ABOUT EDMONTON DIRECT

Edmonton Direct is a celebration of game development and games culture in Edmonton delivered in partnership between the Edmonton Screens Industries Office and the Alberta Esports Association. This event is supported by the City of Edmonton, the University of Alberta, and the Government of Alberta, and includes messages from His Worship, Mayor Don Iveson, University of Alberta Chancellor, Peggy Garritty, as well as Minister of Jobs, Economy, and Innovation, the Honourable Doug Schweitzer.

WHAT’S IN STORE FOR ATTENDEES

An online experience composed of two parts, Edmonton Direct brings a premiere video highlighting achievements in game development from the University of Alberta students up to the AAA studio level encompassed in one exciting video premiering on May 5, 2021 at 6:00 PM MDT. To be notified of when the premiere goes live, head to https://youtu.be/hvgGKaWBzk0 to set a reminder.

After this sneak-peek, esports competitors can get into shape by participating in the two-day mini-conference style event that will be shown on https://twitch.tv/esportsalberta. May 15 & 16 will be filled with two action packed days, over 20 tournaments , world renowned speakers, panels & guests and attendees can also tune in for chances at prizes and giveaways throughout the weekend. Games like Street Fighter, Super Smash Bros., Rock Paper Scissors, and much more are available to register for at https://smash.gg/edmontondirect. The event is completely free to participate.

WHAT KIND OF PROGRAMMING WILL THERE BE?

One of the panels you can look forward to seeing is celebrating the remastered Mass Effect Legendary Edition from the development team at BioWare. Other programming includes a chat with Trent Oster of Beamdog, AAA and indie game developers from studios like Improbable and Only by Midnight, and much more are all in store over the weekend.

Edmonton Direct will also be hosting the awards evening for the University of Alberta’s Certificate in Computer Game Development program and showing off the amazing work students have been working hard on this past year. This is the first year that the games have also been made available online and will be coming to a space near you to play in the future.

ABOUT THE HOSTS

The Alberta Esports Association (AESA) has partnered with the Edmonton Screen Industries Office (ESIO) to produce Edmonton Direct.

The ESIO was established in 2017 and is a non-profit society that serves all of the Edmonton Metro region screen media inclusive of film, television, and interactive digital media. Its mission is to catalyse the development, growth, and sustainability of companies, entrepreneurs, and craftspeople in the Edmonton metropolitan area region screen media industries.