Checkpoint Festival 2025: A celebration of Europe's playful video games renaissance

• A first-of-its-kind international festival in Rome uniting global leaders, academics, and creatives to explore video games as art, heritage, and social catalysts.
• Featuring industry figures from Ukie, IIDEA, and more for a two-day programme reframing games’ cultural and societal impact.
• Hosted at the GAMM Game Museum, this four-day event blends heritage, innovation, and inclusion in-person and online.

A first-of-its-kind international gathering exploring video games as culture will take place this November in Rome. Checkpoint Festival, presented by Women in Games, CSAI, and the GAMM Game Museum, is a four-day boutique event celebrating the cultural power of play – uniting global leaders, academics, and creatives from across the games industry.

Blending heritage, innovation, and community, Checkpoint Festival will open at the GAMM Game Museum, Rome, on November 13th. It will feature a two-day curated programme of talks, panels, and forums designed to reframe how games are understood and valued — not just as entertainment but as art, culture, and social catalysts. The conference will also be live-streamed via Women in Games’ RingCentral platform.

Games as culture: Thought leaders at the forefront

Among the keynote sessions are two pivotal talks by European trade bodies, Ukie and IIdea, on shaping the international conversation around games and society:

• Nick Poole OBE, CEO of Ukie, will open the festival with ‘The Power of Play to Shape Society’, exploring how recognising games as culture is key to building an inclusive, globally significant creative sector.
• Thalita Malagò, Director General of IIDEA, will follow with ‘Elevating Italian Identity Through Games’, offering an inside view into Italy’s growing role as both cultural curator and creative powerhouse within the games industry.

These sessions set the tone for two days of deep conversation on video game culture and the culture of video games, spanning preservation, diversity, and the future of interactive media.

A boutique festival for meaningful exchange

Unlike large-scale trade shows, Checkpoint Festival is deliberately intimate and designed to encourage thoughtful dialogue and collaboration between industry leaders, policymakers, academics, and creatives.

Hosted at the GAMM Game Museum – Rome’s museum entirely dedicated to video games as cultural heritage – the event’s setting itself underscores its mission: to celebrate games as art, history, and identity.

This inaugural festival is also supported by CSAI, with the Women in Games Forum fully integrated into the programme.

Tickets for the festival are just €15; you can attend in person or virtually. The conference schedule includes:

Thursday, November 13th – Curating the past: Games as heritage, history and culture

• Welcome by the Hosts: Marco Accordi Rickards, GAMM Game Museum & Dr Marie-Claire Isaaman, Women in Games
• Video Games & Culture: The Power of Play to Shape Society – Nick Poole OBE, Ukie
• Cultural Code: Elevating Italian Identity Through Games – Thalita Malagò, IIDEA
• Expanding Horizons: Women, Culture, and the Future of Games – Micaela Romanini, Women in Games Italia
• Saving Play: Preserving Games for Future Generations – Andreas Lange, EFGAMP; Natalia Kovalainen, Embracer Games Archive; Bartosz Kwietniewski, GOG; moderated by Marco Accordi Rickards
• New Horizons: Technology and the Future of Play – Roberto Genovesi, Rai Kids
• Flock XR: Inspiring the Next Generation of Game Developers – Dr Tracy Gardner, Co-Founder and CTO, Flip Computing
• Storytelling, Heritage, and Innovation: Screamer – Speaker from Milestone TBC

Friday, November 14th – Questioning the present: Culture, inclusion, and innovation

• Keywords & Women in Games: Building Inclusive Communities for Lasting Change – Athena Maria Enderstein, Keywords Studios
• When Worlds Collide - Creating Games in a Polarised World – Kate Edwards, Geogrify / SetJetters
• Localisation, Culturalization, and the Art of Connection: Translating Worlds Panel – Micaela Romanini; Francesca Noto, Idra Editing; Valentina Mollica, Testronic
• The Playful Renaissance: Games Beyond the Factory – Dr Chris Lowthorpe & Sean Taylor, PlayHaus
• Gamescom Awards Present 2025: Trends in Gaming – Benjamin Rostalski, Foundation for Digital Games Culture
• Real-Time Emotion and the Future of Immersive Play – Prof. Karen Cham FRSA, Kingston University BRAINS Lab
• Where Respect Becomes Action - Storytelling for Empathy, Inclusion and Integrity - eShodo Studio
• Playable Memories: A Collector’s Journey Through Games and Time – Cayetano Torres, Magical Analytics
• Festival Closing Session: Checkpoint Reflections – Open discussion moderated by speakers and hosts

Marie-Claire Isaaman, CEO, Women in Games and co-host of Checkpoint Festival, said: “Checkpoint Festival represents a moment of reflection and renewal for our industry. By bringing together cultural institutions, policy leaders, and creative pioneers, we are asserting that games are more than products — they are powerful expressions of human creativity and cultural identity. Rome, with its history of art and ideas, is the perfect place for this dialogue to begin.”

Marco Accordi Rickards, director of CSAI and GAMM Game Museum and co-host of Checkpoint Festival, said:“Games are not just entertainment, they are vessels of memory, imagination, and cultural identity. When we tell stories through interactivity, we are not only preserving our heritage but reinventing it for future generations. Innovation is, in the end, the most powerful form of remembrance.”

Following the two days of discussions and panels, the GAMM Game Museum Rome will host two more days — on Saturday, November 15th, and Sunday, November 16th — of showcases, interactive workshops, and more.

For the full schedule, speaker line-up, and to purchase tickets, head here.