May 29, 2026

Summit XI: T-minus 100

We're about 100 hours away form the Opening Reception of Summit XI, and, having just sent the biggest truck we've ever hired on the way to Berlin, here's a few things that we'd like to bring up in the run-up, in no particular order:

Monday Drinks on the Roof

As more people indicate that they arrive to Berlin on Sunday or Monday, we keep telling everyone that the KPM's rooftop space is the unofficial meeting spot, and it will stay open until 1AM (at least). If you're in early, whether you want to talk about sanctions or class actions, that's the place where you're the most likely to find a willing debate partner.

The Weather Question

The weather question looms large on us: some websites promise thunderstorms (!) while others indicate 0% chance of rain, and it keeps changing daily. Our recommendation is to bring the following:

a windbreaker
a light jacket
sunglasses
a cap (unless you can get one from Miller Thomson's crew)

Here's the optimistic official website of the city of Berlin:

If it's as assure as the Deutsche Bahn these days, it'll probably snow.

Here's AccuWeather's take on the same days –

"Mostly cloudy" is actually great news for the outdoor conference like ours. And a shower in the morning, or in the night, is also a great way to keep down the dust.

BBC places the chance of rain at 60% throughout the whole of Wednesday –

Perhaps it's because the British are by nature pessimistic... Either way, please pack for the possibility. And 15C with wind in the mornings will definitely warrant a hoodie.

Registration & Reception

Access to the venue requires a badge, so getting registered is the first thing you need to do when you arrive to KPM on Tuesday:

The registration desk opens 16:00 on June 2, and runs through 21:00.

The Opening Reception's drinks start at 16:00, with the food served from 17:00, and this goes on until 21:00. So even if you arrive, say, at 19:00, you still have the time to come say Hi and to pick up your attendee bag.

Once the Reception is over at 21:00, we expect the conversations to continue on KPM's rooftop space.

Registration & Breakfast

The next day, June 3, the registration re-opens at 08:00, together with the breakfast. There's coffee and tea, croissants and fruits, and a selection of sourdough sandwiches to start the day.

Relay Race 3.0

Banana Split, Pace Invaders, Mario's Pixel Devils, Sub-Zero and Team Green are going to compete between 07:00 and 08:00 on June 3. For team rosters, head here.

Agenda

The agenda on the web is up to date. A couple of weeks ago, we swapped two panels ("Aiming for Global Compliance" & "End of Disclosure or Countdown to Extinction", because the name of the latter didn't fit Day Two's character limit) – so if you have a mental snapshot from the earlier announcements, then please download a neural update.

The same agenda is available on-site, in the foldable format –

We'll do our best to stick to the timings listed (except for the mistake in the timing of the discovery panel – which will run until 18:00, as it's one hour long).

Garden Dinner Setup

Speaking of timing, the highest stress point on our timeline is the 1 hour that we need on June 3: 18:00-19:00, between when the discovery panel ends and when the sit-down dinner begins. Please have patience as we set up the long (and heavy) tables, and please leave the courtyard for this period of time.

The EFO pins

One of the things we've loaded into the lorry this morning (calling it 'a truck' would have been an understatement, to be honest), were the enamel pins with this edition's red flag design.

I've also added there a small number of EFO pins (shown above on the right) from the first run, where we accidentally produced them in the wrong color (salmon red, rather than revolutionary red).

If you're into collecting odd pins, you can get these from the Summit's minivan, in the same place where the proper pins will be available throughout the event.

Conference Directory

As always, there's a printed directory in your attendee bags. There's no timeline inside (please rely on the foldable or digital agenda for this), but there's a list of the panels with all the speakers, and their longer descriptions –

The list of law firms is by-firm, with the flags indicating the location of the specific attendee:

The list of in-house counsel is, however, without the flags for the first time, and most likely we will mirror this on the badges from the next edition onwards – as it's less and less relevant, where a particular studio counsel is based at; they can be in Dublin, covering Middle East; or they can be in Tokyo, supervising the China partnerships.

These attendees are mostly up to date (there's been a few additions/changes in the days since this has gone to print).

This is the first time when the description of the food at breakfasts, lunches and coffee breaks (as well as on both receptions) will be displayed on screens next to the food stations (at the price of some extra grey hair for Mindaugas).

The color of the ingredient corresponds to vegetarian, meat or fish. And, by the way, the photos are not stock or LLM slop, but the real photos from the real test run at Berlin Cuisine's kitchen.

Whenever you see a list of ingredients separate from the colored areas, like here –

– it means that it's "the base". That is, you're getting carrots, pea cream and summer truffle, and in addition you can get either the breast of the poor guinea fowl, or the happy kohlrabi confit.

There's plenty of vegetarian options; you can ask the staff not to add whatever you may not wish to add; and there's absolutely no pork products anywhere on the menu, even the curry wurst (we had to do it, right?) is chicken.

Hotel Bookings for Porto: OPEN

When we were not busy troubleshooting the Berlin event (we'll need some memory-erasing drugs afterwards), we were arranging special hotel deals for those who plan to attend Summit On Tour IV in Porto in October.

We now have excellent conference rates at the 5-star TIMBRE VIRTUDES, which is so good + so close to the venue; and at NEYA PORTO, a four-star that's just 200 meters away.

If you plan on attending On Tour IV in the autumn, please talk to Alma to get the instructions on accessing the special rates; we expect that both hotels will be sold out in the next few weeks, with Timbre Virtudes going out first.

Speaking of selling out, the more I look at this edition's prizes for the Summit's Social Game, the more I wonder how long the stocks will last:

The mahjong sets, the grand prizes, just arrived as I typed this issue, as well as the Piatnik-issued 1911 Russian design decks.

Some of the Card Games books went missing (eh), but we've got 10 of Fournier's fancy tarot decks (that are a viable alternative to La Ducale's tarot, which we also include in the prize pool).

Summit XII?

Last but not least, we're gearing up to announce the details of Games Industry Law Summit XII, scheduled for June 2027, during the conference next week. The directory has the crossword puzzle that holds the answer to the location, and the registration form will go live on Thursday.

We are committed to offering 2025 prices for this 2027 event at the first stage, as our small contribution to helping studios balance their budgets. And here's a sneak peak at the art for that edition (in progress), which uses yellow and purple as the key colors:

Inshallah, we may already have something to show to you next week.

Safe travels – and see you soon!!

– S|CO –