Vienna, renowned for Opera and Fine Arts, hosted the 11th Vienna Games Conference in the Vienna City Hall which is more accustomed to Banquets and Balls than Game tech.
I was actually hopeful, especially in the backdrop of just finishing the StarWars Battlefront II Open Beta. Sadly, this was probably the worst hybrid attempt at bringing Gaming Academia and Players together I have ever had the misfortune to spend time on.
I actually whizzed through the entire venue on a Sunday morning in under 90 mins. Considering PS4 and Xbox were heavily represented, the actual gaming content lacked anything new.
Titles that are already available for pre-order were presented to visitors to test drive and I had a great 10 mins on FarCry 5. The only other title I hadn’t seen before was Quantum Break (released April 2016) for Xbox and PC but this stands to reason as PS4 Player.
There were plenty of refreshing upsides to the event.
Reason to be cheerful
A brilliant absence of mandatory visitor data collection. A Beautiful Neo-Gothic palace-like structure built from 1872. Wonderful noise control (conversation level) No overcrowding and marketing hassle Excellent compliance to the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) age rating system, basically all 16-18+ had to prove it.
Downside
Very limited new gaming news No Star Wars Battlefront II presence or demos Small demo screen, most players today enjoy 37+ inch screens at home while we had to endure tired small screen old PS4 demos. Heavily restricted eSports access.
My verdict
Vienna should stick to Opera and stay out of the Entertainment Software Industry. Shame on you Microsoft and Sony for allowing this travesty to actually happen in the Global Gaming arena.
