Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #6 takes place from April 19th to 23rd, so to give you a taste of what to expect, we’ll bring you interviews with some of our esteemed speakers at the show.
The conference spans five days and will feature a broad selection of tracks, talks and speakers, as well as various fringe events and the return of our meeting system. For more details on the event and to book a ticket, head to the website.
For today’s spotlight, we spoke with Passport.GG founder Ignat Bobrovich, who been involved in all manner of esports since taking part in various competitions as an early teenager, before starting his own venture.
At PGC Digital #6, Bobrovich will speak about his long experience with esports and what the next 12 months look to hold.
PocketGamer.biz: Tell us a bit about your company?
Ignat Bobrovich: Passport.GG is a non-profit organisation that launched a series of initiatives and supports grassroots esports ambitions. It looks to be the industry-standard solution for managing global esports players
Why did you want to work in the games industry?
I started off in games when I first participated in an esports competition at the age of 13 in the year 2000. During the season, I won numerous local competitions with my name always being in newspapers as well as often appearing on TV. It gave me a lot of confidence and happiness for a guy from the poor suburbs of a post-soviet city.
What advice would you give to anyone looking to get into it?
The reality is that esports is not an easy way to earn money today. However, if you have passion and dream to make an impact, it’s a good place to be.
What are your thoughts on the industry in the last 12 months?
COVID-19 has helped push esports from a niche audience to the mainstream, yet monetisation is still challenging and sustainable business models are yet to be found for the competitions.
What major trends do you predict in the next 12 months?
It will be a pretty challenging period and I hope esports will prove itself more and more as a mainstream topic, with hopefully more money for the business arriving too.
How has the games industry changed since you first started?
When I started out, people were playing competitions with games such as Grand Prix 3, Counter-Strike 1.6, FIFA 98 and Starcraft. Besides new genres being born (battle royale, MOBA etcetera.) everything else is much more evolved – better graphics, the ability to play and the option to stream online.
But the nature and major elements of games have experienced little changes.
Which part of the Connects event are you most looking forward to and why?
I’m looking forward to learning more about the potential future trends surrounding VR, A.I. and voice-driven projects.
Want more?
The full conference schedule is now live on the website. In the meantime, you can also check out our other track rundowns and coverage of previous Pocket Gamer Connects conferences ahead of the event itself.
