EVERYTHING READY FOR FIFTH EDITION OF FIRST PLAYABLE 2023 TAKING PLACE ON JULY 6 AND 7 IN FLORENCE

More than 500 professionals are expected representing 180 companies or freelancers, 45 international publishers and 4 gaming accelerators. For the first time, representatives of the Ministry of Culture will also attend

Florence, 5 July 2023 – First Playable, Italy’s leading business event for the video game sector, is preparing to kick off its fifth edition on 6 and 7 July in Florence at the Nana Bianca innovation hub. The initiative, created with the aim of accelerating the growth and consolidation of the Italian video game industry, is organized by IIDEA and the Toscana Film Commission – Fondazione Sistema Toscana and with the collaboration of ITA - Italian Trade Agency. This year, for the first, representatives from the Ministry of Culture will also be in attendance at the event.

Sen. Lucia Borgonzoni, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Culture, said: “The fifth edition of the First Playable initiative promises to be an interesting moment of encounter and comparison, putting the spotlight on the Italian video game industry, a growing sector in which we, as a Ministry, will continue to invest resources to help it develop and conquer new audiences and markets"

"For the fifth year Fondazione Sistema Toscana, together with Toscana Film Commission, is present at First Playable, the most important event in the video games sector in Italy," said Iacopo Di Passio, President of Fondazione Sistema Toscana “A date that is becoming more and more important, with important moments of exchange and meetings between operators in the sector. We can therefore only be satisfied with the new edition of an event that promotes the development of the audiovisual and video games industry, which combines art, tradition and innovation - which is why Tuscany has been chosen - and offers young people wide and new job opportunities.

ITA - Italian Trade Agency took care of the hospitality for international business operators – 45 publishers and investors from 12 countries will be present in Florence this year – including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Sweden, Spain, Netherlands, France, Poland, Mexico, Japan, Germany and Italy. Over 180 companies and freelance professionals in the production of Italian video games have already registered for the event, eager to present their prototypes to the main publishers and investors in the sector. 

Overall, more than 500 industry professionals are expected for the conference, which promises to be extremely stimulating for sharing ideas and opportunities for collaboration as well as a leading appointment for the promotion and growth of Made in Italy in the videogame sector. Through the Meet to Match platform - matchmaking partner of the event - more than 700 business meetings have already been set up, the perfect opportunity for networking and laying the foundations for future collaborations with the main players in the sector at an international level.

The fifth edition of First Playable also includes the participation of three important gaming accelerators; Bologna Game Farm, Cinecittà Game Hub and Quickload, as well as the pre-acceleration program Zagarolo Game House.

The event will be enriched by eight workshops, which will offer valuable technical insights on central issues for sector operators from the stage in the Nana Bianca auditorium.

A particularly significant moment at the conference will be the breakfast meet up in the company of Women in Games Italia, a non-profit organization that works to promote and support women in the video game industry, sponsored by Fondazione VIGAMUS. 

Finally, the eagerly awaited award ceremony of the Italian Video Games Awards will take place on 6 July, in Nana Bianca and broadcast live on First Playable Twitch channel, which will highlight the tremendous talents and productions of the Italian video games industry.

The fifth edition of First Playable was made possible thanks to the support of numerous partners including: Unreal Engine and Google, Diamond Partner; Acer, AWS for Games, LCA, Maga Animation Studio and Tik Tok – Silver Partners – and Partners 34BigThings, Broken Arms Games and MixedBag. This year, IIDEA will also donate 250 Paulownia trees, in collaboration with Treebu, to promote a positive impact on the environment.

The two-day First Playable event, will be hosted by the innovation hub Nana Bianca in Florence. More information about the event is available on www.firstplayable.it 

About IIDEA

The Association was founded in early 2000s. Our original members were mainly multinationals operating on Italian soil. Since 2011, with the establishment of several game development studios in our country, we broadened our membership base to Italian videogames-producing companies, which nowadays represent most of our members. In 2019, we opened the Association’s gates to esports business operators, such as teams and tournament organizers.Currently, the Association is composed of over 100 members, including videogames hardware manufacturers, videogames publishers, Italian game developers and esports business operators. Internationally, in 2002 IIDEA joined Video Games Europe, which is the European videogames Association located in Brussels. Since 2005 IIDEA is member of the Video Games Europe Board of Directors. Moreover, the Association is also members of the PEGI Management Board, videogames age ratings system helping parents in making informed choices during the purchase of a videogame. In 2020 IIDEA join EGDF. We are an agile, slender and results-oriented Association. Our line of work is very pragmatic and based on the constant involvement of our members in order to ensure that our action keeps abreast of the industry steady evolution. Our members are at the hearth of any choice or action carried out by the Association.