With the London Games Festival kicking off tomorrow, Chris Wallace catches up with Michael French and David Lilley to find out more about the festivities, including their brand new consumer event, WASD.

How the London Games Festival is establishing the “games capital of the world”

After two years as an online-only event, festival director Michael French discusses plans to bring the ten-day games celebration back to the streets of the capital
By the end of London Games Festival 2019, more than 97,000 people had attended its events across the city. It was a solid number for an event that was only four years old, and the team behind it was exploring ways to take it past 100,000. Then the pandemic happened. As with so many events, the festival shifted to an digital-only model for 2020 and 2021, hosting activity and content online to keep awareness high and continue connecting developers with publishers and investors as best it could. But far from stunting the event, festival director and head of Games London Michael French tells us the online iterations attracted new audiences, opened new opportunities and "gave us further credence." As such, things are looking up as his team prepares to bring the London Games Festival back to both the capital and browsers next month. Michael French, Games London
"Current indications are pretty strong on people coming in person," he tells GamesIndustry.biz. "But people online or more remote have said that being able to connect with the festival digitally for the last two years has actually helped them get into it in a way that they possibly wouldn't have if they were only allowed to come in person. That's one of the things we've been really mindful of." 2022 will mark the seventh London Games Festival since the event was revived in 2016. Organised by Games London, a division of Film London, delivered in partnership with UKIE and part funded by the Mayor of London's office, the event -- or rather ten-day collection of events -- aims to both support and raise awareness of the games industry ecosystem within the city. French believe this gives the festival a more specific purpose than other events, and comments on how significantly it has grown since that first year. "When we first started, we were new and unproven and now I think we've definitely carved out a space for ourselves and proven the things that matter to us: connecting businesses, promoting games as a cultural medium, and changing perceptions around games." With the festival well-established, the focus becomes on not only continuing the original mission but also catering to a much larger audience -- thanks in part to the pandemic. Last year's online festival attracted more international attendees than ever, with official delegations from various nations (including South Korea, Switzerland and Sweden) as well as individual participants from all over the world. This, too, plays into the London Games Festival's ambitions, says French. "Since day one, this festival has been akin to London Film Festival, London Fashion Week and London Design Week," he explains. "Those take place in London and are about those sectors, but they are for the world. "This festival is akin to London Fashion Week and London Design Week. Those take place in London and are about those sectors, but they are for the world"
"In the first few years, I think people might have thought this was only for London or that only UK people will attend -- and there's an element of truth to that, because that's where we're based. But since then we've had strong international attendance and investors will go anywhere to find a deal. The key for us is to say, 'Well, there's some great London games companies here but we've also got some interesting companies visiting the festival as well.' We were always an international conduit and it's growing, partly off the back of other events falling away or changing shape. People are realising they can pick and choose where they go." With restrictions almost entirely lifted in the UK, Games London is gearing up for the festival's physical return -- something French believes the industry is keen to see. While the games business has shown how adaptive it can be with the deluge of digital events that have been seen in the last two years, folks are also keen to at least have the option to meet up in the real world. "It feels like there are moments where the industry wants to come together in person, and you can complement that with online stuff," says French. "Everybody in events has gone through this journey in the last 18 to 24 months, creating content and more videos and so on, but I think we're all pretty honest with ourselves that some of that stuff doesn't always deliver the return or the audience. Some of it does, and some of it strikes a chord with some people, and those are the things we're carrying through." For its physical events, Games London will, of course, be sticking to the latest guidelines on preventing the spread of COVID-19, as well as carefully choosing the venue for each activity. For example, one key part of the festival will once again be held in the iconic Trafalgar Square, with a focus on art installations rather than asking people to touch controllers. London Games Festival 2022 will mark a return to physical events but there will be online elements as well
As always, events are spread across ten days -- April 1 to 10 -- and range from small exhibitions to large-scale consumer expos. French emphasises that, while the programme can seem daunting, it has always been designed in the knowledge that not everyone has the capacity to spend ten days in London, with his team instead focusing on delivering a variety of events that appeal to different audience. He points to Now Play This as a prime example. Hosted at Somerset House, this exhibition is jointly funded by Games London and the Arts Council, and explores more experimental game design as well as the early germination of video game concepts. "Human behaviour patterns have changed under the pandemic in terms of how people want to attend events"
"If you're an arts practitioner, or just someone who goes to Somerset House regularly, that's the festival element for you," says French. "That's helping grow the footprint of games culturally and in people's minds through that, but then on the flip side we have a conference day called The Next Level, and that's for industry professionals. "There's lots of pockets of things to do that are relevant, three or four of those will be relevant for each person and they get to pick and choose. Which is probably more useful than some of the all-in-one events where everything is under one roof and you have to compress it into a few days. Human behaviour patterns have changed under the pandemic in terms of how people want to attend events." Now Play This also ties into a central tenet of London Games Fesitval: changing perceptions around video games. With the industry already well established as the largest form of entertainment of the year, regularly generating more money than film and music combined (even before the pandemic) why is there still this need to showcase what video games can be to the broader public? "Any creative industry needs to be proactive about proving its worth and the impact it has," says French. "When we first started talking about the festival and changing perceptions, we were thinking about people on the street who might have always been wary of games, didn't know about them, or didn't appreciate that things like Football Manager, Monument Valley, Batman: Arkham Asylum -- some classic games -- were made in this city. "That's what we were talking about then. I think now, given that we're the biggest pastime on the planet and reaching billions of consumers and participants every year, it becomes about the good aspects of games and not just the 'good stories' but also the benefits, the fact that game designers become really skilled and an important part of the art scene. Anywhere we can find ways to tell people about games in a proactive and positive way." Another crucial element of changing perceptions is the Ensemble exhibit, a yearly collection of eight profiles for People of Colour working in the London games industry. This has been a staple of the festival since 2016 -- in fact, it's Ensemble that will be taking over Trafalgar Square -- and French stresses the ongoing importance of initiatives like this. "Everybody sensible knows there's work to do [in terms of industry diversity], and it comes hand in hand with that changing perceptions point: it's also about telling people there's opportunity in this sector. We have to do the work to show everyone that there are people who look like them, whoever they are, in this sector. It is very literally about representation: these are portraits and profiles of people who have had a massive impact in this sector, and that's why that resonates." Now Play This is an exhibition that focuses on experimental game design
New to the festival is WASD Live, an indie games expo held over three days at Tobacco Dock. While not organised directly by Games London, the festival organisers have provided support where they can. The expo fills the void left by the long-running EGX Rezzed, organised by GamesIndustry.biz parent ReedPop and brings a much-needed public attraction to the festival. "There's more money coming into the sector than ever. That's why all these kinds of events still matter"
"Having that consumer element is hugely important, and as soon as it became clear something was coming back to Tobacco Dock, which is a venue people do love, it was a no-brainer for us to do this time-wise with the festival," says French. "And this year we've been able to collaborate more closely -- we're holding the Games Finance Market there, too. "The festival grows with industry support but the consumer side is important too. When you talk about changing perceptions and promoting games, what better than a showcase of all indie games because that's where a lot of the innovation happens?" The Games Finance Market is another element of the London Games Festival that will be hosted both online and in-person, especially given its success in the past two years. French reports that, even when digital, the event was able to create a pipeline of £20 million worth of deals between developers, publishers and investors. "There's more money coming into the sector than ever," he says. "That's why all these kinds of events still matter. It's creating big opportunities in terms of the overall value, but also for people that might not have had a chance." French describes 2022 as a "transition year" for the London Games Festival. While the big news is the return to in-person events, he states that the festival will continue to be hybrid in future with online elements planned alongside the physical ones. This year's festival was made possible with renewed funding from the Mayor of London, and French is optimistic about the event's future. "We get really good support from the Mayor's office, and the GLA [Greater London Authority] just really gets us," he says. "They see games as one of the creative industries on par with the other screen industries as well as fashion, design and dance. Their support has been unwavering. The festival is here to stay, and events like this are really needed for the city as we get into this recovery and post-pandemic period. "We've learned from the past two years that all these events live and die by the support they receive but also the purpose they have. We've always had this specific purpose -- supporting this city, but also making it inclusive and accessible to the whole world -- and I think that's our secret weapon in some ways." Making the games industry better!

The return of the London Games Festival

All commerce is local, goes the saying — and, increasingly, “local” is encompassing a lot more geography. Michael French , vice president of partnerships and alliances at Digital River , said that, increasingly, eCommerce is going cross border — and demanding that firms ship directly into markets. To do so, however, companies have to grapple with a range of challenges as they seek to expand existing customer bases and find new ones. They need to localize checkout and payment options and also satisfy local rules governing tax policies and collection. To help make cross-border expansions less daunting for its customers, Digital River said today (Jan. 18) that it is expanding its cross-border capabilities, including new Asia-Pacific markets. The company said that its new application programming interface (API) integrations help brands gain entrance into new territories more seamlessly. The expansion, the company said, brings the number of “ship-from” markets to 249. Among other key features, French told PYMNTS that the interfaces will give Digital River customers who also use the Avalara tax platform better insight into landed cost at the time of purchase, providing an up-to-the-second calculation of duties, taxes and fees, as well as an estimate for shipping and handling charges. That transparency, he said, can make it easier for companies to close the books. “What we are able to bring to brands is a single, clean, simple reconciliation at the end of every financial period and throughout it that they can get in real time that tells them exactly what the costs were, landed, costs, shipping costs, taxes, how each of those things play out on an order-by-order basis, on their financial results,” he said. A Natural Expansion
Digital River has served customers and clients across more than 200 countries “for quite a while.”  And with the latest expansion, he said, Digital River has been investing more resources on the last mile of the omnichannel experience — the point of delivery goods to mailboxes or doorsteps. Such capabilities are particularly useful to the apparel, health beauty and wellness, and sporting goods verticals, among others. “To the extent a brand doesn't have a direct presence, they are relying on retail, they are relying on a marketplace,” said French — valuable relationships, but being able to ship direct is also a key consideration. But in the move to establish a D2C presence in every market, French said, companies have to contend with multiple — and often contradictory — compliance issues related to taxation, know-your-customer, and anti-money laundering. Brands themselves, of course, often lack the resources for tackling those complexities — and as French told PYMNTS, they should be focused on developing the best products and experiences for their targeted niches, anyway. “I've yet to run into a company or a brand that has said to me, ‘Hey, you know what, it's strategically important to us that we're great at tax,” French quipped. And on that basic business function, to get a sense of just how complex things can get, consider the fact that there are thousands of laws at the state and federal level (in the U.S. alone) that must be considered as companies expand their markets. With the Avalara partnership place, he said, “because we act as merchant and seller of record,  we're not just going to calculate your tax. We're going to collect it, report it … and if there is a need, we’re going to defend [those activities] from an audit standpoint.”
At a high level, said French, the expansion will give brands across all manner of verticals a better grasp of market-by-market fundamentals that simplify the omnichannel experience for consumers. Merchants, he said, will see the same kinds of acceptance rates as they would at brick-and-mortar stores. “With this expansion, we’re putting our chips on cross-border, so to speak,” said French.

Digital River’s Global Expansion Targets Cross Border Payments Complexity for Enterprise Merchants

As part of the GamesIndustry.biz Best Places To Work Awards, we've invited panellists to talk about actionable steps against climate change
As the climate crisis becomes more urgent with every year, every country and every industry needs to find ways to become more sustainable by reducing waste, using renewable energies and pledging to projects such as reforestation efforts. As part of our climate change panel, we've invited four activists to describe their company's journey towards more sustainability and give advice for studios starting their own sustainability efforts. Starting the sustainability journey with Playing For The Planet
Each of the panellists is a member of the Playing For The Planet Alliance , through which their companies commit to measurable commitments to reduce their environmental impact. Playing For the Planet releases an annual impact report detailing in what ways the companies reached the goals they've committed to, as well as their goals for the following year. The alliance also hosts the Green Game Jam, during which studios implement design and implement green content for their  existing games. Miles Jacobson, studio director at Sports Interactive, described what makes Playing For The Planet so special: "It's the first committee that I've ever been on outside the UKIE board where huge corporations like Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo come together with mutual respect for one another and give each other ideas," he said. "We've seen other people adopt our [fully recyclable] packaging idea off the back of PFTP -- we're constantly trying to outdo one another and we're freely sharing information on how we've done it as well." To join Playing For The Planet is to take the danger of climate change and your company's impact seriously, as Michael French, senior programme executive for the Games London festival, illustrated. Deborah Mensah-Bonsu
"PFTP's goals are quite ambitious, but that's in part because the climate crisis obviously is urgent, and they've set quite high targets. It's really useful to have something like who is willing to push you like that," he said. Deborah Mensah-Bonsu, founder of DMB Crew and its flagship initiative Games for Good , who consult Playing For The Planet, directed any studio willing to work on becoming greener to the PFTP website, where you can make contact with the team ahead of one of the fixed onboarding moments throughout the year in order to discuss your goals and whether the alliance is a good fit. Studios can join the Green Game Jam regardless of whether they're PFTP members, and companies already part of the alliance are happy to share their experiences with those looking to join. Having joined Playing For The Planet in 2021, Ustwo Games has come to the alliance fairly recently. Studio operations lead Jane Campbell also described the goals the alliance sets as ambitious, and was enthusiastic about this ambitiousness and other benefits PFTP provided on Ustwo's sustainability journey. "We were basically beginners and we've found people who could provide the expertise and help us, and ten months down the line I can reflect on how much I've learned as an individual and how much we've been able to participate in as a company," she said. "The platform that PFTP has put us in front of different audiences, different events, and different pieces of media. It's been really great for reach and helped us understand that we're able to have a bigger impact by being part of a collective." SI and the challenges of making packaging fully recyclable
Developer Sports Interactive is known as a pioneer in terms of recyclable packaging, having rolled out fully recyclable cardboard packaging for Football Manager 2020 , with other PC titles from parent company Sega Europe following suit. When asked about the biggest challenge to achieving recyclable packaging Jacobson's answer was immediate: "Shrink wrap," he laughed. Miles Jacobson
"Finding a sustainable shrink wrap was by far the biggest challenge. Right now, making packaging recyclable means the cost of packaging goes up, but as more people adopt it, the price will go down because a lot of the parts we use will become cheaper when produced in mass. Also, trying to find vibrant inks that are still eco-friendly." Having gotten rid of the large cardboard boxes PC games used to be sold in early on and experiencing resistance from retailers as a result, Jacobson expected similar discussions over the new cardboard packaging that's in many ways different to the DVD cases that have become standard. Instead, he was heartened to find that this time around, the reaction from retailers was uniformly positive. "They've really embraced the idea, partly because the shipping to the shops was cheaper, which also had the benefit that the lighter the load is the less fuel the trucks use," he said, but warned that on the whole, the switch would mean higher costs for larger companies. Ustwo's mission to mobilise players to help prevent climate change
With its game Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, Ustwo made its first game with an environmental message, kickstarting the studio's sustainability efforts. "During development we worried about the accuracy of our message, and giving the right message in general, so we reached out to experts to make sure the message we put out with the game was true to the reality that we were describing," Campbell explained. Jane Campbell
"We spoke to science communicators at the Natural History Museum who played the game for us and vigorously tested us on some of the things in it but who gave us the message that touching lightly on these topics is always a good thing -- you don't need to provide all of the information in the same place because you're just going lose your players' attention." Ustwo used different channels to activate its players and mobilise them for the cause. The studio partnered with a campaign called Count Us In , which encourages people to take actionable steps in their daily lives to help the environment. Ustwo branded 16 steps with the game and created a community to help players who pledged see the real-life impact of community action by showing them the reduction in carbon emissions they were responsible for. Alba's credits also include a call to action and a link to resources. However, Campbell described Alba's tree planting campaign as the most successful effort. A tree is planted for each copy of Alba bought, a measure that is so successful because it's simple, measurable, and visible, allowing players to make an impact simply by buying a game. Games London's Green Games Guide
Michael French
"[Playing For The Planet] asked us what we at Games London were doing to make other companies do better," French recalled. "We felt that the information surrounding climate change impact wasn't shared very well -- we talked to a lot of small companies who didn't feel well-informed and who didn't feel they could make an impact. A lot of what companies were doing was happening behind the scenes, so we just wanted to collect that information, create something that people can immediately look at and see what can be done." The result was the Green Games Guide, a resource freely available via the UKIE website , providing an action plan on issues such as how to make your office carbon-neutral , with resources shared by companies such as Space Ape, who French called a "poster child for completely reducing your carbon footprint". For French, it was important to provide a resource for companies of all sizes, something that would make starting sustainability efforts less daunting and give them somewhere to start. Has the games industry acknowledged the need for sustainability? With how lacklustre commitments by political leaders regarding climate action can be, it's easy to imagine that sustainability isn't actually a topic many industries and companies think about either, but Jacobson found the opposite to be true for the games industry. "You tend to get a lot of jealousy in the creative industries, but in the games industry, when someone comes up with a good idea, they share it, and that has been our experience of PFTP as well," he said. "As a sector I think we're doing better than most, we're a young industry, so I think we're more adaptable than most to various challenges, but we're still not doing enough in terms of CSR [corporate social responsibility] -- none of us are doing enough and none of us ever can be doing enough." "There's the potential to change games from 'not one of the worst contributors to climate change' to 'one of the most eco-friendly industries'"
Michael French
His fellow panellists echoed Jacobson's optimism despite the challenges. "There's the potential to change games from 'not one of the worst contributors to climate change' to 'one of the most eco-friendly industries'," French said, and theorised that London, which is built on a public transport system, and has acquired National Park City status in 2019, is a great example for how spaces can raise eco awareness and drive thinking. Mensah-Bonsu pointed to the games industry's size as well as its status as a creative industry: "We are an industry full of creative people who are really good at problem solving, so I really think we can be the ones to crack this," she said. However, there is still a lot to do, as Jacobson pointed out: "I know as an industry we're talking a lot about moving away from physical, but it's also important to remember that if the internet were a country, it would be the fifth-biggest polluter in the world, which is why we need to do more in that space as well, for example by working on keeping download sizes down." Advice for studios trying to make an environmental impact
While all four panellists encountered enthusiasm, rather than resistance, towards a more sustainable office and a bigger commitment to environmental issues at their own workplaces, they admit that due to the substantial commitment necessary, introducing sustainable practices to a company can be a difficult process. "We were really lucky at Space Ape just to have a studio director who is so switched on and who said you know what, we're going to go carbon neutral, that's important," said Mensah-Bonus of the studio she worked at until June 2020. "Not every company has the luxury where the leadership does that, often it has to come from employees until it reaches leadership." Still, all panellists agreed that, as with many other issues, it's important just to start somewhere, and to take small steps until your sustainability journey naturally gains momentum. Campbell recommended following the Green Games Guide, and described a number of other steps Ustwo has already taken. "I know it can be daunting, from my own experience -- just get started, start small, don't let the bigger picture overwhelm you"
Jane Campbell
"We offset our workforce, things like people's commutes, people's energy use, and we're measuring our carbon footprint using online tools," she said, stressing how many tools and resources are available for companies looking to start becoming greener. "I know it can be daunting, from my own experience -- just get started, start small, don't let the bigger picture overwhelm you. There are loads of very simple carbon calculator tools out there, and from there you're already learning a lot," she said. "Join some of these groups like PFTP or the UKIE Sustainability group, there are groups active on game industry slacks as well." Mensah-Bonus admitted that while there are many resources available, companies could potentially worry about doing things wrong, whether that was measuring their carbon footprint correctly or picking the right campaign to support. Her advice was to get started despite those fears, and to iterate on the process. Jacobson offered some of the steps Sports International has taken for its office: "We have switched to a green energy provider for the office and I encourage people working from home to do that as well. "We have a shuttle bus to the office and we have a scheme called Ride to Work where you can get a discount on a bicycle. There's a lot of things companies can do away from campaigning on the operations side, like switching energy providers or offering more bins for recycling." To the panel, making green actions a communal effort, whether that is through Playing For The Planet or other means, provides accountability as well as a support network and information exchange. As Campbell put it:
"You're not alone. Just starting that conversation will help you find lots of other companies and groups who are passionate about the environment, so you're in a great position already." This panel can be rewatched on this page and is also available as a podcast. You can find The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast on the podcasting platform of your choice, or download this episode directly here . Connect with the UK Video Games Industry

How to make the games industry more sustainable

| The Sacramento Bee
Garments from the collection of Catherine Cerny on display at ‘Tekunikku: The Art of Japanese Textile Making’  at UC Davis’s Design Museum. Justin Han - UC Regents
Garments from the collection of Catherine Cerny on display at ‘Tekunikku: The Art of Japanese Textile Making’  at UC Davis’s Design Museum. Justin Han - UC Regents
By Claire Morgan
October 16, 2018 09:35 AM
“Tekunikku: The Art of Japanese Textile Making” is the newest art exhibit on display at UC Davis’s Design Museum. The exhibit features a collection of textiles from the collection of UC Davis alumna Catherine Cerny. Cerny graduated from UC Davis Department of Design in 1970 and worked as a costume designer until she decided to go into academia as a professor at the university. Cerny lived in Japan with her father when she was a child. UC Davis spokesman Michael French said that she has she has been collecting textiles on her visits back to Japan for over 40 years. Fellow UC Davis Department of Design alumna Alicia Decker reached out to Cerny because of her “amazing collection,” French said. From there, the pair worked together to curate an immersive exhibit featuring pieces from different periods of time. Be the first to know. No one covers what is happening in our community better than we do. And with a digital subscription, you'll never miss a local story. “Japanese textiles demonstrate a rich tradition of design making, and exemplify unique techniques that continue to inform contemporary textile/fashion design and education,” Decker said in a release. “‘Tekunikku’ focuses on the extensive Japanese textile collection of Cerny and pans over 40 years of firsthand cultural exploration and technical study.”
The exhibit “echoes the feel of a Japanese marketplace,” French said, to make visitors feel like they are getting a fully immersive marketplace experience. French said that the exhibit shows how the art of textile making in Japan has influenced style all over the world. “One of the important things about the exhibit is that you’ll really notice how Japanese textiles are still forming to help create current textiles,” French said. “You can see how they are influencing style today. You’ll see a contemporary feel, even though they’re 40 years old. There’s a timelessness to them.”
The exhibit opened Oct. 1 and will be on display until Dec. 9 at UC Davis’s Design Museum in Cruess Hall, Room 124. The exhibit is free and open on weekdays from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., and on Sundays from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Date	10/1/2010
Round	Seed VC
Company	ShareSquare
Amount
New?	Yes
Co-Investors	ff Venture Capital, Jeff Miller, Matthew French, Paige Craig, Roy Rodenstein, Stephen Stokols, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
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