Rami Ismail’s last #1ReasonToBe panel showcases the world’s inspired game devs

Game developer advocate and Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail has run #1ReasonToBe, one of the consistently most inspiring panels at the Game Developers Conference, for years. This year’s global diversity panel was his last one, and it was an emotional session about how game developers struggle to make games around the world — and why they still do it in spite of hardships.

They told their stories at GDC 2019 because Ismail and fellow game developers have created a safe space, where they can talk honestly about how difficult it is to make games. They can feel free to express themselves and inspire others by naming their #1ReasonToBe a game developer. I’ve attended these sessions for many years, and they have always been the highlight of the show, which drew an estimated 20,000 developers to San Francisco this week. (Ismail will be a speaker at our GamesBeat Summit 2019 event on April 23-24 in Los Angeles).