Inside the annual French – South African Video Game Meetups

The Institut Français in Paris, the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) and Business France South Africa are hosting five French video game professionals for the annual FR-SA Video Game Meetups. These include Khiran Keerodhur, Yves Le Yaouanq, Désiré Koussawo, Mickaël Newton, and Teddy Kossoko. Collectively, the delegation represents the varying parts of the video gaming industry in France and its interest in connecting with and exchanging with the Africa continent.

To action this, while in South Africa, the delegation met with players in South Africa’s public and private gaming sector to explore market opportunities and engage in potential partnerships while promoting the French offering and its expertise.

Consisting of B-to-B meetings, site visits and presentation sessions, one of the delegation’s first stops was Africa Games Week in Cape Town. Bringing studio heads, developers and gaming industry professionals together, the cluster of professional meetings and panel discussions ensure global synergy as the industry continues to grow. As their contribution, the French delegation hosted a panel discussion positioning video games and esports as a potential sponsorship asset. Exploring potential opportunities the discussion asked: how can the corporate world, the makers and players support each other to develop and maintain the industry’s future.

Continuing to connect in Johannesburg, one of the delegation’s highlights was the FR-SA Video Game Meetups Pitching Session. There: four promising game developer teams visited the French Institute of South Africa offices to meet the delegation. A demonstration of the diversity in South Africa’s gaming industry, their games explored travel, food, fantasy, lore and more. Presented to the French delegation of gaming experts, the session offered the aspiring game-makers insights on what to consider when developing narratives with an edge, making memorable visuals and building a community that will commit to the game. A means to promote cooperation between South African and French members of the gaming industry, the pitching session offered access while fostering connections between varying cogs in the gaming machine.