Insomnia51 gaming festival draws record 20,000 attendance

Multiplay’s gaming festival Insomnia51 scored its biggest ever crowd across the Easter weekend.

Over 20,000 gamers turned out for the first Insomnia event of 2014 and the highest attendance for Multiplay in its 17-year history.

It smashed the figures for last year’s 50th anniversary event, which prompted the move to a bigger venue in Coventry’s Ricoh Arena.

eSports proved to be one of the biggest drivers behind Insomnia51, which saw rising entries across the board for the show’s PC and console tournaments following the introduction of the new console eSports arena.

Hosted by We’ve Got Game’s Matt Littler and Darren Jefferies, the Insomnia51 line-up featured Minecraft, indie, retro and tabletop gaming zones, in addition to the UK’s biggest LAN gaming halls.

The show’s Main Stage also returned to host a variety of YouTube’s gaming celebs, panels and meet and greet sessions.

There is no equivalent to the Insomnia Gaming Festival in the UK. There’s no single event that combines the LAN halls, the tournaments, the exhibition, the special guests, the stage activities, all into a single weekend-long gaming-focused festival experience,” said Craig Fletcher, CEO and founder of Multiplay.

With each passing year Insomnia grows bigger and better, in no small part due to our incredible community and the fantastic partners we work with. With our summer plans for Insomnia52, 2014 is shaping up to be an unstoppable year for Multiplay events.”