To continue celebrating games creativity, Scottish Games Week returns to Scotland this year with a programme of events taking place across the country from October 30th to November 3rd, 2023.
This year’s SGW will bring back all of the key events from last year’s programme, in new venues, with new partners as well as a focus on collaboration, highlighting the entire games ecosystem from design and development to education and esports.
Key events in SGW23 will include:
- SGW Conference – a two-day industry conference for game creators, publishers, investors and more, which will kick off in Edinburgh on October 30th and 31st
- More Than Games – an exploration of the transformative potential of games in our increasingly digital world, for a non-games-creating audience
- Education Symposium – An invitation-only event focused upon educators in games-related courses
- Scottish Games Awards – A celebration of the talent, creativity and expertise in the Scottish games ecosystem
Brian Baglow, founder and director of Scottish Games Week said, “In 2022, the first ever Scottish Games Week pulled in over 500 people from around the world. Alongside game creators, publishers and indie studios, we pulled in participants including educators, legislators and speakers from the wider creative world.
“In 2023 we plan to build upon the success of last year’s event and produce an even bigger and more inclusive programme, built upon collaboration and reflecting the reality of the global games ecosystem and bringing together every part of the incredible community we have here in Scotland, across the wider UK and beyond.”
In addition to the key events in the programme, the organisers of SGW are actively looking for partners and collaborators to join the programme and to create fringe and satellite events as part of the whole festival.
Celebrating the gaming ecosystem
“The inaugural Scottish Games Week in 2022 shone the spotlight on Scotland’s impressive gaming sector and all of the talented organisations and individuals involved,” said Richard Lochhead, Minister for Small Business, Innovation & Trade.
SGW23 will celebrate all aspects of the global games ecosystem and the creators, educators and pioneers working in Scotland. The key themes for this year’s events are: design, build, grow, play and learn – with proposals for talks, presentations, panels, performances and other creative ideas opening soon.
Lochhead added that gaming and all associated creative industries are crucial to Scotland’s digital future and will play an imperative towards a well-being economy.
“It is great to announce the Scottish Government will support the 2nd Scottish Games Week through the Scottish Tech Ecosystem Review programme,” said Lochhead.
SGW is being delivered by the Scottish Games Network with support from the Scottish Government’s Ecosystem Fund, delivered as part of its Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review (STER) programme.
To find out more about Scottish Games Week 2023, sign up for the mailing list from the official website.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
