Guildford Games Festival goes virtual, running November 13-14

Celebrating local talent and featuring two days of amazing online content including industry talks, career panels, business matchmaking and more

The Guildford Games Festival, in partnership with Enterprise M3 and Guildford Borough Council delighted to announce that this year’s virtual event will take place on Friday 13th November and Saturday 14th November 2020.

With two days of talks, panels, business matchmaking and career advice, the Guildford Games festival is aimed at attracting investment and new talent to the region, dubbed the “Hollywood of Games” and behind many of the industry’s biggest and best videogames. Now in its second year following a hugely successful inaugural festival last summer, it will showcase some of the industry’s most exciting creators, developers and publishers, as well as providing valuable advice to new companies and emerging talent.

This year the festival will be supported by Liquid Crimson, EA, Supermassive Games, Charles Russell Speechlys, Glowmade, and Fortitude Games

All content will be streamed on a brand-new dedicated Guildford Games Steam Page, with more than twenty local developers featuring over thirty titles!

The first day, Friday 13 November, will have tracks and content for an industry audience. The programme on Saturday 14 November will be aimed primarily at consumers and will be dedicated to careers advice and support.

Friday 13 November:

• Guildford Stories: (Twitch): focused sessions with Guildford’s games industry talent, telling individual career stories from multiple disciplines and providing some deeper context around what it means to make games in Guildford.
• ‘The Hollywood of Games’ Documentary, Part 2 (Twitch): the first part of this documentary, released last year, highlighted the history and progression of the games industry in and around Guildford. This all-new release will bring the story up of date by showcasing the current and future shape of the industry
  
• Business matchmaking: connecting the industry’s talent via an innovative video networking tool, this will let attendees make valuable business connections within the games industry
  

Saturday 14 November:

• Career Talks: inspiring the next generation to take up a career in games, Saturday will see a wide variety of talks from industry experts
• Interactive Workshops: interactive workshops from Digital Schoolhouse and other providers on all aspects of digital literacy
  

Both Days:

• The GGF Hotline: industry experts will be available throughout the festival to give FREE first class business advice and guidance to companies within the games industry. Simply review the list of experts and their services via the guildford.games website and then make contact using the given details!

“Guildford has played a central role in the growth of the UK games industry and remains central to the success of the sector today, playing host to over 60 incredible games businesses and over 800 employees. The Guildford Games Festival is a great opportunity to celebrate the area’s ongoing importance, while bringing together – virtually – the community that has made it such a key part of our sector.”

Dr Jo Twist OBE, CEO of Ukie

“Enterprise M3 truly understands the significance of Guildford’s games industry and is excited to continue sharing that knowledge with the world through our renewed support of the Guildford Games Festival in 2020. Launching alongside the festival, the Guildford.Games website and Steam page will mark a new chapter in the history of our local industry and cement its reputation as the Hollywood of Games”

Sam Read, Games Sector Specialist, Enterprise M3

"The current pandemic has devastated the usually thriving Guildford games industry community events calendar. After the huge success of last year's festival, it's fantastic to be able to bring the community back together with a digital celebration of the unique talent and games businesses in the area."

Dan Thomas, Etch Play

We are proud to be key supporters of Guildford Games Festival for a second year and excited to join everybody online to enjoy a fantastic two days. We are committed to helping the industry thrive in our borough, which is rightly known as the Hollywood of video games in the UK, and continue to give our full backing to this dynamic sector full of creative and talented people.

Guildford Borough Council

“We’re really excited to support the Guildford Games Festival again. Last year was a great celebration of the Guildford games industry and we’re really happy to be part of the Festival again in 2020”.

Greg Howson, Communications Director, Supermassive Games

“Liquid Crimson has always had its roots firmly embedded in the Guildford Game Development community, and the Guildford Games Festival is our way of supporting and repaying the town and the game developers that reside there. Through The Digital Guildford Game Festival 2020, we will shine the spotlight on Guilford developers - old and new - and tell the tale of some of the best story makers in the business, and set the scene for the future”

Lauran Carter, Head of Comms, Liquid Crimson

Follow @GUGamesFest on Twitter for all of the latest updates