Photo credit: Jennie Scott Photography/IMDB
The Yorkshire Games Festival will include a special in-conversation event and Q&A with actor Samantha Béart this year.
Samantha is one of 2023’s stand-out performers in video games, having worked as the voice and performance actor for Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3 and a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit.
International games companies will also be in attendance, including Larian Studios – creators of 2023’s ‘Game of the Year’ winner Baldur’s Gate 3, as well as Square Enix, the studio behind the iconic Final Fantasy series.
Baldur’s Gate 3 senior writer Adrienne Law will also be making an appearance at the Yorkshire Games Festival this year.
Hosted by Alex Earle, Producer at Radical Forge, this year’s talks will explore the path from education to making blockbuster games, dive into how to create compelling characters and stories, as well as give insight into how to level up designs, plus much more.
The news comes a few months after Baldur’s Gate 3 narrator Amelia Tyler narrated the PC Gaming Show alongside host Frankie Ward, while Astarion voice actor Neil Newbon won at the Golden Joystick Awards.
The Yorkshire Games Festival returns from March 7th to 10th 2024 at venues across Bradford, as the National Science and Media Museum remains temporarily closed to undergo refurbishment.
The festival celebrates all things gaming and returns with a packed programme of gameplay, talks, workshops and networking events featuring high-profile industry speakers along with the popular Let’s Play family weekend.
This year’s festival will kick off on Thursday March 7th with Game Talks at the Jubilee Centre, ‘featuring a line-up of high-profile industry insiders to help attendees further their knowledge and employability in the fast-moving sector’.
The popular Let’s Play family weekend will return from March 9th to 10th with a different look, as it takes over the Broadway Shopping Centre with free family gameplay and activities.
Families will be able to test new projects from Northern developers and experience brand new games made in Yorkshire, alongside free activities like code cracking and button bashing, and visitors can create their own games characters or challenge friends to classic couch co-op favourites.
“The programme not only welcomes an impressive line-up of industry experts working across the gaming sector to inspire the next generation, but also offers families opportunities to discover the industry with free gameplay and activities.”
Sally Folkard, National Science and Media Museum
For the first time, the festival will also feature adults-only activity during the weekend, with an evening takeover of The Studio next to the Alhambra on Saturday March 9th.
Visitors will be able to play a large selection of board games, as well as compete on the big screen in multiplayer challenges and more.
Sally Folkard, Head of Screen and Cultural Engagement at the National Science and Media Museum, said: “We’re thrilled to deliver another packed Yorkshire Games Festival to celebrate all things gaming. This year the festival spreads across Bradford venues while the museum and Pictureville Cinema are temporarily closed.
“The programme not only welcomes an impressive line-up of industry experts working across the gaming sector to inspire the next generation, but also offers families opportunities to discover the industry with free gameplay and activities.”
While the museum’s Pictureville Cinema also remains temporarily closed, the Yorkshire Games Festival will be doing a special screening at The Studio on Saturday March 8th with a gaming-related Kid’s Club film as part of the Pictureville Presents programme.
For more information about this year’s Yorkshire Games Festival and to book tickets, visit scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/whats-on/yorkshire-games-festival
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.
