Edinburgh Interactive Festival

“We are very proud to be associated with the interactive festival. It is a sector we are very interested in…we have a lot of people working in the field of video games”
“We are very glad to support the festival because it celebrates the industry as a mature one which has social, economic and entertainment benefits”
June Edgar - Digital Content and Creative Industries Manager, Scottish Enterprise

“People come to the Edinburgh Interactive Festival not because they have to but because they want to”
“Edinburgh Interactive Festival responds to new developments and tries to predict future new developments. It will always be contemporary, it will always be leading edge, fun and the comment that lies behind it is a magic thing. I can say for sure that it’s going to get better and better.”
“Over the last few years we’ve been working more closely with other parts of the festival for film, TV and books and also attracting consumers to our screenings; it’s also the only event where the screenings are the star of the show and where the people who create the games can explain that to the people who play the games.  It’s amazing the expression on the peoples faces when they come into a screening; it’s one of the special things about the Edinburgh Interactive Festival.”
Chris Deering – Chairman, Edinburgh Interactive Festival

“The Edinburgh Interactive Festival has been running for five years now and it’s the longest running event in the UK games industry calendar”
“There is some quality networking to be had here. We want people to open their minds and talk to people from other media.  We want them to interact in a way that is outside of the games industry, not always games industry talking to it self.”
Fred Hasson – CEO TIGA (The Independent Games Development Association)

“It’s wonderful to come to Edinburgh with such a wide cross section of the industry to discuss and explore new opportunities, new ideas and new thinking. I am really excited with the opportunity to share ideas and discuss and see what new possibility exist for the games industry.”
Mike Rawlinson – Managing Director, ELSPA

“Edinburgh Interactive has been for me a very interesting time because we’ve been able to speak about the real problems of our industry. What I love when I come here is the fact that we can speak about the real strategy of the industry”.
“What is very important for our industry is to make sure we have more creative talent coming from all the other industries, because we are interactive but it doesn’t mean we don’t need all the creative from all the creators all over the world. Edinburgh is a festival for all the media so we can convince more creators to come to our industry.”
Yves Guillemot – President and CEO, Ubisoft Entertainment

“Edinburgh Interactive for me really as a developer is one of those places you come along and you really get ideas and inspiration, and it’s the inspiration you don’t get from the usual trade shows where the trade is talking to itself, this is a show where we are taking to everyone else where all the other things that are going on in Edinburgh at this time, the other media, the film festival, the TV festival – those people are here to listen to what we have got to say, but they are also contributing saying things that we wouldn’t hear anywhere else.”
“TV guys are talking about way in which we can work together to our mutual advantage.  As a Developer, this opens up all kinds of creative avenues that you wouldn’t usually get from talking to just games developers and publishers. It’s all about new ideas.”
“It’s clear that games are being taken more seriously. There’s a very serious audience of people who want to learn more about our industry, but they don’t just want to learn about it as a business, they are trying to understand these things we’ve all picked up creatively. Things that we understand about what games are and what they do, they are trying to see how they can apply those to other areas. What’s clear is that that we are growing up.”
Ian Baverstock – Chairman, Tiga

“Edinburgh Interactive Festival has been a fantastic experience and I really wished I had been here many many years before because it’s been a great great day, much more than I have ever expected from it”
“I came because I was very interested in the content of the two days and I have found that it has been even more rewarding from time well spent than I could have ever imagined and so I am finding it fantastic.
“It has been clear to us for many years that there is a huge convergence between all entertainment industries.  Particularly in our case we’ve been noticing that interactive entertainment is now moving over to cinema in terms of Tomb Raider and soon to be Hitman movies, so it’s a very good time to be furthering those sort of relationships.”
Q: So will we sere you next year?
A: Absolutely, yes without question.
Jane Cavanagh – CEO, Eidos Sci

“I really enjoyed the conference, met some people who I wouldn’t normally meet here, being games developers, publishers they put a different perspective on how content can be used by the consumer, definitely will be back again.”
“We are a television company trying to move into digital content. Game Developers, Games Designers, Games Publishers have been dealing with interactivity and a very fickle consumer for many years we feel that is now coming to television and we need to understand how they have learned and understood the new consumer who is going to affect our business in the future”.
"The games industry put a different prospective on how content can be used by the consumer. Definitely we will be back next year."
"We came to Edinburgh Interactive because we learned the interactive business in television but the much wider horizons, we wanted to meet the games industry and other creative people involved in interactivity. Learn from them and discuss and try and find out where the future is."
Peter Cowley – UK’s Director of Interactive Media, Endemol

“Edinburgh helps with the whole industry lifting it’s profile into a more positive light”
“One of the fantastic things about the festival is there really doesn’t seem to be any commercial competition with the people, It’s really more a celebration of industry and the input that goes into it, the sound, the music, the creativity, putting emotions into games, some of the video capture technology. Its people from all sectors of the industry, students, media, all with a common interest in video games.”
“It’s been one of the best conferences as far as content goes there’s been diversity of it in all different areas of real diversity.”
“Coming to Edinburgh is always a lot of fun, one of the good things about it is that there is a lot of good networking that takes place and Edinburgh is such a great place to do that every one is so friendly”
David Yarnton – UK General Manager, Nintendo

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