The Scottish Games Network is organizing the first-ever Scottish Games Week, a week-long event that’s focused on video games. The event will take place from October 24-28 2022, and it aims to play a key part in Scotland’s digital future. The event’s program will take place across the whole of Scotland, with events being planned in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee, as well as the Highlands and Islands and Scottish Borders.
With the support from the Scottish Government’s Tech Ecosystem Review (STER) fund, the event will bring the industry together in Scotland this fall. The event’s main page says its goal is:
“From design, development, and publishing, to education and the application of games, the event series will showcase Scotland’s pioneering and diverse games ecosystem and act as a catalyst for a more connected and collaborative sector across Scotland, the UK, and internationally.”
Scottish Games Week’s main event will be:
More Than Games – An event designed for a non-games audience, to help explain the transformative potential of the tools, technologies, and techniques from gaming to other digital tech sectors, the wider creative industries, education, healthcare, the media, and beyond.
Education Symposium – With eleven colleges and seven universities producing graduates with skills in game design, development, and production, Scotland’s talent pipeline is world-class. In the first event of its kind, the symposium will bring together educators and stakeholders from across the education and academic landscape.
Scottish Games Week Conference – A two-day industry conference in Dundee, the heart of Scotland’s gaming heritage, focusing on the cutting edge of game design, development, publishing, funding, and more.
Scottish Games Awards – The first-ever Scottish Games Awards will recognize, reward, and highlight the incredible creativity, technical expertise, business acumen, and pioneering work being carried out across the country’s rapidly evolving games sector.
Satellite Events – The program will also include several events across the whole of Scotland, from the highlands and islands to the borders, focusing on local clusters and topics relevant to each region.
Scottish Games Week wants to bring together the whole industry. From game developers, publishers, and educators as well as the broader games tech ecosystem to streamers, all included.
You can attend all the events in person or via an online stream. The whole event will be hybrid, and of course, the digital bit aims to showcase games and services created in Scotland to a wider audience across the world.
Brian Baglow, director of the Scottish Games Network said:
“The games sector proved to be not just resilient to COVID-19, it positively boomed. In 2022 the global games market is projected to exceed $200 billion dollars for the first time. Scotland’s games industry is the country’s secret weapon. The games ecosystem is far larger and more complex than anyone gives it credit for, with much to offer the wider creative industries, as well as other areas of the digital technology sector.
“Scottish Games Week will give this incredible ecosystem a global platform, showcasing, highlighting, and supporting the incredible work being produced here in Scotland, as well as exploring all of the ways in which the tools, technologies, and techniques from games can be utilized in everything from education to healthcare and Scotland’s future as a digital society.”
Scotland’s Finance and Economy Secretary Kate Forbes said:
“Scottish Games Week builds on the industry’s reputation thanks to advances made in centers of excellence for the industry like Edinburgh and Dundee.
“The games industry will play a key part in Scotland’s digital future and in our economy as a whole and is receiving continued Scottish Government support through the Scottish Tech Ecosystem Fund.
“The Fund is providing support for organizations to deliver meetups and events like Scottish Games Week – which create the best environment for entrepreneurs to succeed.”
If you’re interested in attending or sponsoring any of the events, you can reach the Scotland Games Network team at: [email protected]
You can get book your tickets via the event’s official website.
