Scottish Games Week will be returning in 2023, the second instalment of the event and the only one of its kind in Scotland.

SGW, which is delivered by the Scottish Games Network, will be held from October 30 to November 3 and begin with a two day conference on October 30 to the 31, across a variety of to-be-confirmed locations across Scotland.

The event organisers have put out a call for partners, collaborators and those looking to organise satellite and fringe events around the whole festival itself. Want to be part of the actions? Get in touch with the team here.

For this year the key themes are, “Design, Build, Grow, Play and Learn.” With key events including the SGW Conference, the More Than Games event for non-creator audiences, Education Symposium and finally the Scottish Game Awards - a celebration of the Scottish gaming ecosystem.

What’s the aim this year?

Founder and director of Scottish Games Week, Brian Baglow also stated the aims of SGW in 2023 to build on their inaugural year’s success “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.”

Scotland, like the North of England and Wales has been an increasingly important part of the British gaming ecosystem that has historically centred around the capital of London. Events like Scottish Game Week not only help to highlight game-making and game business in this area, but also to show the benefits they bring to the local economies and communities.

Scottish Games Week itself has managed to surpass the difficult hurdling block of their initial organisation. With the event now up for an MCV/Develop award, hopefully the second instalment will be able to live up to and even surpass the first.

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