London Games Festival - The VGIM guide: Video Games Industry Memo, 11/04/2024
Keep on top of two weeks of capital entertainment
I carve out the choicest cuts from this year’s London Games Festival
World of Warcraft to return to China following NetEase unfreeze
Chilled puzzler Botany Manor leads a week of curio releases
Hello VGIM-ers,
Welcome back to another edition of your favourite newsletter (I reckon you’ll believe me if I say this confidently enough).
Three points of order for you this week before we dive into the newsletter.
First, I’ll be popping up in The Independent over the weekend talking about how the games industry is doing at the moment and whether or not GTA 6 is coming to save its bacon next year.
Keep an eye out for it to see whether my Lord of the Rings reference does make it into the piece and remember that you can book me for media commentary - like the BBC, Sky News, Times Radio, The Guardian, Politico and even TalkSport have - by emailing me here.
Second, I’ve set up a handy web store with the help of Passionfroot to streamline advertising sales and partnership requests for VGIM.
If you want to reach an audience of wonderful people shaping the games industry, from industry pros to political movers and shakers, pony up for a single sponsorship of the newsletter (or a discounted bundle of four) here.
Finally, and related to the above, I’ll also be revealing the details of the VGIM Plus sponsorship in the next two weeks. If you’re enjoying VGIM and are happy to pay to support my work - and get more stuff for doing so - make sure to pledge a subscription at the bottom of this email.
Anyway, shall we stop with this sordid selling and get on with another classic bit of VGIM fun? Go on then.
The big read: London Games Festival - The VGIM Guide
I really love the London Games Festival. The two week long celebration of London’s £2bn video games sector has become an established part of the industry calendar - bringing all my favourite people together just a hop, skip and a tube ride from my flat.
As I write, the festival is already firmly underway. Earlier this week, I was lucky enough to attend the very fancy and always friendly opening night reception at Coutts bank along with industry peers and pals.
And if you are reading this at 8am sharp on a Thursday, as I know many of you do, you’ll also be aware that I’m imminently getting on stage at the London Developer Conference to curate a day of cracking talks and panels.
But despite the firing gun already being fired, there’s still plenty of time to go until the whole thing wraps up around the 25th April.
So in the spirit of being vaguely useful, I’ve picked out five parts of the festival that are well worth keeping an eye on - or attending - in the coming fortnight.
Baldur’s Gate 3 goes for the clean sweep at the BAFTAs
The only real question ahead of tonight’s BAFTA Games Awards, the final and most culturally prestigious event of the industry’s lengthy awards season, is whether Baldur’s Gate 3 will dash off home with this year’s Best Game Award.
Even though 2023 was ridiculously stacked in terms of major releases, Larian Studio’s RPG has managed to nab the top prize at the likes of The Game Awards, The Golden Joysticks and The Game Developer Choice Awards without barely breaking a sweat.
It remains the strong favourite to win again at the BAFTAs, with it expected to edge out the likes of Alan Wake 2 and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. But given that Vampire Survivors surprised everyone when it won Best Game last year, don’t be surprised if there is shock later this evening (keep those fingers crossed, Dave The Diver fans).
Elsewhere keep an eye out for an interesting battle in the Best British Game camp, where divorce causing simulation game Football Manager 2024 is up against indie darlings Cassette Beasts and Viewfinder.
And do take time to check out the full shortlist for the The New Intellectual Property category which, despite having way too many syllables for any self-respecting award name, is stuffed full of gems like Chants of Sanaar and Hi-Fi Rush.
Now Play This delights in experimental game design
While the biggest games of last year battle it out for cultural recognition at the BAFTAs, Now Play This offers a fascinating opportunity to go hands on with the experimental side of interactive entertainment.
The now ten year old event series opened its doors at this year's festival on Saturday 6th April at Somerset House with the theme “Liminality: Playing between worlds” to encourage creators - and players - to think of play as a space for introspection and connection.
As part of the event, Now Play This features a range of interesting talks and activities including a screening of Machinima, the delightful sounding Boring Office Party Live Action Role Play and an interactive installation for kids under the age of six called I Did It!
But the highlight of the event for me every year is the collection of curios on the exhibition floor, which this year includes a collaborative history building game - where you draw evolving town maps - and a game that challenges you to avoid operating system pop-ups by positioning yourself on a real skateboard.
If you want to go, you better be quick though. Now Play This closes on 14th April, so make sure you don’t miss out on an event that showcases the less often seen - but very friendly - creative weirdness that permeates the industry’s culture.
Ensemble in Trafalgar Square
Saturday 13th April is the penultimate day of Now Play This. It’s also the day that the London Games Festival takes over Trafalgar Square in an attempt to bring games to the wider public.
Passing punters will have the chance to go hands on with video games aplenty. This includes the festival’s Official Selection, which this year features Morgan: Metal Detective, a first person cosy game channeling the spirit of TV show The Detectorists, and the Reeves and Mortimer-esque vibes of London made (but Barnsley inspired) Thank Goodness You’re Here!
And as always, this year’s Ensemble selection will once again be prominently on display in the heart of the capital through some fantastic photo portraiture.
The programme, which is curated by Sharna Jackson and supported by the Mayor of London, is an invaluable showcase of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic talent from across the UK working in the video games sector.
If you are around, do pop by if you get a chance. And if you’re not, remember that Ensemble usually goes on tour across the country after the festival - giving you a chance to see them somewhere else later in the year.
W.A.S.D.’s lovely business benefits
On the face of it, W.A.S.D. looks mostly like a cracking time for consumers.
Yes, it does have some talks and events aimed at people getting into the games business and there is an official industry part.
But for the most part, the get together at the Truman Brewery on 25th-27th April is pitched as the place to dive into dozens of games from a mix of big publishers, retro game providers and up and coming indie developers.
However, W.A.S.D. has become what EGX Rezzed (RIP) used to be: the best lowkey business hang out of the year.
With GDC in the rearview mirror and Summer Games Fest and gamescom still far enough away to not feel scary, W.A.S.D. has become a handy place to quietly nab quiet coffees and drinks in the margin with company reps (especially for those on the PR and marketing beat).
So if you’re a punter who likes a delightful spread of games or you’re obliged to keep teenagers entertained one weekend while notionally teaching them about things like “career prospects”, W.A.S.D. is a thoroughly decent - and nicely cost effective - day out.
But if you’re a business type who wants to get to grips with the games industry beyond the headline makers, popping up at W.A.S.D. on Thursday and making time to head out to the industry shindig afterwards is a solid shout for some cheeky networking.
Just try not to call it “wazzed” within earshot of the organisers, ok?
Fringe benefits
Finally, the London Games Festival also includes a load of fringe events that are either a) officially partnered with the event or b) just happen at the same time as it to pop some icing on the event’s cake.
There are loads to check out but I’ve decided to pick out three for the sake of ease/to keep the word count down on the big read for once.
Stand up for GamesAid is back at The Comedy Store on Tuesday 23rd April to raise cash for the UK games industry charity. The line up is looking fab (I’m especially excited for Desiree Burch of Taskmaster fame) and I expect you to buy a ticket for it here.
The games industry jobs market has been an utter bastard over the past 12 months, so Tentacle Zone’s Careers Workshop on 16th April is excellently timed. Head over to the free event to enjoy a series of HR workshops, tips on job hunting and networking opportunities.
And lastly, make sure to pop over to Loading Bar in Stoke Newington for the Good Game Dev Club Party and Showcase on the 22nd April. It’s free to attend and going along will allow you to find out who is responsible, as the event description says, for “discussing government policy” in a video games bar. Spoiler alert: it’s always me.
The Bluffer’s Guide to the London Games Festival
Do say: The London Games Festival is a wonderful celebration of all things video games and a valuable reminder of the commercial, cultural and creative significance of the medium to the city and the country.
Don’t say: what do you mean there’s another video game event in London.
News in brief
China goes WoW (again): World of Warcraft and other Blizzard titles will be returning to China by the summer, according to Chinese publishing powerbroker Netease. All of Activision Blizzard’s games had been pulled from the market following an IP dispute with the publisher, but tensions have thawed following Microsoft’s acquisition of the Warcraft maker - opening the door to a return in time for the series 20th birthday.
Xboxing clever: Windows Central reports that Xbox is setting up a dedicated game preservation team in news that will delight history buffs. Sarah Bond, the company’s President, made the announcement in an internal email that also announced a rejig to Xbox’s games AI team to help it support “creator velocity” - a term that immediately makes me think that someone, somewhere, is about to be catapulted.
Monumental success: UK indie hit Monument Valley turns 10 this month and Games Industry Biz has a lovely interview with Danny Gray, Chief Creative Officer at ustwo games, about its creation. As well as enjoying Danny’s enjoyable honesty about never quite nailing the ‘next Monument Valley’, it also offers great insight into how a single eureka moment around a compelling mechanic can run and run and run (or in this case swivel).
FuturClip: Powerwash Simulator developer Futurlab has been snapped up by Miniclip to help the company realise its PC and console ambitions. It’s both a sensible business move and a lovely piece of news, given that Saad at Miniclip and Kirsty at Futurlab are what we at VGIM like to call Good People.
Dredging up: And finally, indie horror fishing game (yes, that’s a thing) Dredge is being developed into a live action movie. Story Kitchen, the production company behind the move, already projects based on Tomb Raider, co-op multiplayer game It Takes Two and Streets of Rage in development already.
On the move
Big leadership changes at Disney this week…Ray Gresko, formerly of Blizzard, and Bjorn Tornqvist, who previously worked at Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment have joined as SVP of Production and Development and VP of Games Technology…there have also been promotions for Sean Shoptaw, who is now Executive VP of Disney Games…Jay Ong and Haluk Mentes have also been promoted to helm the licensing part of Disney’s games business and to lead on strategy and business for Marvel Games respectively…
Jobs, jobs, jobs
Take-Two wants to hire you as a Senior Systems Designer on behalf of the friendly folk at Roll7...Riot Games is hiring for a Principal Brand Manager for Valorant…Twitch wants a Senior Investigator to join its trust and safety team in London ahead of the rollout of the Online Safety Act…No More Robots has a part time Community Manager gig on the go…And who doesn’t fancy the idea of getting the best part of nearly a million bucks each year to be Netflix’s new Production Director for its Blue Studio…
Events and conferences
Reboot Develop Blue, Dubrovnik - 22nd-24th April
OKRE Summit, London - 24th April (25% off with VGImemo25)
Dubai Game Expo, Dubai - 1st May
Digital Dragons, Krakow - 19th-21st May
Nordic Game, Malmo - 21st-24th May
Games of the week
Botany Manor - New first person puzzler asks the question we’ve all been asking: what happens if you take zen head scratcher The Witness and pop it into the 19th century?
Children of the Sun - Devolver Digital published shooter challenges players to bend a single bullet to their will in a Killer 7 inspired landscape.
House Flipper 2 - Game which makes unreal promises to Gen Z about property ownership (i.e. that it’s possible for them) arrives on console.
Before you go…
Will a video game ever win the Nobel Prize for literature?
That’s the question posed by Andres Chaves in The Conversation this week, who asks whether video games such as The Stanley Parable and Return of the Obra Dinn show that the medium is ready to nab its first Nobel.