Not only was DevGAMM Lisbon 2025 the biggest conference in Europe so far, the organisers are breaking new ground with a Dubai event in 2026. We spoke to Maria Chyrvona about the trajectory, her first two years as CEO and entering under-served markets.
What makes DevGAMM unique as an event concept is itsrotation character, with three locations throughout a year. In 2025, DevGAMM was in Gdansk in Spring for the third time, in Vilnius in Summer for the first time and in Lisbon in Fall for the third time as well. Next year, the DevGAMM locations undergo some adjustments. That is not unusual in the event’s concept. In our interview on DevGAMM Gdansk 2024 with then-new CEO Maria Chyrvona, she explains the concept of testing out underserved markets and finding fitting locations, including trying out events that might not be repeated at the same place.
Coming in 2026, the changes are a lot more remarkable than in the years before: While the fourth Gdansk event moves to the Summer to avoid the foggy chill of the Baltic early year, the Spring slot gets DevGAMM’s first non-European event: The first DevGAMM in Dubai will also be the first in the MENA region. This marks
a big incision in what DevGAMM has been before, and there are reasons for it, as Chyrvona tells GamesMarkt in an interview at DevGAMM Lisbon 2025.
The jump to the MENA region is a big one, and at the same time not too surprising, with a lot of game development and game business power concentrating especially in Saudi-Arabia at the moment. DevGAMM is not moving there however, but to the United Arabian Emirates (UAE), into their capital Dubai. A market which is different from European consumer tendencies in general, the MENA market is heavily centered on Mobile games at the moment, with the Power of Play market study by the Entertainment Software Association positioning mobile gaming at 47 per cent of all played games in the UAE and a significant overhang of male players in comparison with other markets, with 63 per cent of all players in the survey being male – although that could be a bias in the survey taking as well. Chyrvona explains in our interview why Dubai was the place to go.
GamesMarkt: DevGAMM Lisbon 2025 has taken place at a new location, finally in Lisbon itself, and incidentally right next to WebSummit, an important digital event here in Portugal. Is that intentional?
