London Games Festival’s core events will significantly expand in 2026 – providing more ways to showcase games to the public and more business opportunities for professionals.

LGF 2026 will run for its eleventh edition in 2026, taking place from Monday 13 April to Sunday 19 April. London Games Festival is supported by the Mayor of London and delivered by Games London, an initiative from Film London. From 2026 the event will also welcome extended support from the UK Government, as announced earlier in the year as part of the Modern Industrial Strategy.

This additional funding will allow the festival to increase the opportunities at its key events, and create an additional £30m worth of investment back into the games industry every year. London is already the biggest games cluster in Europe, home to over hundreds of games businesses, and a workforce over 13,000. Since it started in 2016, Games London has helped facilitate £110m worth of completed deals and software sales for games studios, which has led to the creation of 900 jobs.

London Games Festival expanded events and activity next year include:

Games Finance Market, Tuesday 14 April & Wednesday 15 April – The festival’s central B2B event will maintain its core of hundreds of high-quality, curated studio-to-investor pitch meetings but will add additional strands for codevelopment and self-published games
New Game Plus, Thursday 16 April & Friday 17 April – The new consumer expo delivered by London Games Festival will move to a new venue – Exhibition in White City – doubling its exhibition space to house a wider selection of games, and provide access to thousands more attendees
Plus the festival’s respected Official Selection – which has proudly championed indie hits like Dredge, Schim and Thank Goodness You’re Here over the years – will also add ways for experimental games artists to submit their works

Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, said: “It’s great news that the London Games Festival will return bigger and better than ever before next year. For over a decade it has grown from strength to strength, successfully drawing crowds from all over the world to visit and do business in London. Its expansion and move to a bigger venue, shows its significance and confirms London’s position as a world leading gaming capital, as we continue to build a better London for everyone.” ​

Ian Murray, Creative Industries Minister said:: “Video games are a thriving part of our creative industries, which the Government is backing by increasing investment in these sectors from £17 billion to £31 billion by 2035 as part of the Creative Industries Sector Plan. The London Games Festival is a fantastic celebration of the talent that the UK’s gaming industry has, from cutting edge visual designers, innovative developers and more.”