Brazil’s International Games (BIG) Festival, the largest independent games, creation, business, and networking event in Latin America, has announced that submissions are now open for its official pitch competition, Pitch@BIG. The initiative is the result of a partnership between BIG Festival and Abragames (Brazilian Games Association), which promotes the pitch sessions and sponsors the participation of Jason Della Rocca, a games industry expert slated to present the sessions and manage two mentorships for the general public. One mentorship will be held online on May 17th, and the other is scheduled to be held in person at BIG Festival (details will be announced later).
Abragames has been BIG’ partner since the beginning of the Festival. The Association aims to promote Brazilian studios by catalyzing game production within the country through training and marketing insight. In partnership with ApexBrasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, Abragames created the Brazil Games Export Program to boost the Brazilian games industry internationally and develop new business opportunities.
Submissions to Pitch@BIG begin today, March 20, 2023, and will remain open until May 26th, at 11:59 PM, Brazil time (GMT-3). This year, the annual event takes place from June 28th to July 2nd, online and in person, at the São Paulo Expo in São Paulo, Brazil. At least five studios will be selected as finalists to pitch their games for five minutes to some of the biggest game publishers and investors in the world. They will be evaluated by a panel of judges made up of industry specialists.
On top of all the attention from media, publishers, and investors at the event, the Pitch@BIG winner will receive two business meeting tickets (with access to the VIP Mixer) for BIG Festival 2024.
Jason Della Rocca will present the event and help the judges choose the winner. With decades of games industry experience, Della Rocca was an early-stage investor in over 20 independent game studios from North America and Europe. He served as the executive director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) from 2000 to 2009 and has been honored with the inaugural Ambassador Award at the Game Developers Conference (GDC). In 2009, Jason was named to Game Developer Magazine’s “Power 50.” He remains a prominent industry figure today, hosting lectures at conferences and universities all over the world.
