Global Games Show

The entire game development journey, under one roof.

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Destination Partner

Abu Dhabi C& EB W
• 5,000+ ATTENDEES • 150+ SPEAKERS • 100+ SPONSORS & EXHIBITORS • 500+ PRE-SCHEDULED MEETINGS • 150+ MEDIA • 5,000+ ATTENDEES • 150+ SPEAKERS • 100+ SPONSORS & EXHIBITORS • 500+ PRE-SCHEDULED MEETINGS • 150+ MEDIA • 5000+ ATTENDEES
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Global Games Show 2027 is where the entire game development journey comes to life. Building on the success of its previous editions in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, which brought together 5000+ professionals from across the global games ecosystem, Global Games Show returns to Abu Dhabi with an expanded platform connecting the companies that fund, build, ship and grow games

Walk your game through six lifecycle zones. Discover the tools and platforms shaping production. Experience 30 to 50 playable unreleased games on Demo Alley. Gain insight from the studios that shipped and the platform teams that publish them. Build partnerships with the publishers, investors, technology providers and ecosystem partners actively shaping how games get made. Connect. Pitch. Partner. Shape the future of games.

5,000+

verified B2B delegates across two days, no consumer walk-ins

70%

C-level, founders, heads and
directors

44%

game studios and developers, from AAA to indie

Why Global Games Show?

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Gain Knowledge from Industry Visionaries

Gain Knowledge from Industry Visionaries

Participate in keynotes and Journey Stage postmortems featuring studio founders, executive producers, publishing and business development directors, platform partner managers, investment partners and government programme leads, covering what publishers fund and what they pay, building a studio in the Gulf, AI in the production pipeline, launch strategy across Steam, console and mobile storefronts, and turning a launch into a living live-operations busines.

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Build Valuable Industry Relationships

Build Valuable Industry Relationships

Network with publishers, venture and sovereign-linked investors, platform and distribution leads, engine and tools vendors, QA and localisation partners, user acquisition and live-operations specialists, and government and ecosystem authorities through Rapid Connect networking rounds, the Hosted Buyer Lounge, exhibition floor conversations and targeted partnership facilitation.

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Access Capital and Publishing Deals

Access Capital and Publishing Deals

Meet the publishers, venture funds, sovereign-linked investors, family offices and corporate venture arms actively deploying into games, through more than 500 pre-scheduled Pitch Arena meetings in curated 15-minute slots, live pitch finals on the main stage, and the invitation-only Investor Lounge.

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Identify Market Entry and Growth Prospects

Identify Market Entry and Growth Prospects

Uncover what it takes to launch a studio, open a regional office or scale an existing operation in the Gulf, covering licensing and company formation, talent, relocation and real costs, incentives and free zones, and access to the Abu Dhabi games ecosystem through AD Gaming, twofour54, Hub71, Yas Creative Hub and the Abu Dhabi Investment Office.

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Discover Next-Generation Technologies

Discover Next-Generation Technologies

Experience 100+ sponsors and exhibitors across six lifecycle zones presenting game engines and middleware, AI production pipelines and generative tooling, cloud and backend infrastructure, art, audio and co-development, motion capture, QA and Arabic localisation, porting and compliance, payments and carrier billing, user acquisition and analytics platforms, anti-cheat and player support.

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Build Career-Advancing Connections

Build Career-Advancing Connections

Meet peers, mentors, hiring studios and recruitment partners at the Careers and Talent Hub through portfolio reviews, live vacancy boards, masterclasses and university showcase pods, with the 48-Hour Game Jam and the Games in the Making Awards giving emerging talent and unreleased projects a stage to be seen on.

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Direct Access to Decision-Makers

Direct Access to Decision-Makers

Engage studio founders, executive producers, publishing and business development directors, platform partner managers and investment partners who control production budgets and vendor selection.

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Demonstrate Commercial Readiness

Demonstrate Commercial Readiness

Move beyond a logo on a banner to live product demonstrations, technical conversations, integration requirements and pricing discussions that build genuine buyer confidence

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Accelerate Partnership Development

Accelerate Partnership Development

Build a qualified pipeline through a guaranteed minimum of pre-scheduled meetings with studios that match your category, tracked in the event app and reported back to you after the show.

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Establish Regional Market Presence

Establish Regional Market Presence

Position your company inside the lifecycle zone where your buyers are already looking, with category exclusivity and a credible entry point into the wider GCC games market

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Connect with Global Investors

Connect with Global Investors

Showcase your business to venture funds, sovereign-linked investors and strategic acquirers actively allocating capital into games, studios and games infrastructure

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Gain Critical Market Insights

Gain Critical Market Insights

Read the competitive landscape, test your pricing, and hear directly what studios and publishers are buying next across funding, production, launch and live operations

Whats's On

The Pitch Arena

Rapid Connect

Demo Alley

Hosted Buyer Lounge

Launch Clinic

48-Hour Game Jam

Attendee Profile

attendee

Studio heads, publishers, platform decision makers, the tools and services that ship games, and the Gulf capital deploying into them. Programmed into scheduled meetings across two days.

  • C-level, founders and studio heads  
  • Producers, BD and corporate development
  • Investors, funds and sovereign capital
  • Platform and distribution leads
  • Discipline leads in art, tech and design  
  • Government, policy and ecosystem
  • Talent and recruitment

Event Essentials

2026 Tickets

Early Bird Tickets now available

29-30 June 2026・10,000 attendees

Sponsors

Partner with GGS in 2026

1,500+ companies・Global reach

Speakers

Take the GGS Stage

Influence Web3 Agenda・150+ voices

VIP

VIP Entry GGS in 2026

1,500+ companies・Global reach

Our Speakers

The Leading Voices on Gaming Biggest Stage

Shawn Layden

Shawn Layden

Managing Partner

The Odysseus Partnership, Former chairman of PlayStation

Boris Kalmykov

Boris Kalmykov

CEO & Co-Founder

Hypemasters

Johnson Yeh

Johnson Yeh

Founder & CEO

Ambrus Studio

Omar Ghoneim

Omar Ghoneim

Founder & CEO

GAM3S.GG

Teemu Koski

Teemu Koski

Chief Business Officer

NODWIN Gaming

Michal Katkoff

Michal Katkoff

Founder

Deconstructor of Fun

Daniel Pela-Faria

Daniel Pela-Faria

CEO & Founder

ZeroShock (FLGC) / Ember Capital

Joseph van Heeswijk

Joseph van Heeswijk

CEO

2Game Esports

Two days. Six zones. One journey.

A curated agenda for the seven asset classes that move global markets.

09:00

Registration & Coffee

THE NEXT FRONTIER OF GAMING ECONOMY

10:00

 Welcome to the Future: Global Games Show

10:10

KEYNOTE

 Abu Dhabi’s Bet: Funding the Region’s Next Generation of Studios

Abu Dhabi is putting real capital behind the studios it wants to exist. This keynote unpacks the funding vehicles, sovereign backing and public-private partnerships behind the region’s push to become a serious home for game development and what that bet actually buys.

  • How government-backed funding is accelerating the growth of local studios
  • What it takes to attract global talent, publishers and investors to Abu Dhabi

#GamingInvestment #GameDevelopment #AbuDhabiGaming

10:30

FIRESIDE

The Launch Playbook: What Makes Games Succeed in 2027

Game launches are becoming harder to predict with crowded marketplaces, changing player expectations and new monetization models reshaping what success looks like. This explores the strategies, technologies and player insights that can turn a game launch into a long-term success.

  • Building anticipation and momentum before launch
  • Using data and AI to understand players and optimize launch strategies
  • Turning launch-day engagement into long-term retention and communities
  •  Reserved for sponsor

#GameLaunch #GamingStrategy #PlayerEngagement

09:00

Registration & Coffee

10:00

Welcome to the Future: Global Games Show

10:10

KEYNOTE

How AI is Redefining what it means to be a Developer

Being a developer isn’t what it used to be. But making games still lives or dies from iteration: does it feel fun, readable, surprising in your hands? Insights on how we built an AI‑native studio and redefined “developer” around shipping joy.

#AINativeDev #GameDevelopers #FutureofDev

10:30

PANEL DISCUSSION:

AI, Creativity & Creator Rights: Building Responsible Game Development in the AI Era

Generative tools are already inside the pipeline: art, dialogue, even level layouts. This panel gets into who owns AI-assisted work, how studios stay honest with players and what “creator rights” means when a model did half the drawing.

  • Who owns AI-assisted art, dialogue and level design
  • Staying honest with players about AI’s role in the pipeline
  • Defining “creator rights” in a co-created workflow

#AICreatorRights #ResponsibleAI #GameDevEthics

09:00

Registration & Coffee

10:00

Welcome to the Future: Global Games Show

GAMING FRONTIER: AI INNOVATION

10:10

OPENING KEYNOTE

Breaking into Untapped Gaming Markets

The next big player base isn’t always where studios expect it. Learn how developers identify untapped gaming markets early, what it takes to localize and build infrastructure for them and the lessons from studios that got there first.

#EmergingMarkets #GamingGrowth #GlobalExpansion

10:30

PANEL DISCUSSION

 AI & Future of Game Production: Navigating Emerging Trends & Technologies

Studio pipelines are being rebuilt around AI faster than most teams can adapt to. This panel looks at which tools are genuinely changing production, and how the workforce behind game creation is evolving alongside them.

  • AI-driven pipelines and studio automation
  • New tools shaping next-gen development
  • Workforce evolution in game creation

#AIProduction #GameStudios #FutureOfWork

09:00

Registration & Coffee

10:00

Welcome to the Future: Global Games Show

10:10

KEYNOTE

The Next Decade of Game Development: Built by Humans, Powered by AI

A year into widespread AI adoption, what’s actually changed for developers and what hasn’t? A look at where automation genuinely speeds up production, where human craft still wins and what the next decade of game development looks like when both work together.

#FutureOfDev #AIinGames #GameStudios

10:30

PANEL DISCUSSION

 Beyond the Build: Turning Your Studio into a Supercomputer

Compute has quietly become a studio’s biggest competitive lever. This panel gets into how teams are scaling infrastructure, rebuilding pipelines around AI, and turning what used to be a cost center into a genuine edge.

  • Scaling compute and infrastructure inside a game studio
  • Turning internal tooling into a competitive advantage
  • Lessons from studios that rebuilt their pipeline around AI

#StudioInfrastructure #ComputeAtScale #GameDevTools

Download the full agenda

Get the complete two-day programme — speakers, sessions, side-rooms and the Palace afterparty bill — sent to your inbox.

The brands, funds and authorities backing the region's games agenda.

Book Your Pass

Limited seats

VIP Pass

Senior executives, investors, publishers and decision-makers wanting premium access.

$999
$1499
1

MOST BOOKED

Business Pass

Corporates, brands, consultants and adjacent tech. Mandatory for non-exhibiting vendors and service providers.

$199
$499
1
Standard Pass

Developers, studio teams, indie devs, students and juniors, and general industry professionals.

$29
$59

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