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Liverpool will host a new UK esports and gaming festival this summer with Horizon: MersEsports 2025, taking place at the Exhibition Centre Liverpool on July 12th to 13th.
Organisers say that Horizon: MersEsports 2025 will feature ‘intense esports competition, with some of the best grassroots talent in the UK going head-to-head in a high-profile FPS title (Saturday) and Rocket League (Sunday). The event offers prizes, career-building opportunities, and the chance to be scouted by top esports organisations’.
It’s open to everyone, from esports fans to gamers and families, and will feature hands-on gaming experiences, brands, PC hardware showcases and fun challenges.
“With the closure of long-running UK gaming events over the past few years, there has been a growing gap for large-scale esports and gaming festivals outside London,” organisers said in a press release. “Horizon: MersEsports aims to change that, establishing an annual event that brings together competitive gaming, gaming culture, and interactive experiences, starting in Liverpool before expanding to other UK regions in the future.”
It’s being put on by Streams+ (a product of Haia Communications Ltd), which helped run the first Welsh-language esports tournament at Eisteddfod last year, and launched Streams+ with student esports challenges and partnerships.
Given the reference to the closure of Insomnia Gaming Festival, Esports News UK reached out to Horizon organisers to ask if it will have a LAN party/area, and we were told: “The interactive gaming areas will be pre-set up, so there’s no need to bring any equipment. It’s not a LAN party but rather a grassroots competition with online qualifiers leading up to the finals in Liverpool. The interactive elements offer additional game-related activities outside of the tournaments in the auditorium. Our aim is to build the esports scene here and expand this initiative to other regions.”
Organisers are also reaching out to esports teams to explore opportunities for them to use the event as a talent pipeline, and that it may be interested in offering bootcamps and meet the pros experiences for winners.
‘Unlike traditional esports events that focus solely on competitive players, Horizon: MersEsports is designed as a full gaming experience that welcomes both hardcore esports fans and casual gamers,’ according to a press release.
“We’re building something that Liverpool and the North West can be proud of.”
Tom Burke, Horizon: MersEsports 2025
Attendees can:
- Watch top grassroots players compete in an FPS tournament (Saturday) and Rocket League (Sunday)
- Try out the latest PC and console hardware from leading gaming brands
- Explore retro games, sim racing, arcade classics, VR experiences, and esports training challenges
- Take part in casual gaming tournaments and skill-based challenges.
- Attend as a spectator, explore the gaming festival, or do both
- Make connections and network with likeminded fans or esports organisations
Horizon: MersEsports is the first step in a larger movement to create regional esports events across the UK. Inspired by last year’s aforementioned Eisteddfod esports competition, which brought together top grassroots players in Wales, the team behind Horizon is looking to replicate and expand that success.
“Liverpool, Merseyside, and the wider North West region have a huge gaming community but have lacked a dedicated esports event, until now. Horizon: MersEsports aims to become a permanent fixture in the UK esports calendar, with plans to expand into other regional Horizon tournaments across the country,” the press release added.
“We’re building something that Liverpool and the North West can be proud of,” said Tom Burke, event organiser and director of Haia. “For too long, esports events in the UK have been concentrated in London or Birmingham. Horizon is about bringing that experience to players, fans, and families who love gaming, right here in Liverpool. We want this to be the start of something bigger, not just for this city, but across the UK.
The event will also be streamed online via Streams+, allowing viewers from across the UK and beyond to watch the competition unfold.
“We know not everyone can make it to Liverpool, which is why we’re making sure Horizon isn’t just a local event—it’s part of something much bigger,” Burke continued. “We want to give regional esports players a chance to compete and be seen, no matter where they are.”
The news comes as Manchester is also hosting a new gaming and esports festival, Unidays Lvl Up Live, specifically for students. It will also host NSE’s student championship finals.
Day tickets and weekend passes for Horizon: MersEsports 2025 are now on sale at horizonevent.gg, with day tickets priced at £33 and weekend tickets at £52.80 (excluding fees).
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.
