.
03.Game Activities
Sponsored by Unity, with UX is Fine as technological partner, the Game Showcase put independent developers and their games at the center of the conference.
56 teams took part, with a different lineup of games presented on each day.
Sponsored by Epic Games Store, Engage! with Publishers & Investors connected developers directly with publishers looking for new projects.
Participating companies included ESDigital Games, Anshar Publishing, Gamirror Games, Polden Publishing, Skystone Games, tinyBuild, Grindstone, and Devolver Digital.
Developers joined free-flow meetings at publisher tables, bringing their trailers, builds, and presentations for direct conversations, feedback, and potential business opportunities.
Game Slice brought six development teams onto the main stage to pitch their games live in front of the audience and an industry jury.
The jury included:
- Alex Nichiporchik, CEO, tinyBuild
- Kirill Oreshkin, CEO, Polden Publishing
- Lili Zang, CEO & Founder, Long River Games
- Csilla Budai, Developer Partnerships Associate, Square Enix
The live pitching session took place on September 30 in Scorewarrior Hall, combining developer presentations with feedback from experienced industry professionals. Ljiljana Grbic and Marko Stevanovic from Team Anoxic, presenting Coffee Raccoons, won the audience voting and took home the prize.
04.Parties, Career, and Fun
The DevGAMM Quest turned the conference venue into a small adventure of its own.
139 participants completed tasks around the venue, gathered all stamps, and (some of them) won prizes provided by event partners – tinyBuild, Saber, Kleos, Xsolla, Unity, GamesFarm.
After the first conference day, the community moved to Mama Shelter Belgrade for the Main Party.
Sponsored by Scorewarrior, the party welcomed all conference attendees for an evening of drinks, conversations, music, and karaoke.
Together with 8Bit, Values Value, and InGameJob, DevGAMM FTW! also featured a Career Hub dedicated to opportunities in the games industry.
The Career Wall connected professionals looking for their next role with companies searching for new talent, featuring CVs and job openings both online and directly at the event.
The conference ended with one of DevGAMM’s long-running traditions – the Bye-Bye Mingle, sponsored by tinyBuild.
After the final conference show, attendees gathered once more in the Expo Area for beers, last conversations, and goodbyes until the next DevGAMM.
05.Thank Yous
This section is here to thank everybody who made this event possible. First off, to our partners at the Serbian Games Association, to our sponsors and conference partners, without whom we couldn’t have made this event a reality.
Platinum Sponsors
Scorewarrior, Epic Games Store, Unreal Engine, Xsolla, GamesFarm, eGamesLab, tinyBuild
Gold Sponsors
Unity
Special Sponsors
Easybrain, UX is Fine, Mellow, Unlimit, JetBrains
Partners
SGA, MeetToMatch, 8Bit, Values Value, inGameJob
Huge thank you to all the speakers, our amazing volunteers, partners, and friends who made this edition of DevGAMM in Belgrade so special. Thanks for joining us!
06.Photos from the conference
Feel free to share your best shots online and tag DevGAMM on social media.
07.Up next – Lisbon 2026
Our World Tour 2026 finishes off in Portugal, with the fourth edition of the DevGAMM Lisbon conference, bringing together over 1,000 attendees on November 17-18, 2026.
The conference will feature the grand finale of the DevGAMM Awards competition on November 18, live broadcasted on IGN.
See you there!
