When you open up the website for the upcoming To The Moon expo, you’re greeted with a message that reads, ‘a gaming expo with more games than merch stalls.’ If you’ve read our recent report on the state of EGX and the wider expo scene in the United Kingdom, you’ll appreciate why that’s a hugely exciting prospect.
To The Moon is a brand-new gaming and tech expo coming to the UK with its inaugural event next week, and it’s trying to pick up and reposition the pieces of an ecosystem that’s falling apart as we speak.
What is To The Moon Expo?
To The Moon is ‘a gaming expo for gamers, by gamers’, and everyone is heading to the event hoping that the company behind the expo can deliver on that promise. Here’s the blurb from the site for the expo:
This isn’t just another gaming expo: This is a call to players, creators, and fans who know the industry can be more. We are here to craft an experience for YOU! From high-energy esports tournaments and meeting your favourite voice actors, to discovering new games and learning how you can break into the gaming industry – we have something here for every kind of gamer.
Held at the NEC in Birmingham, To The Moon walks in the footsteps of the Insomnia Gaming Festival, once the shining gem of the UK’s gaming expo scene and now a shrivelling shadow of its former self. The team behind To The Moon has promised a visitor capacity of 15,000 gamers and more than 150 exhibitors, alongside a ‘full-blown esports arena’.
It’s a much smaller affair than Insomnia Gaming Festival was, up until going bust a couple of years ago (and weirdly resurfacing in recent months), but everybody has to start somewhere.
To The Moon will feature an indie zone packed with playable games, a creator zone, an industry hub for networking, guest appearances, and several talks and workshops.
On the list for guests, speakers, and meet and greets are some pretty prestigious folks. From Glen Schofield, founder of Sledgehammer Games and Striking Distance Studios, to Tom McKay and Luke Dale of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II fame, there are plenty of opportunities to rub shoulders.
VOID Interactive is bringing an immersive Ready or Not SWAT experience to the venue, and a VR arena will be set up for fans to participate in competitions.
There’s a retro gaming arcade, board games, (some) merch stalls, and even an invitational League of Legends tournament, all being held under the roof of one of the most popular event venues in the United Kingdom.
To The Moon could be one of the best up-and-coming gaming events in the business, and the gamers in the United Kingdom desperately need something like this to succeed, given the recent collapse of EGX, Insomnia, and WASD.
Tickets for To The Moon can be bought online now for the showcase that’s set to run from November 12 – 13.
Do you think To The Moon sounds like your kind of event? Let me know on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Contraband screenshots have emerged online
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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