To create a focused and inspiring environment for leaders of established indie game studios to exchange strategies, ideas, and experiences while fostering meaningful connections.

The event is organized by Gamecity Hamburg, the local initiative to support the games industry, funded by the City of Hamburg.

There are two main participation options:

1. Full Conference Ticket (349 euros, incl. VAT, + fees):  For leaders of established indie studios who have released at least one successful title. To enable a curated selection of participants, there is no open ticket sale. Please fill out the registration form if you are interested in participating.
   The Full Conference Ticket gives access to all elements of the Portside Game Assembly.

2. Networking Brunch & Games Industry Party Tickets: Tickets for Networking Brunch & Games Industry Party are available to all game industry professionals, including publishers, indie start-ups, students, and the local games scene. Ticket categories and links to the shop can be found here.

Portside Game Assembly creates a space where established indie developers exchange at eye level and completely focused on peer exchange among developers. This requires a level of common ground and experiences among the participants.

That's why we carefully check all registrations and create a curated attendee list. Our curation strives to create a diverse and balanced group with larger & smaller, veteran & newcomer, highly successful & up-and-coming studios from different countries – but with the shared background of running an established indie studio.

There are way more people who fit this description in the games industry than fit on our ship – our main conference location. Therefore, we will need to turn away registrations even though they might fit the profile we are looking for.

• Decision makers at independent game development studios
  (e.g. Co-Founder, Studio Head, CXO, Creative Director)
  who make relevant business & creative decisions for their studio themselves, while external partners - with the exception of publishers for individual titles - do not have a major say in the studio’s concerns.
  
  Why is this important?
  The conference program discusses studio, development and team strategy. To take part in the discussions, you need to be in a position to make such decisions.

• …who have released at least one title in that position, and have reached an audience of significant size with that title(s).
  This might be visible in sales/review numbers, but also in award recognitions or a strong presence in games media.
  
  Why is this important?
  Studios who have yet to release their first successful title face different challenges. With the conference program, we are focusing on those who have already made that step.

Please note:

• At the Networking Brunch and Games Industry Party, which are also part of Portside Game Assembly, all members of the industry are warmly invited and we offer specific program components specifically for indie start-ups.
• You're not sure if you fit the profile (or even suffer from imposter syndrome)? Please contact us! You might just be the perfect fit for our conference.

If you're interested in attending the conference, please fill out the registration form. We will then get back to you with more information as soon as possible.

Please note: There are way more people in the games industry who'd be a fit for Portside than actually fit on our ship – our main conference location. Therefore, we will need to turn away some registrations even though they might match the profile we are looking for.

If you don’t receive a reply from us within two business weeks after your registration, please understand that we may currently have an overlap of studios of your shape and size and have to see how registrations develop first before we can give you a final reply. We will check and evaluate each registration with great care.

Due to the conference's very specific target group and to ensure that all participants benefit as much as possible from the program, participating studios at the conference must have successfully released at least one game.

However, Portside Game Assembly offers more than just the conference program, and we’d love to see you at the Networking Brunch and/or the Games Industry Party. We offer specific programs for studios like yours during those events. Please find more information on the schedule pages.

Publishers and other industry professionals dedicated to the indie game scene are warmly invited to attend the Networking Brunch and the Games Industry Party. Tickets for both are available here.

The main conference program however is exclusive to indie developers. The conference ship is a space where they can be completely focused on peer exchange among developers, not having to switch to business development.

Follow Portside Game Assembly on Bluesky, Instagram, and LinkedIn, or subscribe to the mailing list via the official website.