Member Article

Record crowd at UK’s largest gaming festival

A record crowd was set at the UK’s largest gaming festival at the Ricoh Arena as fans travelled from as far away as Australia and America.

Insomnia52, organised by Multiplay, attracted tens of thousands of gaming enthusiasts to take part in a variety of competitive gaming tournaments, play the latest PC and Console games and meet YouTube stars such as Syndicate of TheSyndicateProject, Ali-A and The Yogscast.

The entire Ricoh Arena was taken over by Insomnia52 with a huge marquee being put in the stadium which featured a Festival Arena Stage with a variety of shows including DJs to entertain fans on the opening night for the first time.

In the Jaguar Exhibition Hall, gamers of all ages were involved in fierce prize competitions while booths from major companies showed off their wares, including the upcoming FIFA 15 from EA Sports and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel from 2K Games.

Organisers are already planning their return to the Ricoh Arena for the Winter Gaming Festival between Friday, November 21 and Monday, November 24.

“At this event we’ve had more activities than ever before, allowing us to pull in our biggest ever audience with a footfall of almost 30,000,” said Craig Fletcher, CEO and Founder of Multiplay.

“We had a main stage in a marquee for the first time, allowing us to best utilise the space at the Ricoh Arena. All our activities, especially the evening ones, were greatly received by the crowd.

“We are still collating customers’ feed-back but so far everyone has said it was the best gaming festival they have been to. We’re looking forward to continuing that success through our upcoming winter event Insomnia53.”

Justine Hewitt, stadium manager at the Ricoh Arena, said the venue had been buzzing throughout the four days of the festival.

She said: “This was the biggest and best Insomnia Gaming Festival yet and the second we have held at the Ricoh Arena.

“The Insomnia Gaming Festival showcases the flexibility of the Ricoh Arena since every hotel room was booked along with all the conference and exhibition suites as well as the outdoor space – and the camping sites on the perimeter of the venue were well used once again. We enjoyed it almost as much as those who attended!”

Early bird BYOC tickets for November 21-24 are already available, with all other ticket types launching soon. For more information visit: http://insomniagamingfestival.com/tickets/

Staff will now turn their attention to preparing the Ricoh for the next programme of events taking place which includes the return of Coventry City on Friday, September 5 when they play Gillingham.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matt Joyce .