I wander around the startup stalls. Despite talk of AI robotic plumbers at Web Summit 2025 on the main stage, there are very few robotics startups.

I do find a startup producing robotic care workers but, considering how poorly compensated human care workers are, I’m skeptical that the financial incentive is really there.

The guy on the stand is engrossed in conversation, and in german so I can’t eavesdrop.

Notably, Web3 startups seem to make up a much higher proportion of Alpha than Beta startups, which presumably means none of them are making it to the “seeking further investment” stage of development.

There’s a chickpea and vegetable curry at lunchtime Media Catering which could be vegan but isn’t marked as vegan.

There’s also couscous which I’m fairly confident will contain honey. Opinion is split, among self-described vegans, on whether honey is vegan.

I talk to a Gaming, VR, and AR startup.

They have a demonstration set up with a VR headset, where you’re standing in a historical reconstruction of the Hippodrome during a chariot race.

I’m a games writer, not a world designer, but this still looks like something I could throw together in Unity without even needing to Google much.

The focus of the startup’s pitch seems to be that the locations are accurately reconstructed from history, and I tentatively ask what sets them aside from a game series like Assassin’s Creed which famously does the same.

Perhaps my question is a little too tentative because the answer I receive treats Assassin’s Creed as an aspirational vision of expanded scope for the project.

This experience does make me realize that I should be playing to my strengths here and searching out the gaming stands, few as they might be, instead of focusing on fields that, while more central to Web Summit, I know nothing about.

Figurative “backstage access” is always flaunted at Web Summit. Always tantalizingly present.

The VIP lounge, the glass Mentor Hours booth, where you can watch (but not listen) as arcane secrets to business success are handed down to the Alpha and Beta startups.

The Speaker Lounge is less openly visible but everyone here knows it exists. Who could resist checking what that extortionate ticket tier even includes?

And here I am. The Gaming stalls. My comfort zone.

I talk to a gaming startup with a remarkably similar premise and a very similar demo.

This time it’s a present-day real-world setting made in Unreal. The intention is for it to be multiplayer, and include real-world events. I mention Second Life as a reference point and the guy on the stall points out that Second Life is quite old and his game will have better graphics.

I takes a few minutes before I find out about the Web3 integration, in a shop containing outfits for avatars. This seems to be another metaverse-type project.

Disappointing, but not particularly surprising. My experience is that the games industry is virtually absent from Web Summit.

This is a place for investors looking to turn a profit. Games are content and content is expensive.

The “gaming” startups are generally focused on some form of monetization rather than anything creative.

I come across a familiar sign.

The stall is unmanned but I remember this AI card game from last year. The premise of AI-generated cards seems, to me, inherently un-balancable and un-fun. I don’t recall Drimgar having Web3 integration though, which is refreshing in this space.

Amy Grace from Lissbon Tags: Websummit