Best International Games (BIG) Festival has announced that award submissions for the event are now live with the last date for submissions to be February 28, 2023. BIG Festival is the largest international games, creation, business, and networking event in Latin America and has announced the dates for its 2023 event. BIG Festival 2023 will take place from June 28, 2023, to July 2, 2023, both online and on-site at Sao Paulo Expo in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The event is expecting an audience of over 50,000 attendees and it will allow developers from around the world to showcase their products and win cash prizes in distinct categories. Interested developers can now submit their video games in their respective categories and the deadline for all submissions is February 28, 2023, at 11:59 PM Brazil time (GMT -3). You can submit your projects for participation in BIG Festival Awards 2023 by heading over to the official website of BIG Festival.
There are no complex requirements for submissions and any game on any platform, published or unpublished, is eligible for submission. However, the developers need to ensure that the game is playable by the BIG Festival Selection Committee. If the game has been launched commercially in the last two years of the festival’s start date, they are also eligible for the awards ceremony submissions.
This will be the 11th year of BIG Festival and it has grown from a local Brazilian video game event to an international convention where some of the biggest players in the industry collide to showcase their new games, participate in lectures and solidify relationships with a Brazilian industry who has become the #1 Market in South America.
Last year, the BIG Festival received 538 games and among them, 92 games were selected for the final competition. Winners were later announced at an award ceremony. Each category along with its winner is listed below:
- Grand Prize Award — Gamedec
- Best Brazilian Game — No Place For Bravery
- Best Game: Latin America Award — The Eternal Cylinder by ACE Team
- Innovation Award — One Hand Clapping by Bad Dream Games
- Best Multiplayer Award — DAVIGO by Davigo Studio
- Best Mobile Game Award — Wish Me Luck by Black Moluska
- BIG Impact: Best Game Diversity Award — Unpacking by Witch Beam
- BIG Impact: Best Educational Game Award — Flying Bunk by Plot Kids
- BIG Impact: Best Social Questions Game Award — Train to Sachsenhausen by Charles Games
- Best Sound Award — Inua: A Story in Ice and Team by ARTE France
- Best XR/VR Award — Goliath: Playing with Reality by Anagram
- Best Game BIG Brands Award — Jorel’s Brother and the Most Important of the Galaxy! By Double Dash Studios/Copa Studios
- Best Student Game Award— Lysfangha by Daphné DELOFFRE – Baptiste MARSAC
- Best Narrative Award — The Forgotten City by Modern Storyteller
- Best Gameplay Award — Dodgeball Academy by Pocket Trap
If you are interested, you can also check out the official BIG Festival 2022 Edition video recap linked below:
Eliana Russi, Director of Operations at Brazil Games comments:
Our team is thrilled to once again partner with the most influential and important gaming event in Latin America. Last year’s festival surpassed all of our expectations. With gaming’s popularity showing no signs of slowing down in the region, we anticipate this year’s show will be the biggest and best iteration to date.
Similar to the previous year, BIG Festival 2023 will also hold various conferences and they will be an integral part of the event. During these conferences, a number of notable national and globally based industry leaders will discuss compelling topics relevant to the contemporary market in the past. BIG Festival is also taking submissions for speakers for this year so if you are interested in speaking at BIG Festival 2023, you can submit an application at the official website. The deadline for speaker applications is also the same which is February 28, 2023, 11:59 PM Brazil Time.
In 2022, BIG Festival broke records with around 30,000 visitors, more than 300 million social media interactions among partners, around 6,000 scheduled business meetings, and 669 companies in attendance, with 429 originating from Brazil. Apart from this, more than 1,300 game industry professionals attended BIG Festival 2022, and the event spurred an estimated $100 million in new business for gaming companies attending the event.
For this year’s event. Brazil Games (the Brazilian Games Export Program), a partnership between the Brazilian Game Companies Association, ABRAGAMES, and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, ApexBrasil will be working with BIG Festival. If you are interested in submitting your game for the event or want to speak as a guest speaker, you can head over to the official website of the event right now and make sure to submit your applications before the deadline of February 28, 2023.
Related: Devolver Digital, Atari To Headline BIG Festival 2023 Panorama Mundo
What are your thoughts on the 2023 edition of BIG Festival? Let us know in the comments section below.
