DevGAMM Portugal 2025

Event Highlights | Madeira Games Summit 2025

Lina — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 16:20:15 +0000

Madeira Games Summit, powered by eGamesLab, was the first high-level event ever held by DevGAMM, set in the marvellous surroundings of the island of eternal spring on November 3-4, 2025.

The Summit was part of DevGAMM Portugal 2025, which consisted of both the Summit and the Conference in Lisbon. To view the highlights of the conference, please visit this page.

The Summit welcomed over 120 attendees from major gamedev companies, including Epic Games, Unreal Engine, 2K Games, Bossa Games, Electronic Arts, FunPlus, Krafton, Unity, and many more.

Monte Palace Morning Reception

Sponsored by Epic Games, the event kicked off at one of the world’s most stunning botanical gardens – Monte Palace. There, at a charming local coffee shop, we enjoyed the official start of the Summit with coffee and ice cream made by local producers, all while overlooking the breathtaking views of Funchal.

Workshops

While many attendees chose to explore the island’s breathtaking sights, others returned to Savoy Palace – the Summit’s main venue – for the first content sessions.

Two fully booked workshops kicked off the learning program:

Rami Ismail hosted a workshop on creative direction
Tim Browne, CEO of Bright Gambit, led a session on navigating relationships with investors and publishers

Welcome Dinner

The Terreiro Restaurant at Savoy Palace hosted a warm welcome dinner for Summit attendees – an evening that felt almost like a wedding reception. It was elegant, lively, and the perfect way to toast the beginning of an event that truly lived up to its promise.

Opening & fireside chats

The second day in Funchal focused on business, content, and new connections.

The morning began with several opening speeches to welcome and bring together all attendees.

Next came three fireside chats, brilliantly hosted by Lewis Packwood, Features Editor at GamesIndustry.biz.

The topics were highly relevant and sparked lively discussions and questions from the audience:

Maria Sayans, CEO, ustwo games – Adapting to Change, Holding Onto What Matters
Mariina Hallikainen, CEO, Colossal Order – Pros and Cons of Aiming for Stability
Chris Petrovic, Chairman & Chief Business Officer, FunPlus – Lessons Learned from 20 Years in the Trenches

Roundtables

Roundtable discussions, sponsored by PassPortU, were fully booked in advance. This format gave high-level decision-makers a space to discuss the topics that matter most to them.

Both sessions were moderated by experts from Electronic Arts, Krafton, Vivid Games, 2K Games, tinyBuild, Epic Games, Bossa Games, and more.

Sunset Soirée

The final gathering of the Summit had to happen somewhere unforgettable – and the venue absolutely delivered. Design Centre Nini Andrade Silva offered a luxurious setting with an open balcony, incredible local food, and live music as the perfect final chord of the event.

For a moment, it looked like the sunset would hide behind the clouds, but it appeared at just the right time – as if Madeira wanted to remind us once again how magical this place is.

With Madeira wine, local cuisine, and desserts, the evening wrapped up with a real party to DJ beats. And let’s just say… two twisted legs (if you know, you know) are living proof that the night was a success. Get well soon!

We want to thank everyone who joined us and helped make DevGAMM’s first high-level Summit a reality. A special thank-you goes to our friends at eGamesLab and ACIF, who supported and facilitated the event every step of the way.

Photos from the Summit

Feel free to use the photos for your posts on social media and tag @DevGAMM.

Madeira Games Summit will be back. Stay tuned for the announcements.

WHAT’S NEXT?

As announced at DevGAMM in Lisbon, 2026 is shaping up to be a busy year.

Dubai in spring – our first-ever conference in the MENA region.
Gdańsk in June – the Polish edition moves to summer, finally giving us a chance to enjoy the Baltic Sea in warm weather.
Lisbon in November – returning for the fourth year in a row.

With more events announced soon, stay tuned for the start of ticket sales and see you in 2026!

The post Event Highlights | Madeira Games Summit 2025 first appeared on DevGAMM Portugal 2025.

Event Highlights | Lisbon 2025

admin — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 09:00:00 +0000

From November 3-7, the game industry once again gathered for DevGAMM Portugal 2025, our third edition and the biggest European show to date.

For the first time, the event featured two parts: the Madeira Games Summit and the Lisbon Conference.

To view the Summit highlights, follow this link.

Together, both events brought together 1,122 attendees from 53 countries. While 44% came from Portugal, the UK, Poland, and Spain rounded out the top represented countries.

40+ talks, Workshops & Table Talks

The Lisbon Conference featured over 75 speakers sharing their expertise across three parallel halls: Scorewarrior, tinyBuild, and Easybrain.

Attendees enjoyed standout sessions from some of the industry’s most inspiring voices, including:

Chris Charla (Xbox) – Maximizing Your Global Success with Xbox
Raphaël Joffres (Sandfall Interactive) – Music Design in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Petr Pekař (Warhorse Studios) – How to Create Unskippable Cutscenes
Gabriela Siemienkowicz (11 bit studios) – Smart Marketing Tactics for Studios
Paola Velasquez (Sony Interactive Entertainment) – Decision Making in Game Development from a Dialogue Perspective
Yegor Ostapenko (GSC Game World) – Navigating the World of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

Also on the list were Unity Technologies, Miniclip, Giants Software Entertainment, Scopely, Sybo Games, Riot Games, Ubisoft, and more.

The Workshop room was packed throughout the conference, filled with attendees eager for real, practical, hands-on knowledge. Sessions were led by experts from Unity Technologies, Vivrato, Febucci, 8bit, Arcella Sound, Fortis Games, and Flying Wild Hog, delivering deep dives into production, tech, audio, and more.

For the first time, our roundtable discussions (aka Table Talks) were open to all attendees. Each session brought together 12 participants for private, focused conversations on hot topics such as AI, LiveOps, pre-production, the Portuguese ecosystem, and more.

The Table Talks were led by experts from Electronic Arts, GSC Game World, AppMagic, APVP, Kando Factory, and others.

Networking with MeetToMatch

The MeetToMatch platform facilitated countless connections, logging 1,187 scheduled meetings. Attendees also made the most of networking opportunities in the Expo Zone, which featured booths from tinyBuild, eGamesLab, Infatica, Unicorn Factory, APVP, and GameDev Lisbon.

The Career Hub, powered by 8Bit, Skillsearch, InGame Job, and Values Value, connected job seekers with employers, offering access to dozens of gamedev vacancies. This year, it also featured dedicated career consultations for job seekers – and the area was fully booked from early morning until late evening.

Game Showcase & developer activities

We’re proud to share that DevGAMM Lisbon 2025 featured the largest Game Showcase in our history, spanning two bustling areas. It became the most vibrant spot of the conference, with over 80 games presented across both days.

The Game Showcase was sponsored by tinyBuild, with support from AMD as the technological partner.

Engage! with Publishers & Investors once again connected developers with attendees eager to discover new talent and make real deals. The activity brought together Epic Games Store, Critical Reflex, tinyBuild, ESDigital Games, Grindstone, Kando Factory, Playcus Publishing, Appodeal, FDG Entertainment, and more.

Sponsored by Xsolla, the Public Pitch was popular enough to run two sessions, each with a dedicated jury providing feedback and selecting the winners:

Eddy Celestine, Xsolla
Kyle Billings, Epic Games
Lars Håhus, Llama Lane
Alex Nichiporchik, tinyBuild
Jessica Mitchell, indie.io
Callum Underwood, IndieBI & Uwu Biz

Hosted by Rami Ismail, the show featured impressive, high-energy pitches. The jury was tough – yet we have our winners:

The Long Night (Birdisland), presented by Hans von Knut Skovfoged
Midgardr (Holy Radish), presented by Carolina Ronchi

DevGAMM Awards

In April 2025, we opened submissions for the DevGAMM Awards, celebrating AA and indie games with a $100,000 prize pool sponsored by Scorewarrior, plus an additional $35,000 in extra categories sponsored by Epic Games Store, Aptoide, Astra Logical, and tinyBuild.

After an incredible 610 entries and two months of judging by 150+ experts, we narrowed it down to 61 nominees. The final reveal of the winners took place at DevGAMM in Lisbon, featuring an exciting show with nominees, competition judges, and special guests as announcers.

The main winner of the night was Keep Driving by the Swedish studio YCJY Games. Other winners include:

Misery by Platypus Entertainment x Ytopia (Community Vote)
Glasshouse by Flat28 Collective (Developers Choice)
Stretchmancer by Triangle Wave (Best Innovation)
Hell Maiden by AstralShift (Best Game From Portugal)
What the Clash? by Triband (Best Mobile Game)
Breathedge 2 by RedRuins Softworks (Most Anticipated Game)
despelote by Julián Cordero and Sebastian Valbuena (Excellence in Narrative)
Rockbeasts by Lichthund (Excellence in Audio)
Tukoni: Forest Keepers by Dream Operator (Excellence in Visual Art)
Drop Duchy by Sleepy Mill Studios (Excellence in Game Design)

For a full list of winners, visit the Awards website.

The Awards were supported by Steam with the DevGAMM Awards Celebration event, featuring all nominated games, top jury-voted titles, and several standout projects from the Lisbon Showcase. The event was featured on the Portuguese main page of Steam and collected over 7 million unique impressions and more than 230,000 unique views worldwide.

Special events

Sponsored by Scorewarrior, the Main Party became the ultimate chance to unwind after a busy day and meet new people as well as reconnect with old friends – in a relaxed, casual setting.

The party also featured what now seems to be a DevGAMM signature activity – a karaoke session, inspired by our friend Adrien Bacchi and sponsored by ChibiPhoenix.

The VIP & Speaker Reception has become a tradition as the first networking event in Lisbon. Bringing together VIP ticket holders and speakers, it set the tone for two busy days ahead with a relaxed and enjoyable evening.

The VIP Dinner, hosted at a traditional Portuguese restaurant, offered VIP ticket holders an intimate setting for deeper, more private networking.

Photo dump

For more pictures from the event, browse the albums below. Don’t forget to tag @DevGAMM when sharing your favorite moments online.

Thank you

We’d like to thank everyone who facilitated the event or took part in it in any form. None of it would’ve happened without you.

Special thanks goes to DevGAMM Portugal 2025 sponsors and partners.

Platinum Sponsors
Scorewarrior, Epic Games, Unreal Engine, eGamesLab, tinyBuild

Special Sponsors
Easybrain, Epic Games Store, Aptoide, Xsolla, Astra Logical, AMD, ChibiPhoenix

Silver Sponsors
Infatica, prettycool marketing

Partners
Turismo de Lisboa, APVP – Associação de Produtores de Videojogos Portugueses, Gaming Hub, MeetToMatch, 8Bit, Skillsearch, Values Value, inGame Job, 11 bit studios

WHAT’S NEXT?

As announced at DevGAMM in Lisbon, 2026 is shaping up to be a busy year.

Dubai in spring – our first-ever conference in the MENA region.
Gdańsk in June – the Polish edition moves to summer, finally giving us a chance to enjoy the Baltic Sea in warm weather.
Lisbon in November – returning for the fourth year in a row.

With more events announced soon, stay tuned for the start of ticket sales and see you in 2026!

The post Event Highlights | Lisbon 2025 first appeared on DevGAMM Portugal 2025.