Game Connection Event Goes Independent

Representatives from French game initiative Lyon Game have announced that the bi-annual industry networking event Game Connection is to be split off as its own private company, in order to manage its growth and operate as an independent entity. The Game Connection convention was started in 2000 by Lyon Game, an initiative of the Grand Lyon and the association Lyon Infocité, which federates more than thirty companies in the video game industry from the Rhone-Alps region. Game Connection takes place twice a year, in March in San Jose, California during the Game Developers Conference, and in November in Lyon, France. Most recently, the Game Connection at the 2006 GDC sold out of space, with 70 developers and 46 publishers, hailing from 20 countries around the world, signed up for the event Following the incorporation of the new, independent entity, Pierre Carde, the leading figure of Lyon Game, will take the helm of the new operation – leaving Lyon Game as a result, to work on Game Connection full-time. Officials from Lyon Game are convinced that a separate, independent Game Connection, will better enable the event to grow and promote a more global role for the developers it hosts.