Develop:Brighton, announced record attendance figures with a 7.5 per cent year on year increase. The conference and expo which included sessions from industry visionaries including Brenda Romero, Graeme Devine, Tetsuya Mizuguchi and John Romero had 2,171 attendees over the three days, the most in its 12-year history.

“I’d like to thank all our speakers, sponsors, exhibitors and attendees for making this year’s Develop:Brighton such a success,” commented Andy Lane, managing director of Tandem Events. “Each year we strive to improve and deliver an event that provides the game development community with the opportunity to learn, network and be inspired and we intend to continue on this journey.”
 
Following the conclusion of Develop:Brighton, Tandem Events confirmed that Develop:VR, a one day conference and expo focused on the new commercial opportunities that Virtual and Augmented Reality present for today’s game developers, will return on Thursday 9 November at a new location, London’s Olympia. Tandem Events also announced Sony Interactive Entertainment will be a headline sponsor of Develop:VR.

On the announcement of Develop:VR, Andy Lane commented, “We are delighted to announce the return of Develop:VR at its new home. Every day we’re learning more about what is possible with VR and AR technology. This is a fast growing sector both inside and outside the games industry and we believe Develop:VR is a destination for developers to learn from and network with those who are making waves in the space. I’d also like to thank Sony Interactive Entertainment for their support of the event as a headline sponsor.”

Michael Denny, SVP WorldWide Studios, Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe, added, “Following on from the success of last year’s event, Develop VR promises to be an essential addition to the industry events calendar. As our PSVR ecosystem pushes at the boundaries of VR, with award winning experiences like the Joshua Bell immersive video project and exciting new games like Farpoint, having an event like this is vital to spread ideas, knowledge and best practice to ensure that, across the creative industries, we can truly deliver on the exceptional promise of VR to our consumers.”

Speaker Submissions is now open for Develop:VR 2017 and prospective speakers have until 23 August to submit proposals at http://www.developconference.com/conference/vr-call- for-speaker- submissions.