A panel discussion on publishing and investing featured Julia Kenny of Thunderful Games; Yves Le Yaouanq of Focus Entertainment, Christopher Wulf of Fellow Traveler; and Raw Fury's Johan Toresson. In the talk, everyone tried to offer a different perspective on companies interested in publishing games that explore the limits of the medium, but without forgetting the business side: "Publishers give priority to creative approaches. We also look for products that are relevant to the market at any given time and with a moderate risk budget" .

Finally, Mauricio García, CEO of The Game Kitchen, reviewed his studio's recent Kickstarter campaign with All On Board!, a collaborative platform for playing board games in virtual reality. The funding method was not chosen at random: "We decided to launch on Kickstarter to annoy potential competitors."

The Bilbao International Games Conference closed the first edition in a fitting way, where it strengthened its turn towards the professional audience, with a program based on conferences and presentations involving developers, publishers and investors, and where more than 700 events were held.

Fun and Serious Game Festival

The Fun and Serious Game Festival has become the Bilbao International Games Conference (BIG Conf). As Alfonso Gómez, the founder of the Bilbao International Games Conference (BIG Conf), assured, "in more than a decade of history, our event has not only grown, but its nature has changed a lot." With this change of brand from the organization, they wanted to reflect the spirit they have had for years, "a space for communication and international exchange, which makes industry and promotes the creation of wealth and employment; and also, in that industry, the city of Bilbao always opts for innovation and creative industries in that industry emphasize the role it wants to play".

Not in vain, Gómez confirmed at the end of 2019, after celebrating the eighth edition of Fun and Serious Games, the intention to take the competition to a new level, to be able to improve its national and international projection, to compete with events like Game Connection. However, COVID-19 delayed all plans.