The organisers behind the UK’s well-known Insomnia Gaming Festival have announced a range of additions to the i71 September 2023 event.
The gaming exhibition and LAN (featuring a mix of esports tournaments) will take place at the Birmingham NEC between Thursday September 7th and Sunday 10th.
There are of course two Insomnia events each year – one in April and one usually in August – so i71 marks a slightly later start date than usual.
Lulu voice actor, Apex Legends voice actor, Pyrocynical and more confirmed for i71
Insomnia has announced that Faye Mata, the voice of Lulu in League of Legends will be in attendance at i71, doing meet and greets from September 8th to 10th.
Ben Starr, the voice of Clive Rosfield from Final Fantasy XVI, will also be there on the same days.
Harry Mcentire, the voice of Hunwald from Assassins Creed Valhalla, will be there on September 9th.
The Insomnia Gaming Festival Twitter page has also announced that Apex Legends voice actor Elle Newlands will be attending i71.
Elle, the voice of Horizon in Apex Legends and the Necromancer in Diablo 4, will be in the meet & greet zone at the festival, with fans able to purchase autographs and photos.
Elle follows a range of voice actors that have attended Insomnia, with the voice of Lady Dimitrescu and other Resident Evil voice actors attending i70 earlier this year.
Speaking of which, British voice actor Neil Newbon, who voices Resident Evil and Baldur’s Gate 3 characters among others, will be returning for i71.
Additionally, Devora Wilde, a voice actor better known as Lae’zel in Baldur’s Gate 3 and Nearl in Arknight, will be attending too.
Organisers have also announced that popular YouTuber Pyrocynical will be attending the event.
Pyrocynical will have an exclusive line of merchandise at his meet & greet.
Cosplayers Luce Cosplay and Mads5 will also be making an appearance.
There’s more info including picture prices on the Insomnia Gaming Festival guests page.
Esports at i71
Insomnia has announced that the esports arena and ‘the best of the UK competitive scene’ will be heading to Insomnia in September 2023.
CS ESL Prem LAN finals have been announced, as have the i71 esports tournaments.
Insomnia has confirmed the casual tournaments for i71 too, including the likes of Street Fighter 6, League of Legends ARAM, Halo Infinite, Teamfight Tactics, Apex Legends, Rainbow Six Siege, Hearthstone, Golf With Your Friends, Dota 2 and StarCraft 2.
Birmingham will also host the major $2m Apex Legends ALGS Championship 2023, at the same time as Insomnia is running. This event will take place at Resorts World Arena, right next to the Birmingham NEC, which hosts Insomnia.
They also announced a separate online StarCraft 2 tournament, which is taking place on June 24th from 1pm BST.
While the tweet below mentions cash prizes, the Challengermode sign up page currently lists the first place prize as £24.92, second as £15.47 and third as £10.31.
You can see the full list of Insomnia 70 esports winners in our article from April here.
Riot Games also announced there will be League of Legends and Valorant community evenings at i71.
Additionally, Bandai Namco UK and PlayStation UK are heading to Insomnia 71 to bring visitors a first play of Tekken 8, before anywhere else in the UK.
Attendees will be able to play as 16 characters in VS mode, enter just for fun PlayStation tournaments, and win merch.
Tickets and LAN Lite Pass
Tickets are on sale for i71 now.
There are a variety of tickets available including standard, priority, family and more.
For the LAN, Insomnia has introduced a LAN Lite Pass for the first time at i71.
This is the cheapest LAN pass available, priced at £89. It includes:
- 24-hour LAN from 4pm on Friday to 4pm on Sunday
- LAN seat picker
- After-hours Hall 4
- Insomnia festival expo on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Other LAN passes include Standard (£110, which gives access to LAN from 9am on Thursday and esports sign ups), Plus (£130), Premium (£210) and VIP (£290).
A spokesperson told Esports News UK: “The LAN Lite pass is perfect for someone who is new to LAN parties and wants to get some taste of it. There are few other options with more features for more experienced gamers.”
You can see all the perks and what each LAN pass gets you in the ticket link above.
Other things at i71 include VR and AR experiences, racing sims, live action experiences and more.
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.
