[Event news] FORMATGG announces return to Liverpool

This is a press release posted in addition to our usual editorial content.

FORMATGG: The Ultimate Gaming Social, Europe’s largest games industry social event, is officially returning to Liverpool on Friday, October 2nd, 2026, with its biggest and most ambitious Liverpool edition to date, taking place at BOXPARK Liverpool. 

Over the last as decade, FORMAT Group has grown from a small gamers and game developers meetup taking place in Manchester’s Northern Quarter to a goliath of a games industry event housing some of the world’s leading games industry brands, studios, community leaders, businesses, music artists, technology, and more, which sees 1000–1500 attendees across all three nights of its iconic event season. And it will be making its way to the heart of Liverpool this October.

FORMAT Group has put the UK on the map as the sole owner of Europe’s leading games industry social event movement and acts as a platform to unite the game development, content creation, and gaming community of the video games, media, tech, and entertainment industries, uniting businesses and individuals alike through a beautiful blend of video game and traditional nightlife culture.

The festival houses three separate evenings of events consisting of the following:

• FORMAT’s signature, RE: FORMAT games industry games and tech summit which acts as an opportunity for FORMAT’s international delegates, exhibitors, partners, sponsors, industry business leaders, key figures, investors, game publishers, press, and more to come together for an evening of business networking, keynote presentations and panels, and forging meaningful business connections.

Please see this year’s speakers lineup here

• FORMAT: The Ultimate Gaming Social, which is FORMAT Group’s main marquee event, sees consumers and delegates travel from all over the UK, Europe, US, Asia, India, and more for an evening of trying out the latest video game and technology releases from AAA, AA, and indie game studios, live music and performance entertainment, esports, industry content creators livestreaming the games on showcase events to their global audiences, and most importantly, an evening of good food, good drinks, and making memories.
  (https://format.gg/)

• FORMAT: After Hours, the official after party event of FORMAT: The Ultimate Gaming Social, in which 150–300 attendees, ranging from gamers, game studios, and community leaders, for a continuation of celebrating FORMAT uniting the global games industry together through business networking.
  (https://www.skiddle.com/e/41370794) 

Prominent studios and brands exhibiting at this year’s FORMATGG Liverpool consist of:

• Tik Tok Live
• Razer
• Wired2Fire
• Secret Mode
• Xsolla
• Team Coalesce Esports
• IMPRNT Studios
• Fundamental Games
• The South Asian Gaming Zone
• Lots of Bugs Studios
• + 20+ game studio showcases and brand activations

The event will also feature prominent UK gaming and entertainment live acts at from the event, such as

• Ready Singer One – The UK’s number one gaming choir
• Lucia La Rezza
• The Just Dancers
• The Tik Tok Live Finals
• The Rave RPG – Matt Frequencies
• DJ Basha
• The Techno Spartans
• Lay Marie
• BEKIMACHINE & Audeo
• + More

FORMAT Group’s return to Liverpool announcement has been met with enormous praise and huge welcomes from prominent Liverpool city region game industry leaders, business leaders, game studios, brands, and the gaming community within Liverpool, and FORMAT Group’s founder and CEO, Simran Whitham, had the following to say regarding the festival’s expansion news:

“We can’t wait to bring the ultimate gaming social back to Liverpool this October  with three days of our signature games industry events, where we’ll be welcoming consumers and international delegates from global brands and companies across the world to the city of Liverpool this October for the UK’s best celebration of gaming culture”

We’d like to thank all our amazing partners, studios, and friends in the industry who have made our return to the city of Liverpool possible, especially our loyal partners at Escape Technology, Wired2Fire, and SAE Institute who have propelled FORMATGG to return to Liverpool this October.

FORMAT will be working very closely with Liverpool’s local creative and digital sector over the course of 2026 to collaborate closely with Liverpool’s games industry leadership to shape the festival for the local market and help shine a light on the growing Liverpool game development scene.

The FORMAT Group team has announced the official launch dates for FORMATGG Liverpool will be October 1st – 3rd , so make sure to make a note in your calendars for when Europe’s leading games industry nightlife festival makes its way to Liverpool.

Tickets available here:

FORMATGG: The Ultimate Gaming Social

RE:FORMAT Liverpool Games Summit