Speakers have been announced for the first Scottish Games Week

The list of guest speakers has been announced for the first ever Scottish Games Week, an event taking place between October 24 and October 28, 2022 that intends to celebrate a wide variety of creative disciplines and specialities from across Scotland’s games industry. The event is delivered by the Scottish Games Network and has been supported by the Scottish Government’s Ecosystem Fund.

Industry leaders, figureheads and experts will attend three events, the Education Symposium in Edinburgh, More Than Games in Glasgow and the Scottish Games Week Industry Conference in Dundee. The extensive list of guests includes industry pioneers like Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines’ David Mullich, Quake 3’s Graeme Devine, 4Players Patty Toledo and more.

“I’m thrilled to be participating in the first-ever Scottish Games Week and celebrating Scotland’s thriving game industry.  It’s an honour to be in a gathering of such an innovative and accomplished game development community.” said Mullich. 

More Than Games (October 24) 

More Than Games will take place in Glasgow on the 24th of October, and the event promises to be one ‘ highlighting the transformative potential of the games ecosystem to the wider digital and creative industries’ with ‘presentations, provocation and panels’. The following industry people will be in attendance at the event: 

• Jamie Bankhead (CEO at Konglomorate Games)
• Mick Cooke (Composer at MakeFire Music)
• HaZ Dulull (Producer/Director at HaZimation)
• John Gordon (CEO at Incentive Games)
• Chris Hainsworth (CFO at The Game CFO)
• Elena Höge (Founder of Yaldi Games)
• Houston Howard (Chief Storyteller at One 3 Creative)
• Neil McPhillips (Head of Games at Blazing Griffin)
• John Thornewill (Co-Founder and CEO at Zappaty)

Education Symposium (October 25) 

The Education Symposium in Edinburgh is set to educators, institutions, stakeholders and students across Scotland together to take part in workshop sessions and debates around the nature of teaching video games in Scotland if it wants to compete in the global games ecosystem.

Guests attending the Education Symposium include:

• Brian Baglow (Founder and director of the Scottish Games Network, Lecturer at Edinburgh University and Editor in Chief of PocketGamer.biz)
• Julie Drybrough – chair (Founder and CEO of fuchsia blue)
• Dr Amanda Ford (Lecturer in Computing at West College Scotland)
• William Huber (Head of Centre for Excellence in Game Education at Abertay University)

SGW Industry Conference (October 27 – 28)

The Scottish Games Week Industry Conference will take place over two days in Dundee, which is a place that has often been at the forefront of the games industry in Scotland. At the conference, guests will get to hear from games industry innovators from all over the world, each bringing with them their own unique insights on video games and their production. 

The list of speakers will include:

• Mitchell Baxter (Director, Designer at Lazy Monday Games)
• Lisa Bennett (Manager at Dimoso Scotland)
• Craig Chapple (EMEA Mobile Insights Strategies at Sensor Tower)
• Graeme Devine (Creative Technical Officer at QXR Studios)
• Stephen Hey (Consultant at HeyStephenHey)
• Vaughan Holloway (CEO at Primordial Game Studios)
• Simon Meek (Founder of The Secret Experiment)
• David Mullich (Designer and Director of Heroes of Might and Magic III)
• Patty Toledo (Marketing Director at 4Players)
• Brentton White (CEO at North Sea Games)

“The global games ecosystem is far larger and extends much further than the games industry. It encompasses education, creative industries, applied games, academia and much, much more. For the first ever Scottish Games Week we wanted to reflect this ecosystem and pull in speakers from around the whole who can offer perspective, insight and experience that will give context for the ongoing evolution of the world of gaming.” said Brian Baglow, Founder of the Scottish Games Network and Director of Scottish Games Week. “I am thrilled to have so many wonderful speakers joining us at Scottish Games Week and believe we have a world class programme to offer visitors across every event.”

If you’d like to get tickets for Scottish Games Week, you can book them here. Scottish Games Week will also be the host of the Scottish Games Awards, which you can apply for here. 

If you’d like more information on the events during Scottish Games Week, you can find them at gamesweek.scot.