[Video] Gaming and Technology Hub – Conference

Interview and Conferences CityDevelopment
This entry is part 3 of 4 in the series Gaming & Technology Hub

Below you can find transcription and video from the conference, which took place during IEM Expo. (Full video). This post is part of a series, meaning it is worth reading or watching if you would like to investigate this topic more.

Conference – 11.02.2023 (Transcription translated to English)

Interviewer: I will stand up and bow to you. Now they must applaud my guests. I don’t know if I need to introduce Rojo. Patryk “Rojo” Rojewski. Wojciech Maroszek, who, as I said, only looks so menacing. Wojtek is also a very famous Volleyball Referee. You may know him from TV but in a different uniform. Today on business. We are in Katowice. Katowice plans to build a Gaming and Technology Hub. I want to hear two perspectives from you very soon. Rojo, you are a citizen of Katowice. Wojtek, you are from the Business side. Tell us why the Hub is to be built in Katowice? I’ll give you a voice.

Wojciech Maroszek (Katowickie Inwestycje S.A.): The matter is simple. We have great potential for Katowice to become one of the global centers when it comes to gaming and eSports. The fact that we are at an event that is one of the biggest in the world when it comes to esports is obvious. Let me remind you that we have several dozen companies that produce games in and around Katowice, we have several thousand people who work in the industry, we have universities that offer several majors for the needs of gaming and, in my opinion, the most important thing is that we have an open mind of the city authorities, which, like financed the region of the culture zone, the International Congress Centre, NOSPR, the Silesian Museum are just as ready for another area. I know that in the industry, the idea to create the future, create new technologies, create games in walls that are over 100 years old, of course properly adapted, is a fairy tale and it needs to be…


Interviewer: You know what, I’ll throw you a hail of questions for a moment, where this hub is to be built and what it is supposed to be, because that’s where we should start


Wojciech Maroszek: Do you know Nikiszowiec? I hope. 200 meters from the historic housing estate there is a (former) coal mine KWK Wieczorek. We will develop the entire area on the left side together with the office building.

Interviewer: There you have visuals on the monitors behind me and in front of me.

Virtualization of the Gaming and Technology Hub.
A proposal for the adaptation of buildings after the mine "KWK Wieczorek". Press materials City of Katowice (Elaborated by: "AMC Studio - Andrzej M. Chołdzyński Sp. z o.o. Sp.k")
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Wojciech Maroszek: These buildings currently look the way they do. We are currently at the stage of designing the building permit, the work(project) that won the competition, to put it briefly, has an underground passage connecting all these buildings and there will simply be the area you see on the right, where the largest production studio in Poland will be built. Hall 70 by 70 meters ready for the Hollywood Production. In addition can be divided into smaller studios, for example, for esports competitions. The entire budget is approximately PLN 600 million. Of course, it will not be possible without EU funds. So let’s hope these funds will be available.


Interviewer: Okay, business boredom is behind us. You know that’s who I am. “Rojo” Katowice my city, gaming in my heart. Can it be combined?

Patryk “Rojo” Rojewski: Let’s start, hello everyone. Forgive me, I have to start with this, because all these years ignoring this devastating pause of a pandemic nature, I am glad that you are here, I am glad that you consciously and unconsciously support the evidence that games connect and not divide. Yes, of course, Katowice. I grew up in the Paderewskiego housing estate. Greetings to all, Graniczna Street until. Primary School No. 4 of his time. There, for the first time when Mom took me to her work, I experienced an interactive entertainment program, i.e. video games, and I said: Yes, this is the future and I want to be a part of it sooner or later. Then the Art High School Osiedle Tysiąclecia, then studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Sociology, University of Silesia. Various such degrees. And of course the birth of the channel, I can also be called a so-called local patriot. But I think there is no doubt how much I love games and how I like to see business and not only business, mainly ideological potential in their sector. I really like Teams, I really like good Teams, that’s important to me because I believe in this project. And I will try to support him by all means.

Interviewer: Now to the specifics. We showed Katowice. We showed what the Hub will look like. What will this hub mean for Katowice in your view?

Wojciech Maroszek : What will the Hub be? I have already started talking about comparing the Culture Zone we are in with the new area. I think that the Hub will be the same as the Culture Zone was for the modern image of the city. See what the Culture Zone has done with the image of Katowice. People who came here, for example, for volleyball competitions. They come after the break and say: This city I do not recognize. Investors reacted the same way. In Gaming I know that now there is such a problem that Katowice, where are these Katowice? Like what they are associated with. It is thanks to such events, thanks to the Hub, that the perception of the city and the economy will change. So just like here it will riseher office buildings. Sometimes you come after a month and suddenly a new construction has sprung up. The same will happen with new technologies and gaming through Hub. New entities of global significance will be interested in us, perhaps even those from Warsaw. Katowice will shine on the world map. The economic one. This will be the Hub effect.

Patryk “Rojo” Rojewski: As I mentioned calmly, as if in the early 90s I had this idea of ​​mine, I didn’t have the tools to implement it. There were soft, hard options to popularize this gaming as something cool, potential, integrative, of course, elements that are incredibly promising for the future in the form of the fact that the gaming industry around the world overtook the film industry in the United States. For me more incomprehensible music in England (amazing). It only shows that the subject needs to be taken care of and developed. Sure, make money on it, because it’s still a business. And I continue to take care of this sphere, so that it is a passion. I believe that if someone makes games. I want to work in the broadly understood GameDev. However, the driving force must be passion and lack of crunch. Lack of exploitation and fair treatment of the employee or generally speaking business culture is not a problem. I just try to take part in every possible initiative that would affect the PR of Games in general. Use their potential and consciously or unconsciously contribute to their development. I believe that, at least on my path, this is the most powerful milestone that I took part in its implementation and was taken into account in the organization. I appreciate it very much and I promise that I will do my best, because I have a rule that I either enter something on full or they politely thank me.

Interviewer: Rojo is the only influencer who responds to emails after 5 minutes and always replies to whatsup. Bravo

Patryk “Rojo” Rojewski: I’m just an old clerk. Greetings to the Regional House Chamber and the Employment Office

Video (Voice: 🇵🇱 Polish, Subtitles 🇬🇧English)

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Series Navigation<< Building a Tech Oasis: Transforming Coal Mining District to Gaming and Technology DistrictInterview with Wojciech Maroszek about Gaming and Technology Hub >>

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