Gaming has taken off in a big way but it’s not just about playing at home or online with your friends, there are now many opportunities to go and test out the best new games and meet the creators in person. Gamer Network runs some of the most popular gaming events in the UK with EGX and EGX Rezzed. We talked to CEO and founder Rupert Loman about his inspiration for the events, the future of gaming, and what to expect from them in 2015.

Tell us about the Gamer Network, how did you get to be running 100,000 people events?

Gamer Network has been running since 1999 and we started out creating editorial websites such as Eurogamer.net. The company was founded by my brother and I and we were very much video game enthusiasts. It wasn’t until 2008 that EGX came about. The thinking at the time was that we had an avid online community reading the content and participating in the community but no real central meeting point for them. So in 2008 we hosted the first event in the Old Truman Brewery in London. It was basically an opportunity for people to come together, play in some tournaments and have a good time. We sold out the 4,000 tickets we put on sale very quickly.

From there, we’ve just been expanding on the success of that first year. Now EGX is in its seventh year – and we had 75,000 attending in 2014. Next year we’re making the move to the NEC in Birmingham. The principles are still the same – get the community together to share their passion for games – but the show has grown beyond all recognition. As well as many more people attending we get the latest unreleased games from PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo and have some great sponsors in Virgin Media and GAME – as well as many other exhibitors. It’s become an event where gamers get to test out what is new and the timing is perfect as a pre-Christmas showcase for the games industry.

EGX is our big event and covers all aspects of gaming culture – it now reaches far beyond our own website communities and is beginning to attract families as well as hardcore gamers. Our other event is EGX Rezzed, which is in its fourth year. This event is much smaller, with nearly 15,000 people attending and is focused on indie and PC gaming. This year it is being run in partnership with BAFTA, which is a really exciting development. It has a few different elements to EGX – with more on of an emphasis on finding out how games get made, how to get into the games industry, and allowing attendees to speak to the creators.

Are you seeing gaming events across the world changing and do you think we’re leading the way or following here in the UK?

EGX is constantly evolving and adapting with the trends. We’re always looking at broadening out the activities that are happening at our events. After hours parties, the careers fair, cosplay, eSports, board games – all of these elements have definitely become more important over the years as we’ve grown. We talk to a lot of other event organisers around the world and learn from them – and equally sometimes they are inspired by us as well. There are some great gaming events across Europe and in the US but some of the aspects of EGX are unique.

How long does it take you to put together this sort of event?

When we only had one event per year there was quite a lot of downtime between each show, so having the six-monthly cycle for each event now works well – for us, for the community, for exhibitors. So it’s pretty much a year-round operation now, both working on the next event as well as laying the groundwork for subsequent ones as well.

What do you look for in a great venue and why are you switching them this year?

We were faced with a unique scenario this year in that Earls Court is being knocked down! So even though we had become comfortable running the event there we needed to find an alternative. But as it happens, we were reaching capacity there anyway and the infrastructure was quite challenging so the prompt to move to NEC came at the right time – it presents some great opportunities for us to do some things differently and also gives us capacity to keep growing. It’s much easier to run an event at a dedicated exhibition venue like the NEC in Birmingham, plus it’ll be easier for more people around the UK to get there too.

How do you spread the word about your events?

The gaming community are very connected, and we have a really strong following on Twitter and Facebook. Plus we have 20 million users per month visiting our websites, so it’s not hard for us to get the word out about our events. Our own attendee database is growing and we have very high percentage of returning visitors. Plus, working with our partners such as Virgin Media, GAME, BAFTA and so on helps as they have their own huge reach that we can tap in to as well.

How have you found Eventbrite for the ticketing? What made you change to Eventbrite this year?

When we started our events we built our own ticketing system. This was great because at the time there wasn’t anything suitable available off the shelf and we could create the exact functionality we needed. It served us well but ultimately it was not the best use of our time to keep that system maintained and updated when there are specialists such as Eventbrite doing this kind of thing so well – and our focus is better spent on things only we can do.

By moving EGX to Eventbrite we benefit from all of the ongoing ticketing system improvements and new features that they are implementing, whilst freeing up our time to work on other elements of the event. Plus the social sharing functionality and being in things like the Eventbrite newsletters and directories allows our events to be discovered by a whole new potential audience.

What advice would you give to an aspiring event organiser?

Other than using Eventbrite of course! The events business can be a great one to be in – but the stakes are very high too. We quite often see events announced and then they just don’t happen, which really isn’t great. It’s been a learning experience for us and very different to our website business – if we make a mistake with our websites we can fix it easily in an instant, but there are some things – like taking people’s money for tickets – that comes with a lot of responsibility. You need to plan everything in advance and some things just can’t be fixed on the day, so you need to think everything through. I would definitely say that you need to take things like insurance and health and safety very seriously. And definitely put the attendee and exhibitor experience first. It also helps if you’re doing something you’re passionate about!

Where can people go to find out more about your upcoming events?

Tickets for EGX Rezzed at Tobacco Dock, London on 12-14 March are on sale now on Eventbrite.

EGX 2015 will take place at the NEC in Birmingham from 24 – 27 September 2015. Tickets are due to go on sale early next year but keep an eye on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news.

If you’re planning an upcoming gaming event, why not use Eventbrite?

Sign-up today, it’s free!