EXPO GAMERS 2026

Expo Gamers was held for the third year in a row, again in Opatija, from 29 to 30 May 2026.

Over the weekend, the fair and conference brought together around 2,000 visitors, offering a rich educational, professional and business, and entertainment programme. Over the two days, visitors could enjoy content on two stages with more than 50 speakers, three gaming zones and a retro zone. They had the chance to explore 28 Croatian and international exhibitors and meet distinguished international guests, as well as Croatian and foreign video game developers.

Key programme segments and guests of honour

The central event of the conference programme was the panel discussion "The Voice & Music of a Masterpiece – Baldur's Gate 3". The participation of prominent international guests, actors Tim Downie and Andrew Wincott and multi-award-winning composer Borislav Slavov, attracted exceptional interest from the public and visitors. The very high attendance at the panel, as well as at the accompanying activities in the Meet & Greet zone, confirmed the international significance, popularity and visibility of this year's programme.

Special emphasis at the fair was placed on the development of independent game dev studios through the international Indie Zone, which reached its largest scope to date in this edition. Independent development studios from Croatia, Slovenia and Austria presented their projects and game prototypes directly to visitors, publishers and investors.

Video games and the gaming industry, as the world's largest entertainment industry, have the power to drive new economic trends, and over the past two years the event has brought entirely new perspectives on cultural tourism to Opatija. Beyond becoming a recognised centre for this high-quality international event, Opatija has the potential, through projects like this, to position itself as an attractive destination for digital nomads and game dev studios, and as a base for foreign investors.

We certainly believe that this year we once again exceeded expectations: Expo Gamers has become the leading regional game dev conference, has outgrown its regional scope in terms of guests, and has resonated at the national and international level, encouraging an intensive exchange of knowledge, ideas and creative practices. Special recognition of the organisation comes from the prominent international guests, all of them globally recognised names and regular participants at the biggest game dev events and conferences. Their praise and confirmation of the outstanding quality of the programme and the event as a whole give us a strong boost to continue this project, and the contacts we made will greatly help us prepare an even more ambitious programme for next year.

As the leading conference in the region, Expo Gamers stood out this year for:

• An exceptionally high-quality programme (guests, topics) that satisfied both industry professionals and the general public
• A high level of professionalism and hospitality in coordinating programme guests
• The diversity and exceptional educational and cultural value of the programme
• The level of both popular and professional value that the audience finds in the content offered
• An innovative approach and a successful combination of the festival and conference formats (B2B2C model)



Key numbers

• Total Attendance: ~2,000 live visitors.
• Speakers & Contributors: 50 expert participants.
• Exhibitors: 20 international exhibitors, additional 13 dedicated regional indie studios.
• Knowledge Multipliers: A local operational base of 20+ student volunteers and 10 external specialists trained in large-scale event production.
• Demographic Core: The attendee profile showed a heavy concentration in prime creative age brackets: 16–24 (25.2%) and 25–34 (40.4%), with a gender distribution of 54% male and 40% female, 6% other/non-binary persons.
• Geographical Footprint: Representatives and ticket buyers arrived from 18 countries. Outside of Croatia, the most substantial attendance numbers came directly from Slovenia, Serbia, and Austria, demonstrating a genuine cross-border draw within the AAA territories.

Media Outreach & Institutional Visibility

The strategic media campaign ran from January to June 2026, delivering broad regional coverage. It featured 2 press conferences, 6 core press releases, and secured partnerships with international outlets like MCV Develop, IGN CZ/SK, and IGN Adria, resulting in over 74 media announcements and 25 detailed festival reports. The event’s digital footprint was equally massive: ExpoGamers.com recorded 16,456 unique visitors (with 13% originating from Austria/Slovenia and 8% from Serbia/BiH), while social media channels generated over 750k+ views on Instagram and 480k+ views on Facebook.

A special focus of the festival was on the development of visual arts

Chee Wong, co-founder and creative director of the renowned British studio Opus Artz, gave an expert lecture on the challenges of managing artists in AAA production ("Managing Artists for AAA: do you like herding cats?"). This high-level education in visual art and portfolio building was complemented by workshops and lectures from acclaimed artist Iga Oliwiak ("Building a Strong Illustration Portfolio" and "Choosing Your Own Path") and Nick Sweetman, founder of Game Art Co., which provides art education for the gaming industry ("Target Your Game Art Portfolio and Get Hired"). They shared practical methods for shaping a professional art portfolio with participants. The technical fusion of visual arts and graphics programming was examined in detail in the expert panel "The Art of the Kill: Visualizing Combat & Action" (Wong, Mäkelä, Frčko, Banješević, Reichstein).

An equally important segment was dedicated to music production and sound design for digital media. Prominent regional and European creators Nikola Jeremić (Waveform Studio) and Damjan Mravunac (Croteam), joined by Borislav Slavov, led the program sessions "Creative process of building the memorable music environments" and "Creating Legendary Musical Narratives," focusing on the theory and practice of creating ambient sound architecture and emotional narrative through music.



Independent cultural creativity was showcased in the international Indie Zone, where 13 studios from Croatia, Slovenia and Austria presented their original artistic projects, encouraging cross-border cultural exchange. Meanwhile, the national high school art competition "Z-FUTURE II" opened a space for inclusive artistic expression by the younger generation.

Partner organisations

Main organisers and project leads: Udruga 3. zmaj (3. zmaj Association) and the marketing agency Rivira d.o.o.

Institutional partners and patrons: City of Opatija, Alpe-Adria Association, Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC), Games Croatia project, Opatija Tourist Board, Kvarner Tourist Board, Croatian National Tourist Board, Kultura nova Foundation, Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, Ministry of Science, Education and Youth of the Republic of Croatia, Embassy of the Republic of Finland in the Republic of Croatia, Opatija 21.

Strategic partners in the project:

• Games Growth Agency, United Kingdom, as a strategic partner, helped connect the project with a wider international network of experts
• MeetToMatch, Netherlands, the leading global business meeting app for gaming conferences, took part in the event, and a MeetToMatch meeting zone was set up
• Women in Games, global, helped connect the project with the wider international community of women in gaming; WiG ambassadors Nikolina Finska and Jaqueline Clarke took part in the programme. Due to exceptional circumstances.
• IGDA (International Game Developers Association), global, strategic partner, helped connect the project with the wider international community; President Natasha Skult, Vice President Christopher Hamilton and ambassador Nazih Fares took part in the programme.
• CGDA (Croatian Game Development Alliance), represented by Ivan Murat, director of Nanobit
• Croatian Audiovisual Centre and the Games Croatia project, which sponsored the participation of 6 Croatian independent gaming studios in the Indie Zone
• Game Lab Graz, Austria
• Pioneers of Game Development Austria
• Mad Head Games, Serbia
• Outfit7, Slovenia
• Algebra Bernays University
• Festival Opatija
• River City Games

Full speakers list - 2026

EXPO GAMERI 2025