As gaming industry jobs and talent continue shifting away from the coasts, Chicago is emerging as a not-so-secret hub for gaming in the Midwest and beyond. On June 16, a blend of Chicago’s top game makers, industry watchers, and user-generated content creators gathered at Chicago’s Row 24 event venue for GamesBeat Engage, the newest installment in GamesBeat’s Engage series of panel and networking events, sponsored by Xsolla. The June 16 edition of GamesBeat Engage was hosted by Keisha Howard, founder of Sugar Gamers. Over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, speakers and attendees talked about the evolution of Chicago’s gaming industry — and marked Epic Games’ decision to bring its annual Unreal Fest conference to Chicago, turning the Windy City into a temporary center of gravity for the industry from June 16 to 18. The Midway Mafia GamesBeat’s Engage event concluded with a panel discussion featuring Jackbox Games chief executive officer Mike Bilder, Stern Pinball chief creative officer and executive vice president George Gomez, and Vivrato founder and chief executive officer Adam Boyes, moderated by GamesBeat lead news writer Alexander Lee (that’s me). Bilder, Gomez, and Boyes spent years working together at the now-shuttered Midway Games — which for decades was the unquestioned center of the Chicago game industry — and spent 30 minutes reflecting on the many changes they had seen throughout their careers and how the industry in Chicago had been reshaped as a result. Gomez, who started his career at Midway in 1978 and whose portfolio…
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