On Friday, we announced the Entering GameDev Track — CYGMA’s first-ever program for 14-to-19-year-olds at GDCy Fest — focused on how games are made. Today, we announce CYGMA’s second track.
Cyprus GameDev runs the same day. Same event, different lens — the operational side of running a studio in Cyprus, across six sessions on May 29. The full GDCy Fest 2026 agenda is available here.
From Pixels to Payments: Banking Solutions for Game Developers
George Hepis, International Banking Network Manager at Bank of Cyprus, opens the track. George has 20+ years at the bank, including management of international networks across Limassol, Pafos, Nicosia, Larnaka, and Sydney.
The session covers banking solutions for game studios — a practical subject with more friction behind it than the title suggests.
The Talent Illusion: Why Hiring on Cyprus Feels Easy — Until It Doesn't
Ekaterina Dolgova (COO, Redhill Games — CYGMA member), Pavel Shynkarenko (Founder, Mellow — CYGMA partner), and Tanya Romanyukha (General Manager, TechIsland) take the panel slot together.
Between them: a Cyprus co-development studio, a contractor operations platform managing 200,000+ contractors across 100+ countries, and the tech association whose 400+ member companies have collectively navigated the island’s hiring market longer than anyone else in the room. They’ve built the teams. The session is about what that actually took.
Citizenship vs Blue Card: What Tech Professionals Should Know in 2026
Dr. Natalia Kardash (Founder, Successful Business Leaders’ Club) addresses the residency question that follows nearly every studio relocation conversation: what the two paths actually mean for tech professionals in 2026, and which applies to which situation. Dr. Kardash has 25 years of that navigation in Cyprus on record.
Video Games Industry Challenge — Developing Cyprus Indie Games Scene from Scratch
Jane Artemova, Head of Strategic Partnerships at CYGMA, takes the 14:30 slot. Jane has seven years in the industry across business development, platform partnerships, and game licensing. Her session addresses the structural challenges of building a Cyprus indie developer scene and what closing that gap requires in practice.
Legally Using Crypto in Cyprus for Business — Use-Cases and Best Practices
Lana Ribnikova (Industry Relationship Manager, Unlimit — CYGMA partner) and Evgenii Ovsiankin (CLO, Tothemoon) cover legal use cases and compliance for companies using cryptocurrency in Cyprus.
Minors in Games — State of Legislation in 2026
George Mountis (Co-Managing Partner, Chrysostomides Advocates & Legal Consultants — CYGMA partner), Malvika Dasani Aloupas (IP Legal Counsel, Wargaming — CYGMA member), and Aleksandra Mirgorodskaia (Legal Consultant, Chrysostomides Advocates & Legal Consultants) take on the regulatory environment around minors in games.
The session follows PEGI’s updated classification framework, taking effect in June 2026 — weeks after GDCy Fest. If you’re shipping consumer titles this year, the timing is not incidental.
Registration
If you’re operating a studio in Cyprus, this is the room where those conversations happen. A ticket discount is available for CYGMA members.
Registration at gdcy.eu.
GDCy Fest 2026 | May 29 | St.Raphael Resort, Limassol, Cyprus