LAN gaming festival Insomnia67 has been cancelled in light of the ongoing situation around the COVID-19 pandemic.
Insomnia posted the following statement on its Twitter page:
Organisers did say they are ‘still exploring options for the next Insomnia’ as asked followers to ‘please bear with us while we assess the situation and find a way to bring you the best gaming event in the safest way possible’.
This could be a first year in a long time where no Insomnia festival has taken place in the UK.
Insomnia66 was due to take place in April and that was cancelled as the outbreak began to spread ahead of lockdown.
The news comes one week after rival event EGX 2020 was turned into a digital event by organisers Reedpop. It will take place from September 12th to 20th 2020.
“We love EGX, and we’re saddened to have had to cancel our flagship event,” said EGX event director David Lilley. “Given the current climate, we just wouldn’t have been able to provide our fans with the sort of show they’ve come to expect from us.”
“We’re hugely excited to introduce EGX Digital, sponsored by Virgin Media, where we’ll be partnering with PAX to bring you an epic virtual gaming experience.”
The digital EGX event will include content from Reedpop’s editorial brands including Eurogamer, Dicebreaker, Nintendo Life, gamesindustry.biz and more.
Earlier this year, ESI held an ESI Digital Summit for esports industry execs and some others are following suit.
Related article: 80% of esports execs say the industry will come back stronger following COVID-19
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
