At a time when so many people are moving online, we wanted to turn to the Games industry for inspiration – to ask how games are adapting and responding to the pandemic, and to explore what role they could play looking ahead.

What are the most interesting ways of playing and interacting both online and offline at the moment? Are there possibilities for new connections, learning & collaborations between gaming worlds and other sectors? And how can we build a more playful and creative way forward for us all in the future?

Over 2 weeks, from 22nd Feb to 5th March, we will be showcasing and celebrating the creativity, diversity, innovation, and imagination in games and interactive media. Over 30 game designers, artists, musicians, researchers and others involved in games will be getting together through a series of panel discussions, workshops, demos, live music performances, virtual play sessions and game jams – and we’d love you to join us too!

As well as a festival for people involved in games, we want to invite and involve people from other sectors and different artforms too. There will be a range of speakers and events looking at some of the cross-sections between gaming and education, music, health, wellbeing, theatre and other areas, and we would love to open up some discussion and space for new ideas and collaborations.

The festival is being run on a donations-based model – we want it to be free & accessible for anyone to attend, while paying our speakers and performers fairly. 

Check out the events below and we’ll see you there!