Michael French MBE

As Head of Games at Film London I am responsible for Games London, its groundbreaking programme supporting games creators in the capital. I am responsible for the overall programme, its direction and strategy, and delivery. This includes day-to-day such as managing events, overseeing marketing & promotional activity, commissioning content (from artworks to production assets), and managing budgets. But it also includes the bigger thinking - the sort of stuff that leads to us launching the Games London Accelerator, which was the UK's only accelerator for games businesses, and Game Changer a programme for underrepresented founders. I am also the director of London Games Festival, which as a physical event that grew from 35,000 attendees in its first year (2016), to over 100,000 by 2025. It was the first major industry event to switch to digital formats in 2020, and under that criteria has still found ways to grow, generating business for participants. In the last decade LGF has become a valuable way to champion games culture and promote the power of play. I've organised art installations, exhibitions, concerts, demo events - plus an accompanying range of industry activity. Games London has generated over £110m worth of business for studios - which in turn has created nearly 1,000 jobs in the city.

I spent seven years as the Editor of Develop, a monthly magazine and website for games developers, and then Editor in Chief of Develop and its sister title MCV, a renowned weekly trade magazine for the whole games industry.