LONDON, UK – 17th July 2026 – London Games Festival will expand a number of its core events for 2027 with a move to the Business Design Centre as its central venue next year.
Public showcase New Game Plus, flagship business to business event Games Finance Market and a number of industry conferences and networking activity will be hosted at the exhibition venue in order to host more visitors from across the UK and overseas.
The full London Games Festival will run across Monday 12 April to Monday 19 April in 2027; activity at the Business Design Centre will take place on Thursday 15 April through to Saturday 17 April.
Other events from organiser Games London, including its Ensemble exhibition and Screen Play conference, will still take place at other venues. The BAFTA Games Awards will return to Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre. A renewed partnership with the Victoria & Albert Museum will see a fresh Friday Late focusing on video games, taking place on Friday 16 April. A host of side events from community groups and industry partners are also expected. The festival’s Official Selection will also return, providing a curated line-up of games promoted both in-person at select events and online to international audiences throughout LGF.
London Games Festival is delivered by Games London, an initiative from Film London, the capital’s screen industries agency. Games London is supported by the Mayor of London and UK Government – it is a key part of the national Games Growth Package, part of the Creative Industries Sector Plan.
Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, said: “London is one of the world’s leading cities for games makers, and the London Games Festival has played a major role in that success. Over the last decade, the festival has gone from strength to strength attracting thousands of gamers, developers and industry leaders to the capital. The move to the Business Design Centre reflects this success, allowing the festival to expand even further and welcome more visitors. It is another important step in cementing London’s position as a global gaming capital, as we continue to build a better London for everyone.”
Creative Industries Minister Ian Murray said: “London Games Festival showcases the creativity and innovation that make the UK’s games industry a global success. Through our £30 million Games Growth Package, we’re investing in the festival for the first time, backing the talent and businesses driving the sector forward, and I’m proud to support this celebration of British games.”
In April this year, London Games Festival was host to over 30 events across the city, reaching tens of thousands of attendees – including over 8,000 business to business delegates. Visitors came from 61 countries, with a truly regional split (36% Greater London, 49% rest of UK) and international (15%) across the overall audience of over 100,000 people. Online, the Official Selection’s dedicated Steam sale saw hundreds of millions in impressions with a huge number of wishlists and sales as a result. The overall business pipeline for this year’s festival is already estimated close to £30m.
“We’re excited to be taking a bigger combined suite of events to one single venue next year, making key parts of the festival easier to access and enabling them to grow – while also maintaining a spread of fantastic cultural events across the capital during the festival week thanks to partnerships with BAFTA, V&A and BFI,” said Michael French MBE, director of the London Games Festival.
“The Business Design Centre specifically is a historically important site for the UK games industry – it’s the home to the very first UK video games trade shows nearly 40 years ago. We look forward to showing what a modern, creative and curated spin on a major international games showcase looks like in this iconic venue.”
The confirmed list of events for LGF so far include:
- Screen Play (Wednesday 14 April, BFI Southbank)
- LGF industry programming including the Games Finance Market (Thursday 15 April & Friday 16 April, Business Design Centre)
- New Game Plus (Friday 16 April & Saturday 17 April, Business Design Centre)
- BAFTA Games Awards at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre
- Friday Late: Videogames (Friday 16 April, V&A South Kensington)
- Ensemble (expected to tour various sites, including Business Design Centre on 16 & 17 April)
Details on invited keynote speakers will go live later in the year when ticket sales open. Applications for the Games Finance Market, Official Selection and Ensemble 2027 will open in October, as will wider open speaker calls. A separate call will open soon for Official Side Events.
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