After a mixed start last year, the Electronic Arts UK boss is heading up LGF this year.

It will run slightly later, during the school half-term of Monday October 22nd to Friday October 26th, and will again feature a range of events. But this time the target will be media attention ahead of anything else.

“Last year was embryonic and it was fine, Rob Cooper at Ubisoft did a great job, but very few publishers did anything tangible and very few people attended the conference,” Ramsdale told MCV.

“This industry is going places and the media should be shouting about it, taking our stories to the consumers. This isn’t about the industry, it’s about games. They are the key to getting more attention.”

With support from the London Development Agency guaranteed for only one more year, there is pressure on LGF.

“If we can pull it off, there could be more funding going forward, and that’s from everywhere – including big sponsors who want to be associated with games,” Ramsdale added. “If the format holders and big publishers can get behind it, then we have a real chance.
“EA will prioritise this event over the Edinburgh International Games Festival.”

RAMSDALE’S LONDON CHARTER

For the London Games Festival to succeed in its crucial second year, the EA UK boss will rely on four key factors…

- Full support from Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, EA, Ubisoft and other leading publishers

- Media coverage being targeted way ahead of consumer experience or trade events

- Publisher PR departments to get involved - properly

- EA itself to focus on London ahead of Edinburgh