PONCLE KEYNOTE LEADS EXPANDED B2B PROGRAMME AT LONDON GAMES FESTIVAL

Two-day pitching market boasts £247m ‘on the table’ from visiting investors

Expanded programme for developers and professionals includes Self-Publishing Toolkit: Live Sessions and first-ever Games For Change London Summit

‘Games meets film’ convergence event Screen Play features key case studies including insights into Tomb Raider

LONDON, UK – 31st March 2026 – London Games Festival today unveils the final details on its expanded programming for games industry professionals - including a freshly-added keynote featuring creative leadership from Poncle, the BAFTA-winning independent studio behind Vampire Survivors.

The keynote is just one element in a dramatically expanded two-day business to business event at LGF, with the two-day Games Finance Market featuring additional conferences running alongside it: Self Publishing Toolkit: Live Sessions (Tuesday 14 April), and the already-announced Games For Change London Summit (Wednesday 15 April). LGF’s established Screen Play conference is also returning on Wednesday 15 April.

London Games Festival is supported by the Mayor of London and UK Government. It is delivered by Games London, an initiative from Film London, the capital's screen industries agency.

Poncle’s chief strategy officer Matteo Sapio will take part in a live on-stage interview chaired by The Game Business’ Chris Dring. The session will be a shared keynote opening to the Games Finance Market, the UK’s largest curated B2B games event, and its accompanying Self-Publishing summit on Tuesday 14 April.

The Games Finance Market provides an exclusive opportunity for studios to meet with and present their games to top-tier games publishers and investors actively seeking new projects.

This year’s event is the 11th edition and sees a record-breaking total £247m of potential investment on the table for the studios attending, with 38 publishers and investors participating, including international giants Square Enix, Krafton, Tencent Games, SEGA Corporation and many more. A number of international and national delegations are also bringing studios to the market, with representation from Italy (IIDEA and Lazio Innova), Canada (Ontario Creates), Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland Screen) and Sweden (Invest in Skåne).

Although applications to the main market are closed, ticket holders to the Self-Publishing Toolkit event are able to attend the keynote.

“We’re delighted to welcome Poncle to the LGF stage,” said Michael French MBE, head of Games London and LGF’s Festival Director. “With its acclaimed and compelling Vampire Survivors helping redefine how smaller games studios can go direct to market for critical and commercial success, we’re looking forward to getting Matteo’s insight into games making and industry collaboration. The keynote spearheads a busy two days of business to business activity at London Games Festival which features our once again sold-out Games Finance Market, and a jam-packed line up of over 60 speakers across three significant industry conferences.”

Tuesday 14 April also sees the launch of Games London’s brand-new Self-Publishing Toolkit, an online resource supported by the BFI National Lottery. The toolkit is a free online resource designed to support game developers who want to self-publish their work.

Spearheading the launch on the same day is Self-Publishing Toolkit: Live Sessions, a one-day programme of sessions that offer practical experience-led insight from industry experts who have successfully shipped games without relying on traditional publishers.

Speakers include Jon Ingold (inkle), Sophie Smart (Blossom Arcade), Madison Plantier (Secret Mode), Gwen Foster (Sad Owl Studios), Jennifer Schneidereit (Nyamyam), Phil Mansel (Jagex), Cassia Curran (Curran Games Agency), Guy Richards (Xbox), Rob Hewson (Huey Games), Steve Stopps (Excalibur Games) and Jarvs Tasker (Happy Volcano).

The Self-Publishing Toolkit: Live Sessions will take place on Tuesday, 14th April, 10:30am - 6pm at Leonardo Royal Hotel London Tower Bridge. Ticket holders are also able to attend the Poncle keynote.

Day two of the Games Finance Market is accompanied by the new Games For Change London Summit, the first ever UK edition of the internationally recognised Games for Change programme. Games for Change has empowered game creators, students, educators, and social innovators to drive real-world impact through games and immersive media for over 20 years. After the continued success of its flagship festival in New York, London has been selected to host this landmark UK summit, chaired and programmed by George E. Osborn, Video Games Industry Memo editor and author of the forthcoming non-fiction book Power Play.

The theme of the festival’s Games for Change summit is Community Channelled and will feature a single main stage track of talks and panels, a workshop hosted by UNICEF exploring its RITEC (Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children) framework, and an afternoon of 12 roundtable discussions, all dedicated to three goals: building games and game communities that develop prosocial behaviour; turning those positive behaviours towards achieving digital and real-world impact; scaling the power of game communities through effective partnerships and advocacy.

Games For Change London brings together 44 speakers from games, civil society, and beyond, with confirmed partners including Roblox, Good Game Club, Catalyst, and UNICEF. Headlining from the global games industry are Ben Golant (Senior Director of Global Video Game Policy, Tencent), Laura Higgins (Senior Director of Community Safety & Civility, Roblox), Justin Edwards (Director of Learning Experiences, Minecraft) and Maya Hofree (General Manager for Hay Day, Supercell). UK voices include Lord Gascoigne from the House of Lords, Benjamin Austwick and Sarah Bissell from Great Ormond Street Hospital, and Maria Sayans, CEO of ustwo games.

The full Games for Change London schedule will be published in this Thursday’s issue of Video Games Industry Memo.

Another of LGF’s tentpole conferences is also running on Wednesday 15 April - Screen Play, now in its third edition exploring the increasingly complex relationship between the screen industries of games, film, TV, animation and beyond.

This year’s Screen Play is themed around how crucial worldbuilding has become to facilitate positive collaborations between the various areas of the creative industries.

The event takes place on the Wednesday afternoon at BFI Southbank’s iconic NFT1 theatre and is supported by Tencent Games. The event features a speaker line-up that includes key experts from across the works of games and film, sharing insights and case studies, including: Stephane Decroix (Tencent Games), Ryan Geddes (Riot Games), Ben Smith, Victoria Justice, and Hollie Jones (Rebellion), BAFTA-winner Nihal Tharoor (Scriptic) and Academy Award winner Andrew Ruhemann (Passion Pictures).

London Games Festival is also proud to bring returning speakers Helene Juguet (Ubisoft) and Simon Pulman (Pryor Cashman) back to the Screen Play stage - plus Story Kitchen, whose Dmitri M Johnson and Dallas Dickinson will share insights into how they have worked on bringing new versions of Tomb Raider to screens.

More information and all these one-day summits can be found at www.games.london - tickets on sale at https://tickets.games.london.

Now in its 11th year, the London Games Festival is supported by the Mayor of London and delivered by Games London, an initiative from Film London. This year also sees the festival welcome extended support from the UK Government, as part of its Modern Industrial Strategy.

The festival is supported by a number of key industry partners including Alliotts, BAFTA Games Awards, Coutts, Department for Business & Trade, Devolver Digital, Hasbro, Limit Break, Mishcon de Reya, Performance Insurance, Taylor Wessing, Tencent and Ustwo Games.

London Games Festival in numbers: 102,000 people overall visited LGF 2025 across its 26 different events, including 5,000 industry visitors representing 31 countries. Across Side Events and ticketed activity run directly by Games London 48% of 2025 visitors were from outside of London (39% London, 14% International).

For regular updates from London Games Festival and Games London, sign up for the weekly newsletter at www.games.london or follow @londongamesfest. For partnership enquiries contact partnerships@games.london

About Games London

Games London is a groundbreaking programme delivered by Film London, the capital’s screen industries agency, and UK games industry trade body Ukie. The project is backed by the Mayor of London with funding worth of £1m+ over three years.

The Games London programme includes a number of initiatives to make London the games capital of the world. It re-established the London Games Festival in April 2016. Other areas of activity include inbound and outbound trade missions and work connecting and supporting games development skills in London.