Format.GG, billed as Europe’s largest games industry nightlife event, is back in September 2024 with an expansion to Liverpool.
There will be three evenings of games industry talent from September 25th to 27th this year.
Over the last eight years, Format.GG has grown from a small gamers and game developers meetup taking place in Manchester’s Northern Quarter to a larger games industry event housing brands, studios, community leaders, businesses, music artists, tech and more. It sees 1,000 to 1,500 attendees across all three nights of its event season.
Back in 2022, we wrote more about Format’s games events in Manchester.
The three separate 2024 evenings of events in Liverpool are:
- Re: Format games industry VIP function for international delegates, exhibitors, partners, sponsors, industry business leaders, investors, publishers, press and more for an evening of business networking, keynote presentations and panels
- Format: The Ultimate Gaming Social, for consumers and delegates travelling from the UK, Europe, US, Asia, India and more for an evening of trying out the latest video game and technology releases from studios of all sizes, live music and performance entertainment, content creators livestreaming plus food and drink
- Format: After Hours, the after party of The Ultimate Gaming Social, in which 150 to 300 attendees, ranging from gamers, game studios, and community leaders, for a continuation of celebrating Format
Format will be working closely with Growth Platform – Liverpool City Region Growth Company and the Liverpool City Region Games Board over the course of 2024 to collaborate with Liverpool’s games industry leadership. The idea is to shape the festival for the local market and help shine a light on the growing Liverpool game development scene.
Liverpool is also home to gaming bar LevelTap, which opened last year.
Format.GG founder and CEO, Simran Whitham, said: “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.”
Simran Whitham, Format.GG
“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 Format.GG 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.”
Tickets to the 2024 Format.GG Liverpool events are available 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.
