[gamescom asia 2023] Indie Wavemaker Organiser John Howe-Marshall On Providing Support To The Indie Scene

During our time at gamescom asia 2023, we had the opportunity to speak with John Howe-Marshall, Head of Marketing, Eliphant, as well as the Organiser of Indie Wavemaker.

Who those who might be wondering, Indie Wavemakers is an IP from the creators of GameStart Asia, one of the leading gaming conventions in Southeast Asia. On top showcasing games from indie developers and publishers, Indie Wavemakers also provides the support for developers on both the marketing and promoting side.

The first question we asked was how does it feel as an organisation to make their grand debut at gamescom asia.

To which John replied by saying that they’re super thrilled considering that Wavemakers has been a big project that they’ve been working on all these years as well as last year with Indie Wavemakers.

“Eliphant’s been partnered with Gamescom Asia for a couple of years now and up until then we were working on GameStart Asia. So, the that we get to bring Indie Wavemakers to Gamescom Asia is kind of a really great full circle moment.” he continued.

John mentioned that the agency’s been working a lot with Indie developers over the years, and the opportunity to bring and curate a whole showcase of Indie devs to the show floor, in both on trade and in consumer has been great.

The next question we asked John was did he think that the big group efforts such as Indie Wavemakers play an integral part in making indie games be seen to the public?

“I do, I really do. I think now more than ever there’s more independent titles releasing across all of these platforms and it’s more difficult than ever for a new developer to cut through the noise.”

“And I think over the years we’ve seen a number of different outfits sort of like Indie Wavemakers, like Indie Megabooth over in the US in the mix.” John replied.

He mentioned that Indie Wavemakers give developers an opportunity to come together and congregate in a single place so that members of the press or anyone that are interested in it can do networking in a single show floor.

One other question that we asked John was that live stage events such as Indie Wavemakers Live Stage where indie studios get to demo their games makes it so that studios could skip the tedious buzzword and go straight to showing it to the public.

“I think there’s a couple of really great opportunities with showcasing the game on stage. So not only will people who are not able to come to the event in person get an overview of the game by tuning in for the demo and that will be on GameStart Asia, but people on the show floor as well will have an opportunity to not only see the game but also learn a little bit more around the developers who are making it.”

John mentioned that it’s very different from queuing up and demoing the game because there’s a host on stage who will be able to talk to them as well as give them an opportunity to really pitch the game out to the audience.

Similar to events like TwitchCon and PAX, John mentioned that the Indie Wavemakers live stage format is able to bring in that kind of buzz that you get by doing a stage on the show floor.

“It’s very different from just doing it in a quiet studio somewhere. So I think we’re really excited to see what this looks like when it comes together, when it kickstarts tomorrow.

But I think in terms of developers, they’re going to get a lot out of it just by having an opportunity to take their game onto the show floor and demo it in a whole new way.”

The next question we asked John was whether he could talk more about the sponsors that make Indie Wavemakers possible.

“We’re pleased to announce as part of this that Xbox have come aboard as an epic sponsor. Them coming aboard has helped make this whole thing happen in collaboration with gamescom asia.”

John continued by saying that alongside the actual event that’s taking place both in the B2B hall as well as the B2C hall, they’ve been also able to do some cool things such as organising the Wave Mixer, which is something where indie developers can network and connect with members of the press and publishers.

When it comes to Southeast Asian games, we asked John what could Indie Wavemaker do to help grow the scene further.

“I think now more than ever, the whole scene that’s coming out of Southeast Asia is just super exciting and there’s just a lot of titles that you’re beginning to see really break in with the rest of the world and build an audience as well.”

John mentions that Indie Wavemaker aims to further complement that. While there’s also other developers out there who are doing just fine without Indie Wavemaker’s support, what they’re doing is presenting an opportunity to support the smaller developers who haven’t quite figured out the marketing an PR side of their games to have an opportunity to bring it down and showcase it to people.

“I think gamescom asia is really a testament to the fact that now more than ever, the world is looking towards Southeast Asia and Singapore, which I think is only leading to exciting things in the future too.” John continues.

As a final message, John had a few things to share.

“I would say anyone who hasn’t had a chance to come down to gamescom [asia] this year, I really recommend that they go and check out the Indie Wavemaker’s website, which they can get to from GameStart.asia. There, we’re going to have a whole curated overview of what games are exhibiting on the show floor and then we’ll also be doing the live stream throughout the whole weekend.”

“I think that’s going to be great for anyone who might not get a chance to try the games out themselves to see what’s cooking in Southeast Asia, so I’d recommend that. Then just to keep following us as we’re going to be doing more cool stuff with Indie Wavemakers in the future as well.”

We’d like to thank John-Howe Marshall for taking the time to answer our questions.

For more information on Indie Wavemakers, do check out their official website here.

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