Over 200 stakeholders in global Esports brands attended the Science Museum last week (Tuesday 27th February) for the Esports Summit, which the museum hosted in partnership with London & Partners, the business growth and destination agency for London.
The third edition of the summit focussed on how London can become the European capital of esports and video games, with a keynote from Leanne McGowan, Director of Global Esports at Riot, who discussed the huge success of the recent League of Legends World Championships in South Korea. She also hinted at some exciting plans for the final of the 2024 League of Legends World Championship in London later this year.
Hosted in the impressive IMAX: The Ronson Theatre, Leanne’s keynote was followed by a panel discussion examining how we build London’s esports and ecosystem with Andrew Haworth from BLAST, Heather Dower from Hotdrop, Georgina Macauley from Fnatic and Professor Philip Wilson.
Following the main content sessions, attendees put their gaming skills to the test during networking drinks in Power Up, the museum’s new hands-on gaming experience. The gallery showcases the best video games and consoles spanning 50 years from Pong to Pacman, Minecraft to Mario.
Jodie Guilford, Business Development and Marketing Manager at the Science Museum, comments: “With the focus of the summit centred around bringing esports events to London, this was a great opportunity for us to showcase the museum as an ideal venue for attendees to host future events. The summit was hugely insightful, and it was great to see everyone so invested in the video games in Power Up during the networking drinks.”
Ailsa Buck, Head of Major Events & City Experience at London & Partners, adds: “London’s creative scene is really thriving, and the esports and gaming sector is a big part of it. This week’s summit was great, bringing together the best in the industry to show what it can do. We’ve had some really useful talks and learned a lot. Power Up was fantastic, showing London’s strong support for gaming. The future looks bright, and we’re excited to be part of it.”
AV for the event was managed by Equip, while Food by Dish provided drinks and canapes.
