Notes from a Polish game industry trip: ten-minute indie speed dating and national support
On indienova, the writer ThirtyThree shared a travel log of his week in Poland this summer, touring with peers from China. For anyone making indie games there are several details worth noticing, so here are the highlights.
The first stop was MeetUp65 in Warsaw. Organized by the Polish Centre for Innovative Industries, it puts Chinese game media and content platforms in front of Polish independent studios and developers, with hundreds of one-on-one meetings packed into a single day. The author had about 31 mini-meetings of ten minutes each, and staff would warn at the eight-minute mark that two minutes were left. He often heard two things: “I'm an indie developer, so I don't have a business card,” and “Our game has built up a decent wishlist, and China is our second-largest source.”
The second stop was GIC Sprint Katowice, a game industry conference with a “Go to China Pitch” and bookable one-on-one meetings. The author also met several independent developers who were currently unaffiliated and treated the event as a chance to find work.
What struck me most was Poland's policy track: around 2016 NCBR launched the GameINN program, in 2023 an electronic games support program, at the end of 2025 a games industry roundtable, an early-2026 report, and this October the first Polish Video Game Day. The author argues that, judging by how much the government values the games industry, Poland may rank among the very top.
The second half covers city impressions like Warsaw's rebuilt Old Town and the red-brick buildings of the Nikoszowiec district. The most valuable part, to me, is how it shows the publishing and wishlist side of things actually working for a small team going abroad.
Source: indienova
The first stop was MeetUp65 in Warsaw. Organized by the Polish Centre for Innovative Industries, it puts Chinese game media and content platforms in front of Polish independent studios and developers, with hundreds of one-on-one meetings packed into a single day. The author had about 31 mini-meetings of ten minutes each, and staff would warn at the eight-minute mark that two minutes were left. He often heard two things: “I'm an indie developer, so I don't have a business card,” and “Our game has built up a decent wishlist, and China is our second-largest source.”
The second stop was GIC Sprint Katowice, a game industry conference with a “Go to China Pitch” and bookable one-on-one meetings. The author also met several independent developers who were currently unaffiliated and treated the event as a chance to find work.
What struck me most was Poland's policy track: around 2016 NCBR launched the GameINN program, in 2023 an electronic games support program, at the end of 2025 a games industry roundtable, an early-2026 report, and this October the first Polish Video Game Day. The author argues that, judging by how much the government values the games industry, Poland may rank among the very top.
The second half covers city impressions like Warsaw's rebuilt Old Town and the red-brick buildings of the Nikoszowiec district. The most valuable part, to me, is how it shows the publishing and wishlist side of things actually working for a small team going abroad.
Source: indienova
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