Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Game and Animation Fest forum was held in Tashkent. As part of this event, 4 panel discussions were held with the participation of 15 speakers, including 5 international experts from France, India, Turkey, China, and Morocco.

At the Game and Animation Expo, 25 animation and gaming companies presented their innovative works, and the exhibition was attended by more than 5,000 visitors.

At the forum, experts from countries such as the USA, Canada, Azerbaijan, Finland, Japan, Russia, Kazakhstan and India exchanged views with local experts on the development of the animation industry.

Also within the framework of the Festival, e-sports tournaments for PUBG, CS:GO, Dota 2, Valorant, FC24 and MLBB were held, in which more than 500 e-sportsmen competed in more than 100 teams.

Meanwhile, the Cosplay segment was a dynamic showcase of creativity, with 30 talented artists showcasing stunning costumes of cartoon and game characters.

In turn, as part of the Game and Animation Fest event, meetings were held with a number of companies.

In particular, negotiations took place with WePlay Ventures (Netherlands-Turkey), ABAI (India) and Lakeside Animation (Canada), Nodwin Gaming (India), Tencent Games Global (China), Moonton (China).

At a meeting with Tencent Games Global manager for Central Asia, Hicham Nouhou, the organization of international PUBG tournaments in Uzbekistan in collaboration with Tencent Games Global, opening of Tencent’s representative office in Uzbekistan, as well as the development of the Gamedev ecosystem associated with joint efforts. projects were discussed.

Tencent Games Global is a division of China’s Tencent Holdings Limited, one of the largest technology companies in the world, with a market capitalization of US$450 billion.

Also at the meeting with the American animator, animation director, screenwriter Mike Morris, attention was paid to the development of talent in the creative industry and animation sector in Uzbekistan, exploring the possibilities of animation outsourcing for youth and studios.

A meeting was held with Ajay Djilka, head of the eSports department in Eastern Europe and Central Asia at Moonton, Adelyat Mamedov, head of the Esports & BizDev department, and Vladislav Samokhalar, eSports manager. The parties discussed issues of organizing international MLBB tournaments in Uzbekistan, publishing products of Uzbek gaming studios on the Chinese market, as well as creating a representative office of the company in Uzbekistan.

Moonton is a renowned video game developer and publisher, primarily known for the mobile game Mobile of Legends: Bang Bang. Among the MLBB audience, users from Uzbekistan are in 4th place.

A meeting was held with Emre Kesti, head of investment management of the Turkish company WePlay Ventures, registered in the Netherlands. The parties discussed attracting developers from Uzbekistan to the WePlayHub accelerator and supporting game development projects.

WePlay Ventures is a venture fund in the gaming sector that invests in early-stage mobile, computer and console game developers. At the moment, the fund’s portfolio includes more than 50 studios.

At a meeting with ABAI (Association Of Bangalore Animation Industry) Vice President Ganesh Papanna, the possibilities of creating a center of excellence in the field of visual effects and animation in Uzbekistan, outsourcing animation work to Uzbek studios and joint educational initiatives were discussed. In order to implement these issues, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Ministry of Digital Technologies and ABAI.

ABAI is a non-profit organization dedicated to developing the animation, visual effects and games industry in India.

A meeting was organized with Lakeside Animation CEO Yuri Stepanov and creative director Matthew Lyons. During the meeting, issues related to exploring the possibilities of joint production of Uzbek and Canadian studios with the help of Lakeside Animation and supporting educational programs in Uzbekistan were discussed.

Lakeside Animation was founded in 2018 and is Canada’s first dedicated animation content studio offering a full range of production services to its clients.

In turn, an agreement was reached with companies on issues such as organizing game development competitions at the ICTWeek-2024 summit.