Casual Games Conference Moves To Austin

Officials from event organizers The Game Initiative have announced that the date of the second annual Casual Games Conference has been moved to September 7/8th in Austin, Texas, alongside the 4th annual Austin Game Conference. The event was previously scheduled to take place on July 13/14th in Seattle, a few days after the competing, recently rescheduled Casuality Seattle event was due to take place. No reason, beyond the cross promotional opportunities with the Austin Game Conference, have been given for the change of venue and date. The Casual Games Conference is aimed at providing developers, publishers and distributors insight into the current business and design considerations in the rapidly growing causal gaming market. The Austin Game Conference is primarily focused on online game development, attracting 2,000 participants last year. The 2005 Casual Games Conference attracted 500 participants from across the world, and the 2006 event will again be sponsored by Microsoft Casual Games. "By holding the Casual Games Conference alongside the Austin Game Conference we're creating an unique venue for developers, publishers and distributors of casual and online games to better understand the market challenges and business opportunities," said Christopher V. Sherman, executive director of The Game Initiative. "Working together with well respected industry leaders, the Game Initiative's Casual Games Conference will continue to promote the growth of the entire industry segment." Further information on both conferences can be found at the official Casual Games Conference website.