The London Games Festival will be returning next year (2022), and fans are more than excited to get back to London and appreciate gamers, developers, creators and more at this incredible celebration of the wonder of gaming!
London Games Festival, 2017 / Picture Credit: London Games Festival
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has renewed funding for the festival, which paves the way for outstanding events to take place at the seventh-year celebrations.
The London Games Festival is brought to fans by Games London, an enterprise from Film London, the capital city’s screen industries agency, and video games trade body Ukie, with a quest to make London the games capital of the world.
Games London was founded in 2015, and has since given support to over 1,000 gaming companies, accumulated around £70 million worth of business for participants and, in turn, has created close to 600 jobs within the city.
The exciting London Games Festival will run from April 1st to April 10th 2022, and will include both onsite and online events such as Now Play This.
New consumer event, W.A.S.D., is set to debut during the forthcoming festival; applications have now opened for pivotal parts of the festival programming, such as Games Finance Market and Official Selection.
Once the festival begins, gamers and professionals will have access to both in-person and digital programming, flagship games funding event Games Finance Market, new show W.A.S.D., as well as returning events like the BAFTA Games Awards.
The funding that Mayor Khan has renewed will be providing backing for the festival, plus Games London’s broader programming, such as its trade missions, the Ensemble exhibition which showcases and highlights the gaming talent of Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups.
The festival has a number of highlights to show off, including a new, free to attend outdoor event in the heart of London, starting on April 1st, 2022 to kickstart the festival, featuring the LGF22 Official Selection plus other artworks and installations drawn from festival content such as Ensemble.
This event will feature a matching online showcase for those who can’t physically attend the event.
The seventh Games Finance Market, a headlining event that connects funders with their makers, which runs over four days (April 5th to April 8th, 2022) for both digital and face to face meetings.
Another perception-changing collaboration with Now Play This at Somerset House, which will run April 2nd to April 10th, with both events and workshops within the venue, with a public exhibition running between April 8th and April 10th.
The festival’s returning programme of panels and conferences available in-person and with recordings available on the LGF World Stage EPG; the video series was watched by over 100,000 people in March of this year (2021).
Meanwhile, the BAFTA Games Awards, the games industry’s most prestigious accolades, is also set to return as a physical event plus livestream on the evening of Thursday, April 7th.
Tickets to this exciting event will go on sale later in 2021; for now, all we can do is get excited about this incredible celebration of all things gaming.
Written by Melissa, who you can follow on Twitter @melissajournal
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