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We spoke to festival director Michael French MBE to learn more about how the London Games Festival is continuing to expand for its 2027 iteration, how it's continuing to position itself as the main gaming convention in the UK, and how trends around the world stack up when compared to the UK games business.
"Hello everyone and welcome back to Gamereactor. Today we have a really exciting interview for you because I'm here with Michael French MBE, who is known as the Festival Director of the London Games Festival and also the Head of Games at Film London. And the reason why we're talking about Michael today is because the London Games Festival was recently just confirmed for its 2027 iteration between April 12th through 19th. Events scheduled all across the city throughout that time period and as has been the case the last few years, it's getting bigger and bigger and better each time it comes around. So with that being the case Michael, the first question I'd love to throw your way is, do you regard the London Games Festival as sort of the preeminent UK video game convention these days? Yeah, hi Ben. Yes, I think on a numbers basis we can comfortably say we're the biggest video games event in the UK. We've steadily built the festival up over the last 11 editions now since 2016. We started off very focused on industry content, we had lots of great partners that did sort of separate shows. People might remember EGX Rezzed and an event called Now Play This, which is about experimental games and they happened as part of our broad festival. But we've taken on more of those sort of events as the time goes on and now we have a consumer showcase, a public-facing showcase, where people can come and play cool new games and lots of industry stuff alongside it. And yeah, I think the many changes that have happened in events over the last years, you know, things changed, it's quite natural things change, but we're now I guess top of the pile, yeah. And do you, talking about some of those prior events have come and gone, have you looked at them at all and thought they did some things really well, they did some things really, really excellently in the way that they sort of champion the UK games industry, but we can learn from the way they did things and make sure that we do things right, not just for the imminent future, but for, you know, down the line, for the long-term vision of what the London Games Festival should be? Yeah, we have and I think we've, I mean, I am curious and passionately interested about events in games and other sectors all over the world, so we're constantly like seeing great ideas and, you know, and either being inspired by them or trying them out ourselves and what have you. I think for us the focus is, has always been, so I should say, we're publicly funded, so we're funded by the Mayor's Office and UK Government to deliver this event now and, you know, we've got a responsibility to reflect and promote the UK games industry and also to help make it sustainable in the ways we can. So yes, so there's a lot of looking at best practice before, but also doing the right things for our, both our current audience and community and the people that might come in future and the developers of tomorrow. So, you know, we've got a, we've got an official selection of games, new games that we choose every year, that's very curated. We show those games at New Game Plus, which itself is also quite a curated showcase of games, and then on the industry side, you know, we, all of our activity tends to be quite targeted at specific topics because we know where we can make a difference. It's, there's been a lot of talk in the last years and all internally about, you know, where the UK sits on the global stage for events and what that means for our industry. We've really, on that discussion, focused a lot on what we can do to improve that and change that. A lot of it's about, you know, being, finding as many ways we can to support talent and also make the festival accessible, right? So our tickets are pretty cheap and, you know, although we have a lot of programs where you apply to enter them, you know, we also have different ways to support developers who might not be able to, you know, make the journey or afford the journey and stuff like that. So, yeah, we're investing it back into the industry, basically, a lot of our efforts and energy. Now, obviously, it's called the London Games Festival because it's based in London and it has that sort of focus on and the backing of the Mayor of London and all these different elements that come into play, but how do you look at the London Games Festival as an opportunity to support and grow the UK video game business as a whole? Yeah, it's a good question. You know, it says London, it says London on the tin, right? It's London by name, it's London by location, and one of our big backers is the City of London itself, but the festival has always been, and it's since day one, we've made sure that it is for everyone in the country in video games, be that a consumer who wants to come and play some games, check some stuff out, or an industry developer and someone from the industry, right? This, in the last few years, we've really been able to prove that we have got like a majority non-London audience, something like 15%, I think is international, 40, 49% from outside, from outside Greater London, and so I think we've, I think that's all testament to the fact that we've pushed hard to make sure that our programmes have those talent in it, and there are ways for people to engage, and also, you know, when we do things like our official selection, which I mentioned, you know, we always make sure there's British games in the mix, sometimes they have their own category, sometimes there's a London category and a British category, it depends on what games come in, but we always make sure that stuff is in there alongside international visitors, so yeah, I mean, it's a responsibility we try to, we take seriously, I think, lately as well, and today specifically, I mean, you know, it's this topic about regional support for the whole country, it's something the government's always been thinking about, it's a hot topic at the minute, we've always made sure that we're doing the right thing by everybody in the country. London is the biggest city for games in Europe, and it's the biggest cluster in the UK, but, you know, I think it's like only another 55% of the industry, it's actually outside of London, so it makes a lot of sense to, a, cater to those audiences and those developers, and then also it makes a lot of sense that they're coming to the city, because, you know, it's the UK capital. Yeah, I mean, there are a lot of developers that are based outside of London, a lot of different hot spots around the country, Leamington Spa outside Birmingham, loads of different interesting ones. You mentioned there, obviously, about, again, the support that you have from the Mayor of London's office and whatnot, how do you go about expanding that support and reaching a wider political outreach? And, you know, with the constant changing of political leaders, do you ever have to look ahead and think, how do we ensure the future support from the next Mayor of London when that comes around in 2028 or whatnot?
Yeah, that's a good question. It's, you know, since I've been working on this since 2016, right, in that time we're up to our sixth Prime Minister, and God knows how many Culture Ministers, right? But we've had one Mayor, right? And that same Mayor has been the one that and his team have been very forward thinking, have always supported us. You know, I think at that level, I mean, the biggest win for us recently was getting wider national government support. But I think there's a recognition across the board now that video games are a growth area, they are a valid part of the creative industries, and they are worth investing in and spending time with. So, you know, in some ways, the growth of our sector over time, and it's increasing cultural legitimacy, has helped do some of that work for us. But we are engaging them quite, quite closely. And, you know, it's a case of making sure the festival is a way to, we always say the festival is a way to change perceptions around games, right? Whether it's somebody that's either a sceptic, or hasn't played games for a while, or a parent that might be a bit, oh, you know, I'm not sure about games and letting my kids play them so much. And we've always tried to ensure the content sort of answers any of those challenges. And the added benefit there is that that also then answers those challenges from policymakers or politicians, or other institutions that might not understand the breadth of games and how great they are. And, you know, whether it's sinking 30, 40 hours into Elden Ring, or, you know, playing a quirky indie game, and us being able to articulate why that's so good. So yeah, it's an interesting topic, though, and it's kept us on our toes, I think, over the last decade. Now, obviously, you set up, or you helped found the London Games Festival through the connection at Film London and setting up that games division there."
"What kind of support do they give you? And how has that changed as you've seen, you know, the support for video games blossom over the last decade or so? Yes, just to give you the quick backstory, so Film London is a screen agency that supports, you know, film, TV, culture, animation, VFX. And in terms of they engage with a lot of producers and content, and companies that make that content with locations, and investor intros, and general industry support, and then they added video games to their remit, just over 10 years ago, and I joined to sort of set that stuff up. I think what's been interesting, you know, in that whole time, and yeah, sure, early on, I think there were people saying to me, what's a film, what's a film agency doing? Why isn't this through another? Why isn't it a separate thing? But actually, you know, I think there's been a long-term acknowledgement, I think, by the wider screen sector that video games are, you know, their peers, their contemporaries. And so I think being seen alongside those is really important for the validity of our industry. And it helps with connections. In the last four or five years, we've seen an explosion in these, in adaptations, good adaptations of games into film. And we're seeing great stuff happening in reverse. And I think those two, you know, film, film slash TV stroke, and games specifically, having a really interesting moment where they're collaborating more, creating more interesting projects, sharing IP. And so actually, we're in a really great position for that. We do a conference just on that topic during the festival every year, called Screenplay. So that's really helped."
"And it's been really useful for me. I was a trade journalist before doing this, writing about the industry. I knew the video games industry inside out. I ran a magazine called Develop. And I went and said, I must have been to hundreds of video game developers when I worked there. So I had a really good appreciation of the game sector. And then I realised that there's a much bigger creative industries world behind us. And I think it's just understanding how they work. And then from Film London, and my colleagues there and other people across the non games, creative, creative industries and institutions, their willingness to engage with the games industry, you know, I think I think we can we can be quite we can be chippy sometimes in games about those connections to other sectors, but they, there is there is excited by our sort of growth and potential as we are. And it's just great to collaborate with them. So it's been really great. And I don't think this project, London Games Festival Games London wouldn't have existed if it hadn't been incubated in Film London. That's that's, that's a fact, you know, so yeah. And you mentioned there about Screenplay, you know, we talked a little bit briefly about New Game and all these other different events are part of the London Games Festival planning."
"What's the sort of selection process like for adding new events and expanding? Because again, every year, it seems to, there seems to be more on offer every single time another London Games Festival comes around. We seem to bolt something new on every time. I would say we're probably at the point now where we're actually comfortable with the fact we have New Game Plus is the game showcase with lots of industry stuff, including Screenplay. So I think, you know, we might add one or two smaller things on that might be game specific, but actually, we're at comfortable level. But, you know, I think what it's been about historically has been choosing the right niche to look at or an area that might not have been touched before. So when we first started, our core event was something called the Games Finance Market, which still exists to this day."
"And as part of the festival, people, developers apply to attend, and then the ones that qualify and have their project in the right place, they come and meet investors and pitch. We've seen lots of really successful deals come out of that. And that was that was laser focus on, you know, an intervention, let's help the deal flow, as they call it in the finance world, along a bit by creating meeting points. And so that really worked. And then with Screenplay, this was like three or four years ago, the CEO at Film London, and I were talking about the fact that we were seeing more of these adaptations, we knew that in some of the regions like Paris and in Germany, they had also seen what we had in that we had they had screen agencies that were taking on games work. And we knew it was a topic of conversation. And then you had like the last of us breakout on TV, which the CEO of my boss had watched, and it was his first experience with that IP. And it was just an interesting conversation to say, I've played the games, he's seen the show. Yeah, we both understand that world. And it's become this really, really interesting angle to say, right. It's not a case of it's a game, it's a film, it's a this, it's now a world and how how you access it depends on your platform and your audience. And so, you know, Screenplay comes from discussing that point specifically, but it's that event sort of snowballed and grown a bit. And now we have grown quite a bit. Actually, we've gone from a small cinema. And now we do it the BFI South Bank, where we get producers who produce some of those films, come and talk some of the games companies that are going the other way into film production."
"Because it's, again, people want to meet and connect. And if you can get the topic, right, you can do it. So So yeah, it's for us, it's all about finding the right, the right opportunity and doing it right. And the same was true of New Game Plus, which we added, when it was clear, there were no more or there were very few, shall I say, public facing showcases where you can come and see new games. So which is why we added that. You mentioned there about the BFI South Bank."
"What does the continued support of BAFTA mean for the London Games Festival? Because I know it's going to be part of it. I don't think they've announced the official date yet. I think although I think many of us couldn't sort of infer when the BAFTA Games Awards are going to be in April, but we have we we published the broad weekday to put their dates in. It's it's I mean, so they've confirmed that they are going to be just next door from the BFI South Bank at Queen Elizabeth or South Bank. And, you know, they've been a partner with the festival since since day one. And the I think prior to we were established, you sort of had this unofficial festival week or so every April when Rez and the BAFTA Games Awards and a few other events would take place."
"And so, you know, they could see the value of a bigger event happening, a rapper that's around it all. And that brings people into the city, you know, attend their events and, you know, and vice versa. And I think I think it's like spiritually BAFTA is really aligned with what we do, because they're they're they're laser focused on craft and quality and talent. And that's really that really matters when you're running a festival in general, really matters in video games. And I think internationally, they've got such a great reputation that people fly in for that event specifically. And now we have a thing where people fly in for both the awards and the festival. And one might be more of a priority than another, because if you're a you're a BAFTA award nominee, that's probably all you think about that week. But you might be just a festival attendee who might have gone to who might then go to the awards or might even watch online while you're there. Or you might go to one of the sometimes they do after runs games events during the festival, you might go to one of those. So, you know, we have a couple of partners like that. They've just been really valuable for growing it. And, you know, we've got a shared vision for it. Now, one of the big things that's happening in 2027 is that you're changing the venue again. I attended the one earlier this year. It was a great venue, but the demand is just growing every year, isn't it? So you have to find a bigger place. So what makes the Business Design Centre then? What does it make it such an effective hosting venue for the 2027 iteration? Yeah, I'm really excited by this part of the festival next year. And as you say, yeah, we've changed the venue again. We had this sort of persistent issue with the festival where we'd sort of outgrow all the venues or fill them up when we were in them. And that was certainly a case issue. We had an amazing venue for New Game Plus, but it was, as you saw, it was full. It was round with games, round with people. And everybody needs a bit more space apart from in the delegate surveys, apart from, you know, can you get more big name developers in? The second question was, can you please go somewhere with more room? So taking all that on board, and it's long term, it's something I wanted to do. So we're going to the Business Design Centre in Islington."
"We're going to have New Game Plus, plus our industry programming, and I think some other bits and pieces of smaller side events, pop up events, all under one roof. And it makes it easier for my team and me, even if it's one location for most of our stuff. It's easier for a lot of attendees, because it's one location. And, you know, it's also a bigger space, so we can do more in there, right. And I think, you know, over time, I expect we'll be there for a couple of years, at least. If not forever, you know, this took an event, who knows. But yeah, it just gives us room to stretch out, to grow, and to then do it regularly in the same location, so people know where they're going back to. I think, you know, having a, we've still got a citywide programme, that really matters. But at the same time, you know, we've had people, especially this year, they went to an event on the Monday, they went to an event on the Tuesday, and the Wednesday, and the Thursday, you know, all different venues. And that's great for TfL, because that's great public transport revenue. But it's a bit of a pain if you're doing that, as you know. So we're really excited about that. And then also, I think, you know, I think it's a relatively minor thing, but the venue is the home of the very first, like, UK video games trade show. So ECTS, as it was called, or it might have actually been called CTF first, and then ECTS the next year, when they made it about Europe. Sorry, too much games history. But it's, but it feels like it's like sort of the home of where these events should be. And so I get, you know, obviously, that was a, that was an event from the, you know, the last in a long time was very trade focused."
"Our event is slightly different, it has a slightly different focus, a different feel, and a different vibe to it. We still have industry stuff going on, but also people coming in from being able to just walk in, buy a ticket and play some great games. So we kind of want to sort of live up to the legacy of what games events did in that space, but do our take on it. But yeah, it's, it's exciting to do. I think there's a lot of, there's a lot of, a lot of benefits to go into one place. But in London, there aren't that many, there's a short list of bigger and bigger places we can get to. So we need to see how we grow it and which part, do we keep growing this?
Do we grow other events? Yeah, it's all, it's all to be seen. But I think for the foreseeable, we're at BDC next year and years after. Just sort of sidetracking then just talking about the industry as a whole then, because I'd say that 2026 has been a rather interesting year."
"It's been a little bit in places a bit doom and gloom, you know, rise of AI, layoffs everywhere, physical media's going, price hikes, component shortages. It's like everything's coming together and it kind of feels at times a little bit overwhelming, especially for people who are incredibly invested in the space. But from your position, someone, you know, very experienced and involved in the video game industry, especially in the UK, how do you regard the current health of the video game industry, both on a global scale and also at you? Yeah, it's, it has felt like a crazy news year, right, for games. And I think, especially in the industry, and at times quite painful, I think you have to acknowledge that. I would say, I think what's one of the things I'm often reminded by that is obviously some of the things, some of the things we read and that happen in the global games industry are actually happening because of decisions by overseas companies that are happening in other territories. And so I think a lot of the, a lot of the persistent layoff, sort of do the sort of the sort of the doom and gloom feeling around that."
"I think there's some, there was some data that came out, maybe early this year. A lot of those layoffs were in the US. Now, we're all very sympathetic with those things, but it's very easy to look at that and think it's a, it's an international story and not a geographic one.
But actually, I think the UK has weathered it a fair bit. I think there's, I think there's some recent stats that say, you know, I think it was last week, it came out, but 20% of people in the UK games industry have experienced a layoff or redundancy. And I think that's, that's, that's quite a high statistic, and we all wish it was lower. And it's, it's, it's absolutely terrible if you're on the receiving end of that, which, which, you know, I have been in the past, and many, many years ago, it's, it's not pleasant. But I think that what's, what is interesting through our lens, the LGF lens is our applications for things keep going up and up. We keep selling more tickets to events. And I think the flip side of all of that is, is that there's been a surge in new games businesses come through, a surge of people who have left jobs, who want to start their own game or start a new project, and need places to showcase it, need places to meet investors. That's why the festival is relevant to them. And that's the service we offer."
"And, you know, we do the best we can, we have other programs outside of the festival, like an Accelerator. And, and, and Accelerator, two Accelerator programs, sorry, that's why I stumbled then, that are all about sort of helping the new talent, learn their skills and breakthrough.
And we're looking at new ways to do that with other, with other countries, actually, because they've come to us and said, we love what Games London does, can we do this, but also in other areas, right? So, you know, what does that mean for content creators? What does that mean for people that are professionals trying to, you know, level up in their career, maybe not start a business. And so there's more, so this feels like it's a noisier industry, one way to look at it. And then then wrapped around all that is this is this, what seems so confusing at times, that the demand for games hasn't gone away. In fact, that's going up and up as well. The latest UK market stats earlier in the year said that over 8 million, 8 billion, sorry, was spent on video games last year. And video games related stuff, like, so the Minecraft movie drove some of that, that number. I think it's just, it proves that there's always going to be an appetite."
"And the industry keeps going to these sometimes painful cycles. You know, as a festival, we try to try and find ways to, we can't fix those big, the big problems, but we can help people along the way as they move to the next solution. Maybe some of our programs can help them find the next job, the next deal, the next opportunity. Yeah, it does feel like it's almost a change of the guard a little bit in regards to the established AAAs being torn down, and there's been like a rise of AA and indie. Yeah. But anyway, as a final question then, Michael, because I've been going for quite a while here, but, you know, what's next for London Games Festival? You know, how much further can the show expand and, you know, what's your ultimate vision for it? You know, we've got, we've got this added national government support for the next couple of years as part of something they call the Games Growth Package in the Creative Industry Sector Plan, a lot of words there, but, you know, so I think our sort of position of currently growing it from into this single, one single venue with lots of great stuff around it is the sort of the medium term vision and growing that. I think over time, I want to get, I want to get the rest of the industry in our country excited about the event and know it's a single point of attention. We get really great media coverage, we get really great international attendees, you know, what we do isn't necessarily comparable to the other great industry events in the games industry in the UK or even, you know, something like Gamescom where we've got a very different take on it. We're culture first and we really want to engage with the public and really want to surface new stuff all the time. It can't always be about the incumbent companies, which, as you said, are having a, having a bit of a rough time anyway. So there's that and, you know, I think hopefully, you know, in a few more years, we'll have bigger attendee numbers and we'll be an even firmer fixture in the calendar. And, you know, hopefully as the industry settles down a bit in some of these changes, we'll understand what that means for everybody else. But I think, like I said, I think the demand for events is growing. People want to go to events and see games. People want to play games. People play more games than ever. So it's, it's, it's hopefully good for us."
"Well, it may be doom and gloom in some places, but it's not doom and gloom in the London Games Festival. Yeah, yeah. I don't want to sound too cocky saying it, but yeah, we're having a, we're having a great sort of, we're on a great trajectory there. Wonderful. Well, Michael, thank you so much for speaking with me today. It's been an absolute pleasure getting to learn about all this stuff."
"As we mentioned earlier, the 2027 London Games Festival is scheduled between April 12th and 19th. We're talking at a bigger venue for many of the places in regards to the Business Design Centre. And as Michael alluded to there, plenty of plans down the line as well. So stay tuned for more. Otherwise, this has been the latest Game Rector interview, and we'll see you all on the next one."
