Convergence wants to offer a Games Showcase that "editorially makes sense"

There is a certain issue that tends to plague a lot of showcases these days and that is the fact that the curation and structuring of said shows seems to be nearly non-existent. In an effort to keep fans entertained, we see shows just randomly jumping between genres and titles of varying scales and sizes. The Convergence Games Showcase, which is planned for tomorrow evening, is looking to do away with this.

I spoke with coordinator Daniel Maher to learn about what we can expect from the Convergence Games Showcase, and on top of promising 43 games, he also noted that they will be presented in a selection of categories in an attempt to deliver a show that "editorially makes sense".

Maher explained this design choice, adding: "One thing that I was keen to do was avoid what I call tonal whiplash. So when you see a lot of showcases, it's a string of games that have no connective tissue. You roll from one trailer to another. It could be a cute and cozy farming simulator, the next thing, it's a gruesome horror. So I thought, well, let's avoid that. Let's at least help the audience to anticipate the sorts of games they're about to see.

"And so we wanted to create kind of an even split across, I think what we have now is eight categories. With those 40 games, we are averaging about five or six games per category. And so the thought was that even if there's something that doesn't necessarily appeal to you in that block of games, there'll be something coming along that probably will suit you as well.
So that was it.

"We wanted to make sure that we weren't having too much sort of tonal repetition as well or thematic repetition. So, yeah, all of those factors converged, ha-ha, and became the show that it is today."

The Convergence Games Showcase is being held on September 26 at 20:00 BST / 21:00 CEST. You can see our full interview with the Convergence team below.