AI & Digital Bridge 2026
Digital Creative Zone
The creative-industries interactive zone at the AI & Digital Bridge forum — over 400 m²: 15 booths and 23 games (18 indie teams, Mytona, ChillBase, Creata Group), a VR arena with the FRONTLINE VR BATTLE tournament and a retro zone with 8 stations of 8- and 16-bit games. On 3 October — four panels on GameDev, investment, children's content and the creative economy, GamePreneurs pitches and the GenAI Jam finals.
Held02.10
- Dates
- 2–3 October 2026
- Where
- Astana · EXPO IEC
- Format
- offline
- Partner
- Astana Hub
Three days
1 · 2 · 3 October
1 October — a mini-conference at Astana Hub, 2 October — the zone opens, 3 October — panels and pitches while the zone stays open.
Thursday · Astana Hub · Event Hall C4.6Mini-conferenceFrom 14:00: the Creata Games opening, four keynotes — studios, universities and digital rehabilitation, three workshops from 16:00, networking from 19:00. Free entry with registration.Creata Games Day →02.10Friday · EXPO · Digital Creative ZoneThe zone and the VR tournament open10:00 — the FRONTLINE VR BATTLE tournament starts: three group rounds and the quarter-finals until 16:40. 15 booths with 23 games, the VR arena and the retro zone with cosplay open.About the zone ↓03.10Saturday · EXPO · Steppe Hall, Pitch Zone, the zonePanels and pitchesFour panels in Steppe Hall, GamePreneurs pitches and the GenAI Jam finals, the VR tournament final. The zone stays open.3 October programme ↓Zone · 486 m² · 15 booths · 23 games · VR 10 × 9 m
Over 400 m²: booths, a VR arena and a retro zone
Visitors enter among prototypes and leave through a world-class product: entrance → 15 studio booths → VR arena. Next to it, with no partition, is the retro zone and Chillout, 27 × 6 m: 8 stations with 8- and 16-bit games, the cosplay zone, AR spots, face paint, drinks.
Arrival
Entry at the short end: zone banner and screen
42 m² · 9% of areaStudio booths
15 booths on lit truss: 12 booths for 18 indie teams on racks A–F plus the Mytona, ChillBase and Creata Group booths — 23 games
162 m² · 33% of areaVR arena
A 10 × 9 m arena: 3v3 team shooter by Frontline VR and the FRONTLINE VR BATTLE tournament
120 m² · 25% of areaRetro zone and cosplay
8 retro stations with 8- and 16-bit video games: a TV, a console, two controllers, beanbags. The cosplay zone is here too, plus AR spots, neon face paint and drinks
162 m² · 33% of area
What to do in the zone
- Play 23 games on 15 booths: 18 indie teams, Mytona, ChillBase and Creata
- Play the 3v3 VR shooter and the FRONTLINE VR BATTLE tournament
- Retro zone: 8 stations with 8- and 16-bit games, plus the cosplay zone
- Neon face paint and AR spots
In the zone
Who is here
18 indie teams from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Poland, the Mytona, ChillBase and Creata Group booths and the Frontline VR arena.
- Creata GamesPublisher · Toto's JourneyAstana · Booth Creata Group
- MytonaSeekers Notes · Cooking DiaryAlmaty · Booth Mytona
- ChillBaseONESTATEAlmaty · Booth ChillBase
- Cyber TempleDarkSwitchAstana · Rack A
- Doomers EntertainmentRam FightsTashkent · Rack A
- GameLab KBTUKBTU video game labAlmaty · Rack B
- NU GameDev ClubNazarbayev University game dev clubAstana · Rack B
- OGamesCar Parking Multiplayer 2Astana · Rack C
- Game of DronesArena for games with real machinesAstana · Rack C
- Forgotten KittensWhat's Behind the Slime Industry?Astana · Rack D
- Prism GamesCriminally DeliciousAstana · Rack D
- Fish Run GamesShadow over BishkekBishkek · Rack D
- Chess RoyalChess Royal: Arcane WarTaraz · Rack D
- Klukva GamesPress or DieSamara · Rack E
- SY ProductionsSector YamaAlmaty · Rack E
- Tech SteppePolyCityAstana · Rack E
- ReLife StudioPushup RPGPoland · Rack E
- Elbow GroupTower Hero: Dragon BattleTaraz · Rack F
- Bush EscapeBush EscapeAstana · Rack F
- Azai GamingDestroy KitchenAktau · Rack F
- Pancake GamesGolden Sword: The LegendsChelyabinsk · Rack F
- Frontline VRVR shooter and the arena tournamentAstana · VR arena
VR tournament · 2–3 October
FRONTLINE VR BATTLE
Central Asia's first team VR shooter tournament, on the Digital Creative Zone arena. Put together a team of three, win the Team Battle firefights and take a prize.
2 October · Friday
3 October · Saturday
After the tournament the arena is open to every visitor of the zone: walk-up play, just come to the arena operator's desk.
- When
- 2 October, 10:00 — 3 October, 13:00
- Where
- Digital Creative Zone VR arena · EXPO IEC, Astana
- Teams
- 3v3 · up to 15 teams
- Entries
- until 1 October, 16:00 Almaty time
- Who can play
- AI & Digital Bridge 2026 visitors only
Team Battle: up to 11 one-minute rounds to eliminate the opposing team, first to 6 points. 15 teams split into 5 groups of 3; the best 8 in the overall table go through to a best-of-three playoff.
Run by Frontline · co-organiser and sponsor — Creata Games
Programme · 3.10
Day 3 — Creative Industries + Talents
Times and halls follow the official forum programme at digitalbridge.ai.
Panel · The creative economy: how creative work becomes a business
You can make a living from creative work. The question is who exactly pays, and for what. Around one table: animation, independent content, artist support, game development, gamification for business — different niches, different economies. No gloss: where the money comes from, what gets bought and what does not, and why talent alone guarantees nothing.
moderator
- Malika IgibaevaSHU LLP · CIAQ
speakers
- Aynura IsaevaQazaqanimatsiya
- Zangar BoztaevGenesis CSP
- Askhat KhalimovBaysa Entertainment · Digital Laboratory · CIAQ
- Anastasiya ZharkoTESSERA
Tournament · FRONTLINE VR BATTLE: semi-finals, final and awards
The final day of the team VR shooter tournament: the four teams that won their quarter-finals on 2 October play the semi-finals, the third-place match and a best-of-three grand final. Awards at 12:40, right on the arena.
Panel · Growing GameDev in Central Asia and the CIS
GameDev in the region has outgrown the enthusiast stage: there are studios with international releases, outsourcing teams on global projects, local publishers. What is missing is the system that turns individual successes into an industry: predictable funding, publishing expertise, a talent pipeline, institutional support and a clear route to the global market. Where the region competes and where it loses; what is needed from the state and what the industry must do itself; what a working model looks like — from a first team to a release that pays for itself.
moderator
- David TuganovCreata Games · CIAQ
speakers
- Olzhas AkparovCyber Temple
- Irakli PetrovMytona
- Lev TarasovOMNIUM.KZ
- Anton AndreychenkoGrand Games
- Danat ZhuminDala Edge
Panel · Investment in GameDev and game publishing
A game earns nothing before release, and afterwards it either pays back in the first weeks or never does. Classic venture money is not built for that curve, so the main investor in games is still the publisher, and the money comes as an advance against future royalties rather than a round. What is bought besides money: wishlists, platform relations, localisation, age ratings, launch marketing. What a team must bring before the first funding conversation — and why slides without a playable build do not count. How the deal works inside: advance, recoupment, revenue share, IP rights.
moderator
- David TuganovCreata Games · CIAQ
speakers
- Firdavs MamadkhonovDoomers Publishing
- Ilya KorchaginTake Top Entertainment
- Hicham NouhouCreata Group
- Burak YılmazFirstpoint VC
- Danil MaslovVitamindi
Pitch zone · GamePreneurs: 10 teams, 10 playable builds
Ten teams from the GamePreneurs accelerator: from product diagnostics towards live user-acquisition test campaigns. They come on stage with a result, not an idea — a playable build, retention and acquisition-cost numbers, a release plan. Format: three minutes to pitch, two minutes of jury questions, the live build on screen. Slides support the demo, they don't replace it — this is a pitch of games, not of presentations.
moderator
- Roman TaganovCreata Games
jury
- Sergey SyskinLipsar Studio
- Olzhas AkparovCyber Temple
- Irakli PetrovMytona
- Grigory IvanovWorldChess
- Igor KychkinCreata Games
Pitch zone · GenAI Jam Finals: 10 games built with generative AI
The jam finals, where generative models were a condition of entry, not a flourish: teams used AI in at least two of four layers — code, art, audio, video — and disclosed exactly which. Ten games reach the stage, selected on playability rather than description: raw gameplay footage, repository history, hands-on playtesting. The scoring weights were published in advance — gameplay, fit to the theme, quality of the AI pipeline, art and audio, release potential. Format: three minutes of pitch and two minutes of jury questions.
moderator
- Roman TaganovCreata Games
jury
- Sergey SyskinLipsar Studio
- Olzhas AkparovCyber Temple
- Irakli PetrovMytona
- Grigory IvanovWorldChess
- Igor KychkinCreata Games
Panel · Digital consumption: how AI animation and children's film shape the next generation
Children are the first audience for whom AI content will be the norm, not a novelty. Generative models finally offer a way to close the shortage of Kazakh-language children's content by volume rather than one film a year — but a children's YouTube channel, unlike a game, has no age rating, and in automated production there is no one left holding the editorial line. The national film studio, an animation unit, a children's publisher and a producer working with AI in children's education discuss what a Kazakhstani child watches today — and who answers for what they will see tomorrow.
moderator
- Zhanar ZhaqanovaARUJAN PRODUCTION · CIAQ
speakers
- Aydar Omarov«Qazaqfilm» im. Sh. Aymanova
- Ayken DzhambulovaQazaqanimatsiya · «Qazaqfilm»
- Aynagul KhamitovaDaryndy bala alemi
Workshop · Hybrid production with AI: documentary and feature film
Generative models entered film production not as a replacement for the crew but as a separate layer within it: some shots are filmed, some assembled by a model, and the viewer must not see the seam. A breakdown of two films — the hybrid documentary about Kazakhstan's first cosmonaut Tokhtar Aubakirov, “Aspan Adamy”, and the feature “ANA JYRY” — layer by layer: footage and generated shots, editing, sound and music. What was done by hand and what by the model; how long each part took; where the pipeline broke.
speakers
- Temirbek AmanzholBlack & White Production
Speakers
Who is speaking
Speakers and participants are published as they confirm.
Curator of Day 3, moderator of the GameDev and investment panels.
Speaker profile →
Co-founder of Cyber Temple; the city-builder DarkSwitch was shown at Gamescom, Future Games Show and GDC. Previously PayBox.money (FreedomPay) and Kcell.
Speaker profile →
Builds education and technology projects in GameDev and an AI-based platform for training specialists.
Speaker profile →
19 years in the games industry, from artist to art director. Runs a workshop on 1 October and sits on the pitch jury on 3 October.
Speaker profile →
14+ years in mobile games, 6.5 of them in user acquisition: Social Quantum, Playrix, Mytona.
Speaker profile →
Co-chair of the Q-88 Association, chair of the board of Baitursynov University.
Speaker profile →
A Tashkent indie studio turning into a publisher; Creata Games co-publishes four of its games.
Speaker profile →
Over 12 years in the games industry, 18 released projects with more than 200 million downloads in total.
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International expert in video games and esports: almost 20 years of international experience, 15 of them in the video games industry.
Speaker profile →
Holder of the Altyn Alqa award, founder of the OrkenLink education platform, EdTech expert.
Speaker profile →
Media and film producer at AI Media Mektep, creator of the BALA MEDIA YouTube channel, head of the CIAQ children's and family film committee.
Speaker profile →
Game producer and artist, 13+ years in the creative industries. Runs a workshop on 1 October and moderates the creative-economy panel on 3 October.
Speaker profile →
YouTube channel growth for clients from 30+ countries.
Speaker profile →
Producer of media projects and education initiatives. Letters of appreciation from the President of Kazakhstan and the Minister of Culture and Information.
Speaker profile →
Curator and lecturer.
Speaker profile →
Writer and producer of “Almaty, I Love You!”, director of “Eva. Batyr qyz”. Runs the workshop on the hybrid production of “Aspan Adamy” and “ANA JYRY”.
Speaker profile →
Getting there
Two venues in the EXPO complex
1 October — Astana Hub, pavilion C4.6. 2–3 October — the forum hall at the EXPO IEC. They are about 800 metres apart.
Astana Hub · Event Hall C4.6
Pavilion C4.6, 55/8 Mangilik El Ave, Astana
The Creata Games opening, keynotes, workshops and networking, 14:00–21:00. Free entry with registration.
Open in maps ↗EXPO IEC · AI & Digital Bridge forum
EXPO complex, Astana
The Digital Creative Zone and the VR tournament; on 3 October, panels in Steppe Hall and pitches in the Pitch Zone. Entry with a forum ticket.
Open in maps ↗
Rack and booth designs
