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BitSummit Drift
BitSummit Drift will run from from July 10 to 21, 2024 at the Miyako Messe Exhibition Center in Kyoto, Japan. You will be able to watch it on YouTube and Twitch.
■ Stage Schedule
(All times are Japan Standard Time.)
July 19
- First Half (YouTube)
- 10:00 to 10:30 – BitSummit Drift Inaugural Ceremony – Featuring James Milky (BitSummit creative director), Dylan Cuthbert (Japan Independent Games Aggregate chairman), Hisashi Koshimizu (Japan Independent Games Aggregate vice chairman), Masahiko Murakami (Japan Independent Games Aggregate director), and John Davis (Japan Independent Games Aggregate director).
- 10:35 to 11:05 – BitSummit Drift Indie Spotlight 1: Sea Fantasy – Reel in adventure and save the world in this epic fishing RPG! Featuring Katsumasa Nakajima (Metasla).
- 11:10 to 11:40 – BitSummit Drift Indie Spotlight 2: Exhausted Man – Crawl through exhaustion and wiggle through everyday challenges! Featuring Ma Xiaoyu (Candleman Games director).
- 11:45 to 12:15 – BitSummit Drift Indie Spotlight 3: Botany Manor – A first-person puzzle game in a Victorian English manor! Featuring Matthew White (Whitethorn Games CEO).
- 12:20 to 12:50 – BitSummit Drift Indie Spotlight 4: Ichima-san – The secret life of a Japanese traditional doll: a 3D Metroidvania about stealth! Featuring sewohayami (game developer).
- Second Half (YouTube)
- 13:00 to 13:30 – BitSummit Drift Indie Spotlight 5: CultureHouse – An unnerving immersive sim adventure centered on biological cultivation experiments. Featuring Yasuki Watanabe (CultureHouse sole programmer and sound designer).
- 13:35 to 14:05 – BitSummit Drift Indie Spotlight 6: All You Need is Help – Coordinate fluffy cube creatures in this quirky cooperative puzzle adventure! Featuring Naohiro Kimura (Q-Games creative director) and Suzuka Kobayashi (Q-Games game designer).
- 14:10 to 14:40 – Introducing The Latest From Shueisha Games! – Unveiling new exciting projects for the coming. Featuring Masami Yamamoto (Shueisha Games development supervisor), Makoto Hayashi, HafuHafu Oden, and Achabox.
- 14:45 to 15:45 – BitSummit x Campfire – Project 1: An immersive adventure of two beings of opposing forces depending on each other Project 2: An action-adventure game by former members of SKIP Ltd. Featuring Yoshi, Kenichi Nishi, Keita ETO, and Hiroshi Taniguchi.
- 15:50 to 16:20 – BitSummit Drift Indie Spotlight 7: Animaloid Girl – Featuring Masaya Kuninaga (game developer).
- 16:25 to 16:55 – BitSummit Drift Indie Spotlight 8: Dream Channel Zero – Featuring Fuming (game creator).
- 17:00 – End of Business Day
July 20
- First Half (YouTube)
- 10:05 to 10:15 – Live Music Performance: Professor Sakamoto – Featuring Professor Sakamoto.
- 10:15 to 10:30 – Public Day 1 Opening Ceremony
- 10:45 to 11:15 – BitSummit Drift Indie Spotlight 9: Safo and the Moon Warriors – Rescue little sister in this heartfelt, novel-like adventure RPG! Featuring Jun Sasaki (game author and stop-motion animator).
- 11:30 to 12:00 – Shohei Yoshida Presents Indie Games Part 1 – Introducing ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom In The Mist in a dialogue with creative director Hiroshi Kobayashi. Featuring Shuhei Yoshida (Sony Interactive Entertainment Indies Initiative head) and Hiroshi Kobayashi (ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom In The Mist creative director).
- 12:15 to 12:45 – Inti Creates World Premiere – Tune in for a brand new game reveal by Inti Creates! Featuring Takuya Aizu (Inti Creates president).
- Second Half (YouTube)
- 13:10 to 13:40 – Just for Kicks: Action First-Person Shooter Anger Foot – Introducing Devolver’s latest high-octane sole-smashing action first-person shooter.
- 13:55 to 14:40 – Indie Pick Up: BitSummit Buraritabi Special – Join BitSummit’s favorite producer Hidetaka “Swery65” Suehiro for a venue stroll with our MCs to introduce five indie titles nominated for this years awards! Featuring Hidetaka “Swery65” Suehiro (White Owls Inc. CEO).
- 14:55 to 15:25 – Happinet Indie Collection: New Picks – Discover the latest selections in the Happinet Indie Collection showcased at the venue!
- 15:30 to 16:00 – Conversations on Indie Games with Hideki Kamiya and aMSa – Peak into the minds of world renown action game creator and top pro gamer and their insight on indies. Featuring aMSa (professional gamer) and Hideki Kamiya (game creator).
- 16:05 to 16:45 – Live Music Performance: Family Continue – Wrapping up with a bang: Duo formed by Mc8bit and DJ Shogo blend 8-bit sounds with Famicom-inspired rap! Featuring Family Continue.
- 17:00 – End of Public Day 1
July 21
- First Half (YouTube)
- 10:05 to 10:15 – Live Music Performance: Professor Sakamoto – Featuring Professor Sakamoto.
- 10:15 to 10:30 – Public Day 2 Opening Ceremony
- 10:45 to 11:45 – Real Life “Death Game” Competition! – Watch our guests risk it all in a virtual death game tournament in virtual reality game Death Game Hotel for Meta Quest! Featuring Hidetaka “Swery65” Suehiro (White Owls Inc. CEO), and Domae and Usagi of comedy duo Long Coat Daddy.
- 12:05 to 12:35 – Don’t Miss Out on These Games! Arc Tracker and Solateria – KOCCA, the Korean Creative Content Agency, presents their latest must-play indie titles!
- Second Half (YouTube)
- 13:00 to 13:30 – Shohei Yoshida Presents Indie Games Part 2 – Introducing action adventure platformer game inspired by Japanese folklore with Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus. Featuring Shuhei Yoshida (Sony Interactive Entertainment Indies Initiative head), Matthew White (Whitethorn Games CEO), Trevor Youngquist, Robert Maloney, and Milton Guasti.
- 13:45 to 14:15 – The Sabotage Way: Developing Retro-Inspired Games – Exploring the art of crafting games in a retro style that captivate today’s audience with creative director of Sabotage Studio. Featuring Thierry Boulanger (Sabotage Studio creative director).
- 14:30 to 15:00 – BitSummit Drift Special Stage: Kami Game Creator Evolution – A dialogue with Kami Game Creator Evolution Grand Prize winner Ryoya Usuba and two legendary game producers. Featuring Shuhei Yoshida (Sony Interactive Entertainment Indies Initiative head), Takashi Tokita (Square Enix Creative Studio 5 producer), and Ryoya Usuba.
- 15:10 to 15:40 – Live Music Performance: Helper Skelters – Featuring Helper Skelters.
- 15:45 to 17:00 – BitSummit Drift Award Ceremony
- 17:00 – End of Public Day 2
■ Sponsors
Platinum Sponsors
Gold Sponsors
- Devolver Digital
- Happinet
- KOCCA (Korea Creative Content Agency)
- Pocketpair
- Shueisha Games
Silver Sponsors
- Asobism
- Astrolabe Games
- CE-Asia
- CRITICAL REFLEX
- China indie Game Alliance
- Crossy Road
- Epic Games
- Gravity Game Arise
- ID@Xbox (Microsoft Gaming)
- iGi indie Game incubator
- IndieArk
- Inti Creates
- Kakehashi Games
- New Blood Interactive
- PlayEveryWare
- Ponos
- Spike Chunsoft
- Ukiyo Studios
Bronze Sponsors
- ABC ANIMATION / Kadokawa Game Linkage
- CRI Middleware
- City Connection
- Coreblazer
- Drecom
- GYAAR Studio
- Grounding Inc.
- indienova
- Osaka Electro-Communication University
- Shogakugan Coro Coro Comic Editorial Department
- Shueisha Game Creators CAMP
- Xsolla
■ Exhibitors
Various companies will exhibit at BitSummit Drift. We would like to introduce all the corporate exhibitors, excluding general exhibitors.
- 1st-impact
- ACQUIRE
- AccordSeven
- Aniplex
- Audiokinetic K.K.
- BEEP
- BeXide
- BurgerStudio
- Computer Management Consulting Center
- Cross Plus Studio
- G-MODE Corporation
- Game Studio
- Gotcha Gotcha Games
- Graph
- HEXA DRIVE
- HYPER REAL
- Indie-us Games
- Institute for Information Industry
- KYO-CCE Lab
- Kitfox Games
- Kwalee
- Kyoto College of Design and Technology
- Kyoto Computer Gakuin
- Lightning Games
- Marvelous
- morikatron
- Neuron-Age
- Odencat
- Osaka Institute of Technology
- pangle
- Peacock
- Phoenixx
- Play, Doujin! (Mediascape)
- Preferred Networks
- radiuthree
- Rainy Frog
- Red Bull Booth
- room6
- SKOOTA GAMES
- Sokpop Collective
- Toge Productions
- Toydium
- Ullucus Heaven
- Waku Waku Games
- Wise Games
- Yokaze
■ Introduction of Invited Influencers and Events at BitSummit Drift
BitSummit Drift has invited many of Japan’s most influential content creators to participate in this indie game celebration!
Live Streaming Stage
This year, the live streaming stage will again welcome Waiwai-san, who will take on various events and challenges during the three days of BitSummit Drift!
- Waiwai (Twitter, YouTube) – A game streamer from Nara Prefecture known for his humorous play style across various indie game genres. He is also known to be very talkative; he can chat for hours straight once he’s in the groove. With a career spanning 15 years, this marks his third appearance at BitSummit.
Waiwai Event Details
- Pre-Event Stream (July 19)
- BitSummit Drift Special Live Stream planned for about one hour.
- Waiwai-san appears as MC, and Kimeko-san is also scheduled to appear as a sub-MC!
- Event Day Streams (July 20 to 21 from 10:00 to 17:00)
- Waiwai VS Indie Games 14-Hour Endurance Stream TURBO – The revival of the hit challenge of introducing as many indie games as possible over two days is back! Viewer comments will be read out, and gifts giveaways are also planned… don’t miss it!
BitSummit Drift Official Reporter Streams
Many popular TikTokers will appear as “BitSummit Drift Official On-Site Reporters.” They will introduce the atmosphere at the venue in live streaming and are also scheduled to appear on the official BitSummit program, so please look forward to it!
- Natsue Coco – A pioneer with 1.6 million followers who has recorded 50,000 concurrent viewers for her “silent streams” that creates a VR-like world without saying a word. She won the Grand Prize in the “LIVE Creator of the Year” category at the “TikTok Awards Japan 2022.”
- Kimeko – An active female first-person shooter game streamer known for titles like Knives Out and Fortnite. Popular on TikTok and YouTube for her “Pretending to be a Foreigner” videos that showcase her English skills.
- Ikechan – Originally from Akita Prefecture. A first-class registered architect and a creator with over 570,000 TikTok followers. Active in gravure modeling and shows talents in many industries.
- Biwako-kun – An unofficial character recognized by Shiga Prefecture, born from a 4-panel comic drawn by the “person inside” who is a band member. Gained popularity by releasing the “Shiga Resident Song” music video on YouTube in July 2019.
- Riicho – A game streamer with over 820,000 total SNS followers who is very active on YouTube, TikTok, and more. A member of the Girls’ Research University group.
- Shiro-sensei – A popular game streamer who mainly posts FPS game videos. Known for his MC and tsukkomi skills as a member of the Girls’ Research University group. Also active in collaboration videos and live streams with other YouTube channels.
- Niki [Super Ikemen] – A popular game streamer who posts gameplay videos of titles like Knives Out and Apex Legends. A member of the Girls’ Research University group. Since starting activities in December 2020, he has amassed 240,000 YouTube subscribers in less than two years.
- Cameron – A popular game streamer known for his character voice impressions. Also active as a member of the Girls’ Research University group. Announced his retirement and transition to a Vtuber in April of this year.
- 18-go – A Vtuber who mainly streams narration work, gaming, and chat streams. An addictive voice quality has made her a queen bee like presence in the Girls’ Research University group.
17V Liver BitSummit Promotion Ambassadors
As a collaboration between the live streaming app 17LIVE and BitSummit Drift, we have prepared a space at the BitSummit venue where you can enjoy conversations with the active 17V Livers! 17LIVE is currently holding a project called “Become a PR Ambassador for Japan’s Largest Indie Game Festival! BitSummit Drift × 17LIVE” to select the participating 17V Livers. Once the 17V Livers who will appear have been decided, we will let you know, so stay tuned!