HomeMain MenuPress ReleasesBitSummit Gaiden Reveals Schedule, Speakers, Guests, Interactive Map

BitSummit Gaiden Reveals Schedule, Speakers, Guests, Interactive Map

TOKYO – 25 June, 2020 – BitSummit, the pioneering indie showcase brimming with the spirit of Japan, today announces the final schedule for its marathon streaming festival BitSummit Gaiden, taking place from Saturday, 27 June at 12:00 p.m. JST to Monday, 29 June at 4:00 p.m. JST on the BitSummit Twitch & YouTube channels, and from Friday, 26 June at 10:00 a.m. JST players will have access to the developers channels on the Discord server and be able to play BitSummit Gaiden games on Utomik.

Notable guests including Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Shuhei Yoshida and game developers such as Koji Igarashi and SWERY will join the festivities to talk about the indie scene in Japan, introduce new games, and discuss their favorite games in the BitSummit Gaiden Official Selection

BitSummit Gaiden will kick off this weekend with three channels of live-streamed content, each of which will simultaneously broadcast to YouTube and Twitch. Streams will continue throughout the weekend, with Channel 1 broadcasting content from the BitSummit studio, sponsors, media partners, and content creators from around the world.

Channel 1 YouTube Twitch: Hosted by Ai Yokamichi, HaiGai, and virtual idol DELA, this channel will feature chats with Shuhei Yoshida and a virtual tour of the BitSummit Gaiden Discord server by SWERY, a new game announcement from INTI CREATES and appearances by some legendary Japanese creators such as Takayuki Nakamura, Kazutoshi Iida, and Yukio Futatsugi.

Channel 2 YouTube Twitch: LayerQ & J-mon, two of Japan’s most knowledgeable indie game streamers, will guide viewers through BitSummit Gaiden’s Official Selections, a collection of diverse games in both English and Japanese. Channel 3 YouTubeTwitch This channel, hosted by Takeshi Ishikawa of Skeleton Crew Studio, will focus on an online game jam coinciding with BitSummit Gaiden. About 40 students majoring in game development at Japanese universities will participate. Using Discord, each group will develop a game under the theme “Novel Coronaviruses and Online Education.”

In addition, BitSummit today unveils the Gaiden Map to help visitors navigate the event. Starting today, all of the games for BitSummit Gaiden are available via the map, organized into sections representing the BitSummit Heroes teams. Visitors can browse the developers associated with each by clicking on the Heroes. Attendees who vote to support their favorite team on Discord will have a chance to win one of twenty limited-edition BitSummit Gaiden x Unity tracksuit jackets. Thanks to a partnership with Utomik, anyone can try out BitSummit Gaiden games by registering for a free seven-day account with the cloud gaming service. No credit card is needed to create an account.

Voting starts on Saturday, 27 June at 12:00 p.m. JST. Play some games and then hop on the BitSummit Discord to vote for the best teams. Everyone who votes will be eligible to win. Winners will be announced on the BitSummit Twitter accounts, @BitSummit and @BitSummitJP.

Finally, BitSummit welcomes Kickstarter and Kodansha into the Gaiden family, as the companies band together to support indie projects. Kickstarter’s mission is to help bring creative projects to life. From tabletop RPGs and cards to console and PC, games on Kickstarter include the weird, the whimsical, and the creative. Kodansha has supported creators in the publishing space for 110 years, publishing internationally popular titles like AKIRA, Ghost in the Shell, and many more.

About BitSummit

BitSummit is an annual festival based in Kyoto celebrating independent game developers and development in Japan. Founded in late 2012, the show aims to support and unify Japanese indie developers, as well as evangelize their vibrant and innovative works to the world at large. BitSummit has established itself as Japan’s premier independent gaming event, attracting thousands of visitors annually as well as a notable and international media presence. 

BitSummit has been covered by every leading gaming website around the world and featured in print publications including Weekly Famitsu, Dengeki PlayStation, Games™, and EDGE. It has also been the focus of panel discussions at the Game Developers Conference, IndieCade, IndieCade East, and CEDEC. Coming into its eighth year running, BitSummit continues to grow alongside the burgeoning Japanese independent development scene.

To learn more, visit the BitSummit website, and follow BitSummit on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About Japan Independent Games Aggregate (JIGA)

The Japan Independent Games Aggregate is a collective of studios dedicated to developing spaces for and running events promoting the work of Japanese indie game developers throughout the world. Its most notable event is the annual BitSummit event held in Kyoto, Japan, but each year it expands its horizons with BitSummit Roadshow events and now BitSummit Gaiden.

JIGA’s member studios are Q-Games Ltd., Pygmy Studio Co. Ltd., Skeleton Crew Studio, and BlackSheep Consulting.