– London Games Festival 2018 runs from 5 April to 15 April
– Over 50,000 people flocked to the city-wide games celebration’s 40+ events in 2017
– Games London’s wider programme continues to deliver for the capital with nearly £30m potential investment attracted to games businesses in London and across the UK
The London Games Festival will return in 2018, running from 5 April to 15 April, organiser Games London has announced.
The London Games Festival is delivered by Games London, the three-year initiative from Film London, the capital’s screen industries agency, and video games trade body Ukie (The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment).
Games London is backed by the Mayor of London with funding worth £1.2m from the London Enterprise Action Panel, and seeks to make London the games capital of the world.
Over 50,000 people attended 40 different events across 20 different venues during the 2017 festival. The Festival has also established itself as a platform for global business in games with the Games Finance Market delivering nearly £20m potential business in April.
Since its launch in January 2016 Games London has connected 145 games businesses in the UK with 109 global investors, driving over £30m potential business back into local companies.
The 2018 festival aims to go even further with a wider programme of outdoor events and an even bigger offering for the games developer community.
Highlights for next year include:
– The third Games Finance Market (Tuesday, 10 April to Thursday, 12 April) the only event of its kind in the UK, connecting 60 games studios with 60 global games investors
– Now Play This, the three-day festival of playful work and experimental game design at Somerset House
– London’s largest games event EGX Rezzed (Friday, 13 April to Sunday, 15 April), a showcase of PC and indie games, at Tobacco Dock
– The BAFTA Games Awards on Thursday, 12 April at Troxy
LGF organisers are also curating the brand new HUB event (Monday, 9 April and Tuesday, 10 April). HUB is a new two-day B2B event housing the Festival’s summits, a demo zone for prototpyes and start-ups, a pop-up coworking space and gallery. More details will follow in September.
Also to be announced later is a fresh range of activities that bring games to life on the city streets covering esports and street art, plus an exhibition of BAME artists in games and the return of the Games Character Parade.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “London leads the world in culture, creativity and technology and the city’s games industry plays a major part in that success. In just a couple of years, the London Games Festival has become a major attraction for consumers and professionals alike and Games London is delivering significant investment for our cutting-edge tech sector – showing that London is open to creativity and innovation and open for business.”
Follow @londongamesfest on Twitter or head to www.games.london for more updates over the coming weeks and months.