UK's largest gaming festival, Insomnia, coming to Edinburgh

Stars of YouTube and Twitch will take to the stage at the 72-hour event that aims to put a spotlight on Scotland's world class gaming credentials.
Insomnia, the UK's largest gaming festival, is coming to Edinburgh's EICC. Picture: MultiplayInsomnia, the UK's largest gaming festival, is coming to Edinburgh's EICC. Picture: Multiplay
Insomnia, the UK's largest gaming festival, is coming to Edinburgh's EICC. Picture: Multiplay

Insomnia, the UK’s largest gaming festival, is coming to Edinburgh’s EICC at the end of the month (Friday 29 April to Monday 2 May) - when thousands of gamers from across Scotland and the UK will descend on the capital for 3 days of non-stop gaming activities.

Scotland has been home to some of the world’s most successful video game developers and in 2015 the country’s booming computer games industry saw the number of firms in the sector soar from just 15 in 2010 to 100 in last year.

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To celebrate the nation’s gaming ecosystem the EICC will be transformed into an all-purpose gaming hub and will play host to a number of special guests from the gaming world including Youtubers Gizzy Gazza and Scotland’s Nilesy.

Guests will be able to watch live interactive stage shows, play games from all areas of the gaming spectrum, take a nostalgic trip back in gaming history in the retro zone and much more.

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A number of educational exhibitions will be held in order to help encourage children into the digital industries.

BBC Build it Scotland - the broadcaster’s flagship digital technology initiative - will have an exhibition at Insomnia Scotland which will give budding architects the chance to create Scotland’s most popular landmarks digitally using popular building game Minecraft.

Insomnia is organised by Multiplay, a subsidiary of the UK’s leading video game specialist, GAME Digital.

Craig Fletcher, Founder and CEO of Multiplay said: “To have Insomnia Scotland as a platform to present an enjoyable and interactive form of education to thousands of visitors is a great addition to the festival.

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“Children will get the chance to be creative using the popular game Minecraft and other digital processes to help unearth the future architects, developers, and coders of Scotland.”

Marshall Dallas, EICC Chief Executive said: “Edinburgh and Scotland boast a reputation for having some of the best games developers and gamers in the world and we’re really excited to be bringing a gaming festival of this magnitude to the EICC for the first time. It is also unique for the team here as we’ll be open through the night right through the weekend to accommodate continuous gaming.”

Visit the Insomnia Scotland homepage for more details.

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