The latest WN Conference took place in Istanbul, Turkiye on June 7-8. Here are all the key figures and stats about the networking and dealmaking event for games industry professionals.
WN Istanbul’23 traditionally was a two-day event with lectures from games industry experts and a special expo zone featuring service providers and game developers.
The main difference was a connection to a brand new conference, AI For Business, which was focused on AI technologies and how they can be integrated into business processes. There also was a series of free weekly webinars called AI Talks, where different experts shared their insights and thoughts on important issues in the sector.
Another major part of WN Istanbul’23 was the WN Dev Contest for game developers. This year’s winners were Remoob’s Pile Up!, RainStyle’s Turbo Sloths, Infusion Games’ Cyber Wars, and Team Machiavelli’s Castle of Alchemists.
Overall, over 150 titles from 37 countries were showcased during the conference, both on-site and online. 65% of all games are being developed for PC, followed by mobile (40%) and console (20%).
WN Istanbul’23 gathered 1,508 participants, compared to 1,367 last year. Most visitors were from the MENA region (39%) and Europe (32%).
50% of all attendees were executives, followed by business development & sales managers (24%) and game developers (13%).
Game development studios accounted for more than half of the 796 companies that attended WN Istanbul’23. 48% were service providers and 31% were publishers.
WN Istanbul’23 is the second large conference in Turkiye organized by WN Media Group. The first event was held around the same time last year. In September, the company also plans to host a CEO Summit in Istanbul. And given a growing number of attendees, the large conference may return in 2024.
The next major WN Conference is expected to be held in Cyprus on September 12-13.