This year has flown by, and with Christmas now upon us, we’d like to wish all of those who celebrate it a very Merry Christmas.
To try and end a challenging year for the industry on a bit more of a positive note, we’re going to round up some top UK esports events to look forward to in 2024.
Worlds 2024 finals
Arguably the biggest esports event to take place in 2024, the League of Legends Worlds finals will take place at The O2 Arena on November 2nd 2024.
It will take place a year and a half after MSI 2023, which was held at London’s Copperbox Arena earler this year in May, and nine years after the last time the Worlds 2015 quarter finals happened in London’s Wembley Arena.
This confirms the news first broken by us, Esports News UK, back in May this year that Worlds 2024 would be very likely taking place in London.
Naz Aletaha, Global Head of League of Legends Esports, told Esports News UK at MSI: “I think during the earlier stages, from the play-ins to now, seeing the fans here supporting Brazilian teams, LATAM teams, obviously EMEA teams, LPL, LCK, we love that. And we actually look for that when we choose our host regions and host cities – where can we go that’s going to be international? We want fans to be able to travel in, if they can, and we want to of course bring the best of League of Legends to all the local fans here. So you can definitely expect us to come back.”
ESL One Birmingham 2024
From one MOBA to another, ESL One Birmingham 2024 powered by Intel will be taking place on April 22nd to 28th 2024.
Fans can look forward to experiencing top-tier Dota 2 action live as the eight best teams of the tournament will take the stage at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham during the final three days of the competition.
Blast Premier Spring Final 2024
The world’s best esports and Counter-Strike players will descend on London next summer, when the Blast Premier Spring Final 2024 will take place at OVO Arena Wembley from June 12th to 16th 2024.
The first two days of the event will be played behind closed doors in the arena, while the Friday to Sunday (June 14th to 16th) will be played in front of a packed out arena for each day.
RuneFest 2024
RuneFest 2024 will be happening in the UK after several years of absence, RuneScape developer Jagex has announced.
The celebration of all things RuneScape will be taking place in Birmingham during Insomnia 73 on the weekend of September 7th and 8th 2024.
PUBG Mobile Global Championship Grand Finals 2024
The Grand Finals of the 2024 PUBG Mobile Global Championship (PMGC), the highlight of the game’s esports calendar, will take place in the UK.
It will take place in December 2024 with a $3m prize pool, and will be the first time a major PUBG Mobile event has been hosted in the UK – and the first in Western Europe since 2018.
Epic.LAN events in 2024
The next three Epic.LAN events are set to take place in Kettering once again in 2024, with Epic 41, Epic 42 and Epic 43 in February, the summer, and around October.
The next event, Epic 41, will take place on Thursday 22nd February 2024 until 4pm on Sunday 25th February 2024 at Kettering Leisure Village.
You can expect the usual mix of LAN gaming, shows, sessions, pub quizzes and esports tournaments. Read more about what to expect in our recent Epic.LAN Epic 40 recap here.
Insomnia Gaming Festivals in 2024
Insomnia Gaming Festival is set to return in April for i72 at the Birmingham NEC once again, from March 28th to April 1st 2024, and i73 from September 5th to 8th.
Expect the usual mix of a gaming expo, LAN hall, esports tournaments, cosplay events and content creator meet and greets. Check out our i71 esports winners roundup here.
Events at the Endpoint HQ in 2024
UK esports organisation Endpoint opened their HQ in Sheffield and launched their Pracrooms offering earlier this year.
They held their first few events, including a launch party, Foundry Quake LAN and the first UKIC Counter-Strike LAN, won by K10.
On the future of the UKIC, Endpoint co-owner Peter Thompson told Esports News UK: “In terms of loose dates for UKIC Season 1 – it will be starting in January 2024 and the next LAN will be in March 2024. We need to figure out exactly how it looks though.
“The plan is to do four LANs next year but they will likely look quite a bit different to this one.”
ESI London 2024
The UK’s main esports conference, ESI London, will return once again to London in 2024 in the third quarter of the year.
This will also include the ESI London Film Festival, streamer sessions Checkpoint and investor pitch competition The Clutch.
Education-focused ESI NextGen will also take place from March 6th to 7th 2024 at Jesus College in Oxford.
EGX 2024
While EGX isn’t generally regarded as an esports event, it’s held multiple tournaments over the years, particularly for the fighting games community (FGC).
It will take place at ExCeL London in 2024. Confirmed dates haven’t been announced yet, but as an idea, EGX 2023 took place from October 12th to 15th 2023. Just Stop Oil protestors interrupted the Tekken esports event on stage at EGX 2023.
Notable mentions for other games industry events in 2024 and more esports events added since this article was first published
There are plenty of other esports and gaming events taking place in 2024 in the UK, and perhaps a few unannounced ones too.
Following the publication of this article, a SuperDome event has been announced, which will take place in Solihull in September 2024. And so has a Halo Major LAN, which will take place in London in May, along with a Blast R6 Major announced for Manchester in the same month.
The Pokémon Europe International Championships are also returning to London for 2024.
AND a Rocket League RLCS 2024 London Major was announced for June, in what’s shaping up to be one of the UK’s best years for esports events.
A Smite 2 London LAN could also take place this year.
Pocket Gamer Connects London will get underway from January 22nd to 23rd 2024, with a focus on mobile games, promising a mix of conferences and networking.
The London Games Festival will return in April, from the 9th to the 25th.
There will be a mix of anime and gaming cons, including AnimeCon London in February 2024, plus WASD, MCM Expo and more.
Elsewhere, there will be British Esports’ Student Champs finals and Esports in Education Summit, plus perhaps other events at their Sunderland HQ.
Keep an eye out for potential activities from the League of Legends UKEL, plus viewing parties in London from the likes of Fnatic. The UK has previously hosted Preachcon too, for fans of the streamer Preach Gaming and MMOs.
Keep your eyes peeled for more Esports News UK networking events and parties in 2024 too!
There’s more UK games events listed on Eventbrite here
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.
