Europe’s biggest games industry community nightlife festival is coming to Liverpool

FORMAT, Europe’s largest games industry nightlife event is back in September 2024, however the colossal and unique gaming and tech convention has announced it will be expanding its borders and events to the Liverpool city region, and will be bringing three evenings of games industry talent and all its international network on September 25th – 27th.

Over the last as 8 years, FORMAT has grown from a small gamers and game developers meetup taking place in Manchester’s Northern Quarter to a goliath of a games industry event housing some of the world’s leading games industry brands, studios, community leaders, businesses, music artists, technology, and more, which sees 1000–1500 attendees across all three nights of its iconic event season.

And it will be making its way to the heart of Liverpool this September.

FORMAT has put the UK on the map as the sole owner of Europe’s leading games industry nightlife movement and acts as a platform to unite the game development, content creation, and gaming community of the video games, media, tech, and entertainment industries, uniting businesses and individuals alike through a beautiful blend of video game and traditional nightlife culture.

The festival houses three separate evenings of events consisting of the following:

• FORMAT’s signature, RE: FORMAT games industry VIP function which acts as an opportunity for FORMAT’s international delegates, exhibitors, partners, sponsors, industry business leaders, key figures, investors, game publishers, press, and more to come together for an evening of business networking, keynote presentations and panels, and forging meaningful business connections.

• FORMAT: The Ultimate Gaming Social, which is FORMATT’s main marquee event, sees consumers and delegates travel from all over the UK, Europe, US, Asia, India, and more for an evening of trying out the latest video game and technology releases from AAA, AA, and indie game studios, live music and performance entertainment, industry content creators livestreaming the games on showcase events to their global audiences, and most importantly, an evening of good food, good drinks, and making memories.
  
• FORMAT: After Hours, the official after party event of FORMAT: The Ultimate Gaming Social, in which 150–300 attendees, ranging from gamers, game studios, and community leaders, for a continuation of celebrating FORMAT uniting the global games industry together through business networking.

FORMAT’s Liverpool expansion announcement has been met with enormous praise and huge welcomes from prominent Liverpool city region game industry leaders, business leaders, game studios, brands, and the gaming community within Liverpool.

FORMAT’s founder and CEO, Simran Whitham, had the following to say regarding the festival’s expansion news:

“This is the announcement I have waited years to make, the northern games industry is criminally underrepresented compared to its southern counterpart, and yet we produce some of the greatest creative projects, talent, and initiatives across the world in games, TV, film, music, and more, and I’ve made it a goal to provide the northern UK games industry with the event it deserves.

Liverpool, like Manchester, is a beautiful city with a rich history of creativity, and has a truly wonderful games industry community that has been ignored for far too long.

When I was 20 years old my dream was to build a nightlife festival for the games industry, and at 28 I’m proud to see us going multiregional and the FORMATGG team are proud to be giving Liverpool the games industry event it deserves!

We’d like to thank all our amazing partners, studios, and friends in the industry who have made this expansion possible, especially our loyal partners at Escape Technology and Lenovo, who have propelled FORMAT’s growth over the years.”

Helen Cross, Creative and Digital Cluster Manager at Growth Platform – Liverpool City Region Growth Company said: 

“I am delighted that Liverpool gets to host FORMAT – Europe’s largest games industry nightlife event next year.  With a gaming heritage going back 40 years and new studios continuing to open up today, our vibrant games industry cannot wait to help shape this international festival which in turn will help shine a light on the awe-inspiring games community we have here.”

FORMAT will be working very closely with Growth Platform – Liverpool City Region Growth Company and the Liverpool City Region Games Board over the course of 2024 to collaborate closely with Liverpool’s games industry leadership to shape the festival for the local market and help shine a light on the growing Liverpool game development scene.

The FORMAT team has announced the official launch dates for FORMAT Liverpool will be September 25th – 27th, so make sure to make a note in your calendars for when Europe’s leading games industry nightlife festival makes its way to Liverpool.

Tickets are available here.

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