What happened behind the scenes at the To the Moon expo?
Following the disappointment felt by a significant portion of To the Moon expo attendees, many have asked how such an event came to fruition.
While investigating the experiences of attendees, Esports News UK has also encountered several stories and indications of overextension, dismissal of industry advice, and resulting soured relations with the expo behind the scenes.
Evaluating the To the Moon website’s expectation vs reality
Details about the event from its website are likely contributors to why attendees felt dissatisfied with To the Moon. From Day One, expectations for the To the Moon expo began slipping below what the site suggested.
As reported by Esports News UK, the expo was dubbed as “Dashcon but without the ballpit,” before the second day even began, harking back to the infamous failed Dashcon event in 2014.
By the end of November 13th, To the Moon had concluded, with dissatisfied attendees in its wake.
The To the Moon website had built a certain expectation in the event’s lead-up. This included boasting their venue’s 15,000-person capacity, and potential for over 150 exhibitors and a “full blown esports arena.”
Also stated on the website was the following:
“With our Creator Zone. You can reserve a slot with our team and organise to meet your community. Including access to the chill area, streaming pods and more.”
However, as previously described, attending content creators encountered an empty zone. It was instead likened to a barren field or a sheep pen.
Furthermore, day one of the event promised to open its doors to creators at 9am, an hour before the official start. However, as described by attendees, neither the creator nor the standard ticket entry was granted access until 11am.
Overall, the event’s self-declared purpose was to “empower the gaming community as a whole.”
Confidently, the website declares, “that isn’t done through gatekeeping, it is done through collaboration.”
Nevertheless, the community left the event feeling misled and oversold.
Lack of guidance, or an attempt to forge a new path: Advisory Board relationships gone sour
The To the Moon Expo originally had more experienced members of the UK’s gaming community providing advice and assistance in the planning process.
However, ENUK has been informed that some of these individuals were not able to continue working with the To the Moon expo organisers after it became clear that their organisational work would not be financially compensated.
One of these advisors, Jeff Simpkins, the CEO of Resolve, publicly discussed this departure from industry advisors. In a post on X (Twitter), he explained that he had been asked to be part of the advisory group but was never consulted after the event’s announcement.
This harks back once more to the event’s own declaration that empowering the community is achieved through collaboration.
Although this collaboration was evident earlier in the planning process, by the time the event arrived at the NEC, some key collaborators had been forced out.
Dissatisfaction with creator advice talks: an example of where abandonment of advisory input shines through
The lack of boots-on-the-ground industry guidance was particularly evident in the recollections of content creator attendees about an advisory panel hosted at To the Moon.
Creator ‘LilacNightshade’ attended the event on a standard ticket. She described to ENUK how a “shocking” panel discussion on branding fell short of expectations.
Most notably, she explained that there was no diversity on the panel, despite the incredible diversity present in the UK content creation community, toward which the branding talk was tailored.
Furthermore, in a move that some attending content creators found disrespectful, one panel member even advised those wanting to succeed in content creation to use ChatGPT to write their scripts.
Given the existing tension in the gaming community surrounding the loss of jobs relating to AI, it was unsurprising that some felt that the advice was insensitive.
After the talk, LilacNightshade spoke to one of the panellists. They explained to her that the organiser was vague about what they wanted from the panel. As a result, there was a degree of confusion between them.
The hosting of panels, particularly in terms of directing the conversation and selecting topics, is an area where having more experienced industry guidance would have been incredibly beneficial.
However, as established, a portion of this guidance had already been dismissed.
The future of UK game expos – what can be learned from To the Moon?
Patterns of overpromising and underdelivering are not uncommon in UK gaming events and conventions. Unfortunately, despite having perhaps started with good intentions, To the Moon fell into this exact trap.
A combination of overzealous confidence displayed on the expo’s website and the dismissal of some key industry experience resulted in an underwhelming event that failed to achieve its goals.
However, it is vital to remember that To the Moon’s performance is not indicative of the wider UK scene.
Well-established UK BYOC event EPIC.LAN consistently sells out its events. Over the past 20 years, it has become an iconic symbol of UK gaming events.
Meanwhile, regardless of community concerns, Insomnia’s new i74 project still has the chance to re-establish within the expo space.
To the Moon may even tune in to community feedback and return with a polished event in the future.
There may have been far better days for UK expos in the past.
However, gamers should still hold out for light at the end of the tunnel.
Stay Updated with the Latest News
Get the most important stories delivered straight to your Google News feed — timely and reliable
From breaking news and in-depth match analysis to exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes content, we bring you the stories that shape the esports scene.
Monthly Visitors
User Satisfaction
Years experience
Latest Games conventions
Trending Stories
More to explore
