"IndieAdvisor" André Bernhardt founded the expert network IndieAdvisor & Company with the former game managing director Thorsten Unger. The aim is to provide young and viable studios with know-how and a network in relation to financing, marketing, professionalization and visibility. Bernhardt and Unger together have more than 30 years of experience in the games environment. In the future, IndieAdvisor & Company will also represent the international Accelerator Global Top Round (GTR) in Europe, which was set up by Bernhardt and Unger and which has now participated in more than 30 studios worldwide.
The network will be appearing for the first time at the EGX Berlin (September 28th to 30th). In cooperation with Eurogamer.de, André Bernhardt curated the indie landscape of Berlin. 11 studios were won for an appearance at the Berlin premiere of the leading British gaming event. Similar projects have already been realized in recent years at Quo Vadis and Devcom.
"The indie scene is changing. The hype of recent years has multiplied the competition. The studios have to be more professional, especially when it comes to business planning and marketing. Visibility is worth its weight in gold. We are therefore pleased to be able to put 11 developers in Berlin in a much-noticed shop window. With the expertise from our network, we can filter quality and then create framework conditions that ensure competitiveness in the overcrowded market,” Bernhardt describes the claim of IndieAdvisor & Company.
“Indies have changed the gaming world. This is where fresh, unusual game concepts are created. Independent developers are more willing to experiment and often more innovative than the big publishers,” says Thorsten Unger. "André Bernhardt has been intensively involved in this environment for years and we would like to support him in this." IndieAdvisor & Company can rely on the competencies of the Wegesrandnetwork, Unger continued.
Andre Bernhardt
André Bernhardt has been active in the German games industry for 18 years. After professional positions at Sony Computer Entertainment, various publishers such as JoWooD and Sunflowers, at RTL Games and Travian Games, he became self-employed as an "IndieAdvisor". In this role he has been supporting developers looking for a publisher since 2012 – and vice versa. In addition, he teaches as a guest lecturer at universities such as the Mediadesign Hochschule Berlin and the FH Salzburg and also gives lectures at specialist conferences. In 2015 he founded Target Games together with Thorsten Unger. He is also a managing partner in the expert network Wegesrand.