Game Developers Meetup 4 in Larissa: Greece’s Biggest Game Dev Event So Far
Over 30 playable Greek games, Guerrilla Games and Team17 on stage and free publisher meetings: what happened at the Game Developers Meetup in Larissa.
Larissa spent last Saturday as the capital of Greek game development. The fourth Game Developers Meetup took over the JOIST Innovation Park on 31 October 2026, from 10:30 in the morning until 21:00, and the organisers billed it as the largest gathering of Greek video games ever held in one place. Local press reported a big turnout from the first hours, and with more than 30 playable games, two halls of talks and publishers taking meetings all day, it is easy to see why.
Entry was free with online registration, which matters. Most industry events of this size in Europe charge for a ticket, and many keep their best sessions behind a professional pass. In Larissa, a student who has never shipped a game could sit in the same room as speakers from Guerrilla Games and then walk over to pitch a project to a publisher.
Who organised the Larissa meetup
The event was co-organised by IGDA Greece (the Greek chapter of the International Game Developers Association), JOIST Innovation Park, the Region of Thessaly and the University of Thessaly. It ran under the auspices of the Municipality of Larissa, the Larissa Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Thessaly Enterprises and Industries (ΣΘΕΒΙ) and Endeavor Greece, with support from EKKOMED, the national body for cinema, audiovisual media and creative industries. SAE Athens was the main sponsor.
That mix of names is the real story. A few years ago, Greek game development was mostly a handful of small teams working alone. Now a regional government, a university and the state’s audiovisual agency are putting their names on the same poster, and the meetup has become an annual fixture since its first edition in 2023.
Over 30 Greek games you could play
The exhibition floor was the heart of the day. Visitors could play more than 30 Greek titles for free on PC, consoles, mobile and VR, and talk to the people who made them. The published list ran to 33 games, from early prototypes to titles that are already on sale.
The range was wider than many people expect from a small scene. There was psychological horror in Haunted Bloodlines, published by Iphigames, and in the FMV escape-room thriller Mechanis Obscura from NoBudgetStudios. There was a cosy, hand-painted adventure in Seina: A Tale of Spirits, and a vampire story set in modern Athens in Anavasi. Strategy fans had Dunestake and Thirion Tactics, and games drawing on Greek folk tradition and myth were well represented too, from Behind the Berde: A Karagiozis Tale to Minotawrd and OlympiXpeRience.
The full list also included Asthenia, Between the Lines, Bleak Roads, Cinema Deals, Forgotten Eras, FUT Quiz, Golden Self, Inner Voice, Jolt, Kiko and the Lumens, Necrophosis: Subconsciousness, Nuki, Pin the Past, Project Vanquisher, Runerborne Arena, Signal Lost, Spaceborn Awakening, The Boo Club, The Purple Peacock, Theropods, Ti Mou Lete?, Vengeath and Your Friends Are Mine. We will pick out the ones you can wishlist on Steam right now in a separate article later this week.
The talks: from AAA studios to first-time founders
Two halls ran in parallel, with more than 20 talks, workshops and panels across the day. The speaker list was split into a few clear groups:
- AAA studios: Guerrilla Games (the Horizon series), Flying Wild Hog (Shadow Warrior), Atari and the founder of Cosmic Division, with sessions on game art, boss design, production and the jump from programmer to creative director or studio founder.
- Publishers: Team17, Fireshine Games, Astragon, Kando Factory, Yodo1 and Whisper Games, talking about pitching, life after launch and reaching players in China.
- International indie studios: Firenut Games and RibCage Games.
- Market experts: GameFlex, Garden Valley Consulting, Hidden Card Labs, Magic Fractal and Zenith Pirates, covering funding, product-market fit, platforms and how small studios are using AI tools.
- Greek studios: Orphic Studios, Arcweave, Iphigames, Dragonis Games, Terahard and NoBudgetStudios, with talks on real-time visual effects and branching narrative.
Before the event, the organisers also announced Fawzi Mesmar of Ubisoft and Arno Schmitz of Guerrilla Games among the international guests. Education and business partners ran practical workshops too, including SAE Athens, AK Ventures Group, Critical Hit PR and Ratio Legal Services. Legal and PR sessions rarely get the headlines, but for a two-person studio about to sign its first contract they can be the most useful hour of the day.
Meeting publishers for free
The part of the day that could change the most careers happened away from the stage. Through the GIN B2B platform, registered developers could book free meetings with the visiting publishers and investors. Team17, THQ Nordic, Whisper Games, Astragon, Kando Factory, Fireshine Games and Yodo1 were among the companies listed for matchmaking.
For a Greek indie team, getting a publisher to watch a demo usually means paying for a trip to Gamescom or a booth at an international show. Bringing those people to Larissa removes that cost, and it gives teams a chance to get honest feedback on a pitch even if no deal follows.
“From the scene to the industry”
The day closed with a main panel titled “From the scene to the industry” (Από τη σκηνή στη βιομηχανία). Representatives from public policy, investment and education discussed what Greek studios need in order to grow, get funding and, crucially, stay in Greece instead of moving abroad.
That last point is the one we hear most often. Greece trains plenty of programmers, artists and designers, and many of them end up working for studios in other countries. Events like this one, alongside EKKOMED’s funding programmes and the tax incentives for audiovisual production, are part of an effort to make it realistic to build a games career without leaving.
Why the Larissa meetup matters
It would be easy to treat a regional meetup as a small local story. We think it is more than that. Four years in a row, a city outside Athens and Thessaloniki has managed to gather the country’s game developers, bring in major international studios and publishers, and keep the whole thing free to attend. The number of games on show keeps growing, and so does the quality.
If you are a student or a hobbyist thinking about making games, put next year’s edition in your calendar now. If you just like playing them, the easiest way to support the scene is simple: find a Greek game you like the look of, wishlist it on Steam and tell a friend. Wishlists are one of the main signals that platforms and publishers watch, and they cost you nothing.
We will keep covering Greek game development here. If your studio showed a game in Larissa and you want it on our radar, email us at contact@critandcutscene.com.
