Close to 4,000 gaming enthusiasts attended the recently concluded GameCon, which was supported by PLDT and wireless unit Smart Communications.
The attendance increased by about 30 percent from last year’s event, said GameCon project head Elaine Cedillo, showing the growing industry of gaming in the Philippines.
Now on its second year, GameCon featured exhibitions and competitions on various kinds of gaming—from mobile and PC to video, traditional, tabletop, eSports, virtual reality, robotics, and cosplay, among other activities—with the theme “New Generation Gaming.”
PLDT Home Fibr and Smart Developer Network (Smart DevNet) supported the two-day event by leading the game developers’ workshop and providing strong connectivity. Smart DevNet chief evangelist and partnerships head Paul Pajo, and junior product manager PJ de la Cerna were also present to judge Robo Rumble, a robot fighting competition designed to test the participants’ skills in electronics, programming, design, and other areas.
Events like GameCon prove the local gaming industry has grown bigger over the years, according to game artist Philip Adrian Gungab. A game art teacher at De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde, Gungab is also a cofounder of Re:Cast Games, a new studio composed of fellow instructors, programmers, and artists interested in game development for web and mobile devices.
“Game development is booming in the Philippines. The fact that we have an event like this means the game industry in the Philippines is big. A lot of people are into games now, either as a developer or an artist,” said Gungab, who taught game art at GameCon’s developers’ workshop.
Gungab also said mobile games are widespread because they’re accessible and typically free of charge. With almost everyone using a smartphone now, the popularity of mobile games has become a boon to game developers, he noted.
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